When life gives you lemons.

byCarlamarie58

1.5K followers

8 years ago

I was just reading a great article about some inspiring folks who have turned tragedy and loss into something beautiful. One man in the article had a son commit suicide. My brain refuses to even go there! And yet this man 'picked himself up by his bootstraps', so to speak, and began an organization to inform parents of the dangers of teen suicide. He became so involved in the organization that he gave up his job and concentrated on helping other parents gain knowledge about warning signs, children at risk, courses of action, the result being that his organization significantly and positively changed the statistics on teen suicide.

This desire and need to 'look for the 'rainbow' is a fundamental cry for hope. We need to grab at the fact that life is not random...that there is a purpose...a reason for living. I thought of these wise words in Ecclesiastes...

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time!!!!

Exclamation sprinklings are mine! But isn't that a beautiful expression of HOPE? Reread that first line...To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven...There are a lot of 'time's in the above section, and I am sure that you can think of an 'instance' for each of them in your own experience.

Just like the coming and going of the seasons, life has its cycles that we cannot escape as long as we walk around in this fleshly body. While we most often can do nothing to escape the horrible things that happen, we can 'look for the rainbows' as much as possible.

My world view calls me to believe three key principals on which I base my life...that God is Good, He is in control, and He loves me. In the mountains and valleys of life, these three principals are my anchor. My young pastor, dying of cancer at 33, introduced his congregation to these three principals, and of course they stuck with me through the years because of the situation. Here was a young husband and father of 5 very young children, terminally ill, teaching us that God is Good, He is in control, and He loves me. He chose to continue to reach out and encourage others in spite of his illness and impending death. May I be as 'anchored' as our dear Pastor George in the violent seas of life!

With the ever increasing number of folks here at Wealthy Affiliate, there is certainly someone in a really deep 'valley' right now, and I just wanted to offer this as encouragement for those who might benefit.

Blessings to you all! Carla