I heard a story this morning on the radio about a woman who was planning a wedding which ended up being called off. Unfortunately, she had already paid a $4500 deposit for the reception at a restaurant and it was too late to get the money refunded. Since she had already paid for it, she decided to go ahead and have a party anyway. Instead of this party being a wedding reception, she turned it into a fundraiser to help the poor of her community. This woman was able to raise over $10,000 at this fundraiser, all of which she gave to a local church for their feeding program. She didn't even pull out the original $4500 that she spent.
Usually I don't pay very much attention to "The Good News Story of the Day" on this particular radio station. In fact, many times I change the station because I don't want to hear the story. This one made me think though. What would I do if faced with a situation like this? Would I take on the role of the victim and whine and complain about the $4500 that I couldn't get back? Would I boycott the restaurant for being so insensitive in keeping my money? Would I just invite people to dinner so it wasn't a total waste? I can pretty much guarantee that I would do one or all of these. I am also pretty sure that even if I did come up with a great idea to bless others like this lady did, I probably would withhold the initial $4500.
What do you do when things don't go as expected or as planned? My initial instinct is to worry about myself, to feel bad for myself and for self preservation. What is less instinctive is to trust God, to lean in to Him and to realize that He can take the hard and difficult things and use them for good. I am trying more and more to get to that spot more quickly and to look for what God may want to do in me and through me in those situations. Imagine how we can change ourselves, our communities and our world if we would choose to let God turn our lemons into lemonade.
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