Recently, I came across this little devotional that I would like to share with you. I hope you like it as much as I did. I did not write this but pass it on to you...
In Africa there is a berry, which, when held in the mouth, sweetens the taste of everything the African eats. The Christian has something like that - he has the power to transform every calamity into an opportunity. That 'berry' comes from the Holy Spirit - and He can sweeten even the bitterest calamity.
Someone has spoken of "getting music out of life's remainders." Sometimes life will leave nothing in our hands but remainders. But you can gather up those remainders and make music out of them! Such a person I saw yesterday - a person whose face was chiseled into strength and beauty. She was struck with infantile paralysis at 28; her husband died when she was 45. She decided that she would walk, even after the doctors told her the muscles were gone. She created new muscles out of her own will and the grace of God. At 47 she took a course in stenography, typing and secretarial work and is now doing what everybody else is doing and more, she is doing it in a radiant, triumphant way. She is making music out of life's remainders.
"A Christian is a person who, when he gets to the end of his rope, ties a knot and hangs on." For he knows that the very extremity is God's opportunity. Someone has suggested that the 'silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour', spoken of in Revelation, was God shifting the scenes for the next act. The silent suffering spaces in your life may be God getting you ready for the next great act. Hold steady; the next act will come. In the meantime, take hold of your dull drab moments and make them give forth music. Speaking of a certain person someone suggested, "Give him a laundry list and he will set it to music."
The latent possibilities are all there in life - bring out of it what you will. The Russians have a saying that goes like this, "A hammer shatters glass, but forges steel." The calamities that shatter some will forge you into character and achievement.