I have been writing these articles for many years and every single time, for the period leading up to the next article, the Lord has brewed something in my heart to be ready at exactly the right time. I have missed these due dates a few times for different reasons, but I have never missed one because I did not receive anything from the Lord.
Last week I thought this article was due, and I sat down and realized that I did not have anything. I prayed and asked the Lord to guide my hand as I always do, but nothing. I sat there for 45min that night and God only gave me one word, nothing more and nothing less, one single word: Lemons.
This was the first time that this has happened and obviously, with only having one word, I was not going to have an article ready. I thought I missed it, but it turned out that I still had a whole week left. I loved that I thought I missed it, because it was such a great reminder that God is always on time. The one word I got was only the start of the brewing process and it was still ready at exactly the right time.
I wanted to share this little testimony with you today, because someone needs to remember that God is never late. He did not run out of plans, He did not run out of time, He did not fail, He did not forget and He has not run out of patience with you. You are always in His line of sight and He has solutions for problems you do not even know you have yet. Rejoice in the Lord and trust in His timing.
Now, lemons. If you haven’t read it yet, click here and read our article: Alternative Route. We talked about how God gives us more when we go through the valley. Today we are going to look into those valleys a little further, and let’s start by looking at lemons. When we compare a lemon to another fruit, we think of an orange.
Oranges are a great fruit, we can enjoy them just the way they are, or as a juice, but when we think of a lemon, we wouldn’t want to eat them or drink juice made of them and they are typically not seen as a great fruit, which brings to mind the saying: when life gives you lemons… Yes, life gives us lemons, they don’t taste too great, but they are definitely a whole lot more useful than oranges.
Think about all the things you could do with a lemon, you can almost clean anything with it, add it to so many drinks and food, and the list just goes on. It is the same with the lemons and oranges in life. The good times are sweet, easy and simple, but sometimes we get lemons and we don’t want them, it doesn’t taste good and we would rather just spit them out and move on, but the lemons are the ones that could give so much more.
Besides all the things that God can teach you with your life lemons, besides what you could allow to be invested in your character and your journey of faith, we need to remember that someone is watching us, someone is looking to see what we are doing with our lemons. This someone could be your wife, husband, children, family, friends, colleagues or even a stranger. What you do and what you say when you are having a life orange means nothing compared to what you do and what you say when you are having a life lemon.
You could preach all the goodness of God and everything about faith, trust and good character when you are sitting in the sun with a tall glass of orange juice and people may listen to you, but when you are standing barefoot in the rain with nothing but a lemon, that is when you will have them at the edge of their seats, that is when people listen.
It is great when you have the opportunity to talk to people about a life with Jesus, but you will break through walls if you let them see you do it. If you talk about peace, kindness and forgiveness they will watch you when people betray you. When you talk about patience, they will watch you when it is tested. When you talk about faith and trust, they will watch you when your back is against the wall and when you talk about the joy of the Lord, they will be looking for it when life leaves you bruised and battered.
What do people see when we have lemons? Do they see the world, do they see anger, frustration, pride and complaining or are they seeing something else, are they seeing something that they too would want to have? Life lemons are our greatest tools to preach the Gospel, so when you are having an orange, talk to people about what God has helped you do with your lemons and when you are having a lemon, then let your lemon speak to them.
Join us on JTMR Radio on the 29th of August at 18:00 where we will talk about the alternative route, life lemons and grave clothes.
God bless you!
Miryna van As