Make Lemonade

Therefore, thus says the Lord, "If you return, then I will restore you--before Me you will stand; and if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become My spokesman," ~ Jeremiah 15:19

Have you ever heard the phrase, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade," or "If life is bowl full of cherries, why am I always in the pits"? Those are cute and funny sayings until you are the person they are being said about. Going through a test or trial is hard enough without the world standing and pointing a finger. Have you ever been some place, possibly a church or youth group, where different people where sharing their testimonies and your thought was, "Wow! Wish I had one of those." You don't really mean that, because to have someone else's testimony, means that you would have had to go through all the same pain and turmoil that the other person went through in order to have their story to share.


Every person, once they have come through a test or trial, has a testimony--a story--it's what they do with it that makes the difference. The Lord said, "And I...will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on my name, and I will hear them; I will say: it [is] my people; and they shall say, the Lord [is] my God," (Zechariah 13:9). The Lord said He will "refine" us, meaning He will "smelt" or will separate what is pure and precious from the worthless waste. The Lord also said He will "try" us, meaning He will test our hearts to see what is truly hidden inside.


The Lord wants to use us and He will use us, if we will let Him. But first, we must allow Him to lay waste anything that is not of Him, anything that is not pure. It is not until we are "under fire" or going through harsh circumstances that the truth about a person comes through. A person may look pure, but when they are pressed on every side, what is it that comes out? Matthew 12:34 quotes, "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." It is only when we are pressed on every side, squeezed like a grape, that the Lord can truly reveal what is hidden deep inside our hearts. It is through trial by fire that we are refined, that what is pure can be separated from everything else in our lives.

Jeremiah 15:19 says, "If you extract the precious from the worthless..." After your trial period has ended, you have a whole story to tell. What things will you carry on with you? What things will you share with others? Will you talk only about those who treated you badly? Will you carry with you the onset of the trial, the pain and grief it caused you? Will you stay in your pity party and invite others to commiserate with you? Or, will you share with others what God did through your trial? Will you allow His glory to be revealed? Will you use your testimony, your story, to lift people up and encourage their faith through the sharing of God's grace? It is only when you can extract the precious from the worthless that you will become the tool that God can use. God wants to use you, but the choice is yours. Will you stay in the pits or will you make lemonade?