God Makes Lemonade: True Stories that Sweeten and Inspire

“God whispers to us in our pleasures…but shouts in our pains.” C.S. Lewis might well have been speaking about contemporary America, where life seems to be getting more painful by the day. People are hurting and losing hope, and the call to bear each other’s burdens and lift each other up grows ever louder.

That’s why God Makes Lemonade is vital. It is precisely during our greatest difficulties that we can hear God’s voice most clearly. When we’re hurting, we don’t need a hollow cliché or a Bible verse quoted out of context. Instead, we need the kind of abiding hope that comes from seeing God fulfilling his promises in the midst of life’s messiness.

These encouraging stories fit into four main categories—relationships, medical issues, outlook, and employment/provision—and they’re about God at work in the lives of babies, senior citizens, and everyone in between. They are heartbreaking and side-splitting, dramatic and mundane, but what links each story is the clear evidence of God making lemonade out of life’s sour circumstances. These aren’t stories about working harder or having superhuman faith—they’re about being astonished by and grateful for the unexpected ways God works for good, even in the most painful details.

When we view life’s circumstances through the lens of faith, we can see God’s promises being fulfilled: sometimes overnight, sometimes slowly, but always surely. If a child wakes at night, terrified, we tell her a story to banish her fear. Adults are no different: true stories of God’s provision are what we need to banish fear and hold on to hope.