{"id":929,"date":"2011-07-03T05:55:45","date_gmt":"2011-07-03T09:55:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=929"},"modified":"2011-06-27T10:39:02","modified_gmt":"2011-06-27T14:39:02","slug":"turning-lemons-into-lemonade-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/turning-lemons-into-lemonade-part-1.html","title":{"rendered":"Turning Lemons into Lemonade"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I am often surprised by the ability of the members of Special Gathering\u00a0to \u201cturn lemons into lemonade.\u201d The other day I had a conversation with one of our SpG members. When he was 18 years old, this young man was in an automobile accident which left his body torn apart.\u00a0 He is confined to a wheelchair, unable to walk or use his hands.\u00a0 His continual spastic movements are awkward and tiring.\u00a0 Yet, his attitude is whole and even holy.<\/span><\/p>\n

As I drove the member to our Vero program, he bragged about what a wonderful and happy life he had and how much God had blessed him.\u00a0 Had I not seen the radiant smile on his face, I would\u00a0have thought\u00a0that he was being sarcastic or playing a cruelty joke on himself.\u00a0 However, one look at the joy and delight flowing from his eyes told\u00a0me that this was a man grateful for life.\u00a0 He is delighted to have a relationship with His God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Often, as hard as life becomes for people within the mentally challenged community, there seems to be a thread of joy that weaves its way into the broken lives.\u00a0 At times, it seems trite to say, \u201cChrist makes a difference in our lives.\u201d Yet, when you see the love of Jesus flowing into hurting people and then\u00a0experience the love of Christ flowing from their lives, there is a thankful appreciation for what the love of God can do in our lives.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am often surprised by the ability of the members of Special Gathering\u00a0to \u201cturn lemons into lemonade.\u201d The other day I had a conversation with one of our SpG members. When he was 18 years old, this young man was in an automobile accident which left his body torn apart.\u00a0 He is confined to a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,3,40,10,16,8,85,12,4,41,1],"tags":[690,21,688,696,7,699,175,701,694,689,57,692,6],"class_list":["post-929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-inspirational","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-prayer-2","category-religion","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","category-uncategorized","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-gratitude","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-prayer","tag-religion","tag-simple-scriptural-truths"],"yoast_head":"\nTurning Lemons into Lemonade - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/turning-lemons-into-lemonade-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Turning Lemons into Lemonade - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I am often surprised by the ability of the members of Special Gathering\u00a0to \u201cturn lemons into lemonade.\u201d The other day I had a conversation with one of our SpG members. When he was 18 years old, this young man was in an automobile accident which left his body torn apart.\u00a0 He is confined to a…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/turning-lemons-into-lemonade-part-1.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-03T09:55:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-06-27T14:39:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/06\/Camp-Agape-2011-157_2-685x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Turning Lemons into Lemonade - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/turning-lemons-into-lemonade-part-1.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Turning Lemons into Lemonade - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"I am often surprised by the ability of the members of Special Gathering\u00a0to \u201cturn lemons into lemonade.\u201d The other day I had a conversation with one of our SpG members. When he was 18 years old, this young man was in an automobile accident which left his body torn apart.\u00a0 He is confined to a…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/07\/turning-lemons-into-lemonade-part-1.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2011-07-03T09:55:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-06-27T14:39:02+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/06\/Camp-Agape-2011-157_2-685x1024.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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