Making Lemonade

As human beings, we cannot expect our self to function perfectly in all areas of our life. To do so is counterproductive, because we all make mistakes; and to feel defeated or embarrassed or stupid or any other negative emotion will cause illness in our body and soul as it limits our spirit.

We tend to reprimand our self, to call our self names, to lecture and demean our self, and to get irritated and angry with our self. No good can come from any of this negative, demeaning behavior. It is self-defeating and sets up a downward, negative spiral in our life.

We can limit the mistakes we make by abandoning our own goals and plans for our life, and adopting God's perfect plan for us instead (Ephesians 2:8-10). This does not guarantee a stress-free life, but walking in the Spirit does minimize our mistakes (Galatians 5:15-25).

When we do err occasionally, since we are all still human, God is faithful to cover a multitude of our mistakes (1 Peter 4:8). He makes lemonade from our lemons, and uses our humanity to keep us humble, and to build a wiser and more stable foundation for our future (Proverbs 20:30; Romans 8:28).

Allowing us to reap the consequences of our decisions is one way that our loving Heavenly Father builds strength of character in us, and reminds us to trust in Him rather than in our human resources. He gives us hope for the future and redeems our time by teaching us His truth and discernment (Psalm 119:71-72; Jeremiah 29:11).

Even when we are successful in listening to and following God's Spirit each moment of our day, He continues to renew our mind to adopt the mind of Christ (Romans 12:1-3; 1 Corinthians 2:16), and to give us Jesus' character (2 Peter 1:4), and Godly fruit (Galatians 5:22-23) on which to base our thoughts, emotions and choices.

Prayer:

Father God, thank You for using our mistakes to give us Your wisdom and skill for living. This protects us in the future from living for our own goals and ideals and continuing to make the same mistakes over and over. Show us that when our good is spoken of as evil by the ignorant in this world, You have plans to prove our innocence and to use us for Your glory (Genesis 50:20).

Thank You for using our failings to perfect us, to build our character, and to humble our inflated ego. Teach us to follow Paul's example when he proclaimed that we can shout praises to You when we are drowning in life's troubles, because we know that patience will do a perfect work in us and we will come out on the other side with wisdom, peace, joy and contentment (Romans 5:3-4). We draw near to You, resist the devil's lies and his attempts to discourage us, and have the satisfaction of watching him flee from us (James 4:7-11).

Thought for the Day:
God is always at work in us, even using our mistakes to teach us to follow His plans rather than our own, and to walk in His Spirit; therefore, we do not have to fear what life will bring, because He teaches us from the past, walks in and with us in our current events, and prepares us for what lies ahead in the future.

- Isaiah 45:3