Gò0dNews for Everyone When life hands you lemons, make Lemonade! by Grace Alfieri
I
remember the first time I saw that quote I said to myself what a great
In preparation, her mother called her Sunday school teacher and asked
concept! We usually gripe and complain when things happen to us
that he not call attention to Jamie. The teacher promised, but when he
that we did not expect but sometimes it is good to look at things
got sick on Sunday morning and had to call a substitute, he forgot to
differently. I believe that quote is attributed to Dale Carnegie who used it
tell the second teacher. At the conclusion of the lesson that day, which
in his 1948 book entitled: How To Stop Worrying and Start Living. Lemons
was about inviting friends to church, the substitute led the class in
suggest sourness/tartness or difficulties in life; making lemonade is
doing the hand motions to the familiar children’s poem:
turning them into something sweeter, positive or desirable. When things do not turn out as we expected, especially for believers we feel as though God has abandoned us; but sometimes we need a different perspective. There is a hymn we used to sing in
Here’s the church, Here are the people, Open the door, See all the people. Jamie’s eyes filled with tears she only had one arm. However, a young boy realized how she might be feeling. He knelt beside her. With
our churches many years ago it was titled: “No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus.” The writer of that song spent most of his life as an itinerant evangelist and gospel songwriter. The composer says that after returning home from an evangelistic crusade he found a note left by his wife of many years. The note said she had enough of the evangelistic life and she left him. The composer said that he became very despondent during the next several years. There were even times when he contemplated suicide. Yes, there was the terrible despair he experienced because he believed that no one really cared for him any more. But he said that gradually his spiritual faith was restored and he once again became active in Christian ministry. Soon he felt compelled to write a song that became a summary of his past tragic experience. From his broken heart came the words to the hymn: No on ever cared for me like Jesus. There’s no other friend so kind and true. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me.
one hand apiece, they supported each other, making the church, steeple,
O how much He Cared for me
and people. Together they illustrated what the real church is all about.
Even in our darkest moments, much like the times we are seeing around us today, God has promised to care for us! In Psalm 22, we see the words spoken by Jesus when HE was on
The devil wants you isolated and in despair, But Jesus wants you connected to Him and to His people. You may not see Him, you may not feel Him, but standing right beside you at every moment is your
the cross, those same words which many of us have said over the years:
loving Heavenly Father. He is there He will always be there, Jesus
“My God, my God…why have You forsaken Me?” It was the most gut-
said I WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU OR FORSAKE YOU! I WILL NEVER
wrenching cry of loneliness in history, and it came not from a prisoner
LEAVE YOU!
or a widow or a patient. It came from a hill, from a cross, from the Messiah: “My God, my God," He cried out , "why did you abandon me!” Never have words carried such hurt and anguish. Never has one
Jesus is given many titles in the Bible. Perhaps none is as endearing as Emmanuel (God with us). It speaks of his constant, continual presence in our lives. May you be encouraged as you think
BEING been so lonely. The despair is darker than the sky. The two who
upon that title. You may be worn out. You may be beat down. You
had been one are now two. Jesus knows your pain and your isolations
may be discouraged. You may feel like nothing is going right in
and He is there with you which means you are not as alone as you
your life. You may feel like a failure. But I am here to tell you today:
might think or feel you are! Keep your focus on Jesus and pray to feel
Whether you are on the mountain top or in the valley…you can trust
His embrace in your life.
God…He is faithful.
an entire year. Finally the young teen thought she could face her peers.
52 // October 2020
About The Author
Perhaps this story will help you. After an accident in which she lost her arm, a girl named Jamie refused to go to school or church for
Rev. Grace Alfieri was born and raised in New Jersey where she pastored the church in which she grew up. Her father pastored the church before her. She retired to Etowah, Tennessee, in 2013 and has 3 children and 3 grandchildren.
