When Life Gives You Lemons

I love lemons.  There's just so much you can do with them:

Add them to a glass of water or iced tea to dress up your drink

Use (or con your best Helen Crocker sister into using) them for a lemon meringue pie

Juice them to add to a nice salad dressing

And, of course, there's always the old standby: Make Lemonade.

Now, with fall doing its absolute best to make its grand entrance, lemonade isn't exactly what I have on the menu.  In fact, I've skipped the lemonade and gone straight for the tea.  Hot.  With honey.  And while I don't exactly take to the notion that "life" gives you lemons,  I do believe that God places things in our lives to teach us lessons, or simply to see what we're made of.

On Tuesday, I started feeling a little sniffly, so I pulled out the throat drops and hot tea and went nuts. However, by Thursday morning, I decided that my throat drops and hot tea were no match for whatever this was I had come down with.  So... I went to the doctor. Well, technically, I went to the Physicians Assistant (but I'm pretty sure she could be a doctor if she really wanted to because she's AWESOME... and anyone who knows me knows that I barely tolerate PA's... to put it mildly). Guess what.  I have a sinus infection.  SOOOOO not fair when I just had surgery in March to fix this little recurring situation.  The good news is that this sinus infection isn't nearly as bad as what I used to get. I did get some killer meds and missed a day and a half of work.

I also have been awaiting some news, which I may have gotten today through the grapevine, that wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear.  So that kinda bummed me out, too.

Then I got to thinking about Sunday School.  We're finishing up our study on James this Sunday, and the whole book is about our growing relationship with Christ and what it should look like and how to enhance it.  And though I'm not sure if we ever discussed it, one thing that stuck with me throughout the entire study was this: we should be looking to God for everything.  If I'm sick, I should praise Him and trust Him for healing.  If I'm feeling like a change is needed in my work life or in my social life, I should praise Him and trust Him for leading.

And maybe, just maybe when "life gives you lemons," God just wants to see what you'll do with them.

So I'm choosing to make the lemonade (that actually tastes a LOT like hot tea with honey for now) and praise Him in the process!