Faith Turns Lemons Into Something Sweeter

Faith Turns Lemons Into Something Sweeter

Article Provided by Vision Christian Media

A small-time crime in the US state of Virginia has prompted a heartfelt community response and a message of Christian faith and forgiveness.

The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) reports during the northern summer 10-year-old Rebecca Caldwell and her 8-year-old brother Joshua were selling lemonade in front of their home in the city of Chesapeake, Virginia, when a customer stopped to buy a drink — or so it seemed. “He seemed super nice,” Joshua recalled, but he changed his mind when the man grabbed the jar containing the A$60 the kids had collected, and ran off.

The entire family was upset, but chose to focus on prayer and forgiveness. “We prayed for the man who stole our money because I wanted him to become a Christian,” Joshua said. Rebecca told CBN News: “I think it’s better to forgive than always be mad at the guy. Otherwise, you’ll keep thinking back on that day and stay angry.”

The local community rallied behind the Caldwell kids and organised a special lemonade event that raised nearly A$10,000 in donations. Their father Ryan said: “Immediately there was just so much support coming out of this. We’re blessed by this whole thing. Something bad happened in that moment, but ever since then, it’s been blessing after blessing.”

As their story spread from the community to national news, the Caldwells used their platform to share the Gospel. “We’ve talked a lot about forgiveness in our interviews. Some people have asked why we choose to forgive,” said mother Annetta, reading from a heartfelt note they had taped to the lemonade stand. The note pointed visitors toward the cross, as a sign of the family’s faith.

“If God can do it through a lemonade stand, He can do anything. He can do the impossible. We just want people to know that God forgave us, and we want to forgive other people. If we hold onto bitterness, it hurts us more than it hurts them. So, we wanted people to realise that it’s more important to forgive,” Annetta explained.

Rebecca and Joshua plan to use some of the funds raised for their oldest sister’s missionary trip to Asia. CBN News concludes that the Caldwells’ story is a powerful reminder that “when life hands you lemons, with faith and love, you can turn them into something far sweeter.”

How The Big Screen Story Of Rebecca St James’s Family Signals A Surge In Faith Movies

How The Big Screen Story Of Rebecca St James’s Family Signals A Surge In Faith Movies

Grammy Award winning Christian music artist Rebecca St. James who has maintained her prominence in the music industry for more than 30 years, believes there’s a powerful “momentum in the arts” right now when it comes to transformational Christian content.

“There is a kind of ground that’s being regained, I would say, when it comes to faith … leading in culture,” she told CBN News and referencing the success of films like Jesus Revolution, I Can Only Imagine and Unsung Hero — a movie that’s about to be released in her birthplace of Australia that tells her family’s story.

It recounts the rags-to-riches journey of the Smallbone family from Australia to America, showcasing their struggles and their faith before the meteoric rise to fame of both Rebecca and her brothers Joel and Luke who formed the hugely successful group for KING & COUNTRY.

CBN News writes: “Unsung Hero pays homage to the incredible ways God worked in the family’s life after they came to America with nothing, how they worked hard cleaning homes and doing yard work, and eventually landed record deals.” Rebecca told Crosswalk Headlines how she “pretty quickly moved into babysitting and cleaning houses” and eventually found a career in contemporary Christian music and changed her name from Rebecca Smallbone to her stage name to appease music executives.

Just three weeks into its US release, the film has grossed A$26 million at the box office and achieved a rare A+ CinemaScore. Rebecca believes faith-based movies like Unsung Hero are attracting big audiences for a reason :“People are hungry for these messages. When we show up in the cinema, we say to Hollywood, We need more of this. We need more family content. We need more clean content. We need more God-honouring content.”

The singer told CBN News she’s proud of the impact the movie is having, and reiterated her belief Christians need to show up and support projects like it. “Where there’s a call to action with us is, we have to vote, go on these weekends to the theatre, bring your family, celebrate your mums. It’s this moment in time where we can kind of say to Hollywood with our vote, with our movie ticket: We want more of this.”

Rebecca St. James also hopes the movie inspires and encourages people to see how God is at work in their lives and leads them to treasure their families. She told: Crosswalk Headlines: “God redeems our story, no matter how hard it gets. And I think a lot of people are discouraged in our world today. They’re discouraged about marriage, they’re discouraged about family life, they’re discouraged about faith. A lot of people, I think, need hope and need to be reminded that God is the Great Redeemer of our story and of our life. I think that’s why people are responding to the film the way that they are.”

“We in the Western world live such frantic, busy, achievement-oriented lives. And I think that we can almost start to think: My family, maybe they’re keeping me from this thing that I want in career or the certain thing that I want to achieve financially or whatever. And I think the film really kind of undoes that mentality. That joy is not found in stuff or in achievement or career. It truly is found in relationship. God gives us relationship with Him, and then relationship with each other. And the family, the health of the family, really is what the health of a nation is built on.”

Rebecca St James believes this is just the beginning of faith surging in Hollywood: “I feel this sense of anticipation of what God’s doing and about to do, because I think there’s this wave that we’re going to ride. And that’s very exciting to me.”

Photo: Facebook – Rebecca St James

Article by Vision Christian Media

Tackle your giant head-on

‘David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone.’ 1 Samuel 17:50 NKJV Pastor Chuck Swindoll says: ‘Goliath reminds me of the visually impaired discus thrower. He didn’t set any records… but he sure kept the crowd awake! Every day, Goliath paraded along the slopes of the Valley of Elah, issuing threats. The only response from the Israeli troops was the sound of knees knocking and...

Being friends with God

‘The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.’ Exodus 33:11 NLT When you talk to a close friend, you’re relaxed, trusting, unguarded, and open. There is no need to watch what you say. You can express how you feel without fearing you will be judged or rejected. That’s how Moses and God talked to each other—like two friends, trusting and transparent. They said what they...

Let’s work together

‘For we are labourers together with God.’ 1 Corinthians 3:9 KJV The Bible says we must love, honour, and work together. So, why don’t we do it? Ego! We like to think we can do everything ourselves—but that’s not reality! There are no supermen or superwomen. So, the question isn’t whether or not you can do everything on your own; it’s how soon are you going to realise you can’t? Businessman...

The right attitude

‘For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.’ Proverbs 23:7 NKJV What separates the best from the rest? Have you ever given that some thought? What separates a gold medallist from a silver medallist in the Olympics? What separates a successful entrepreneur from someone who doesn’t make it? What makes it possible for one person to learn and flourish after making a mistake while someone else just...

Moving from failure to success (4)

‘We were filled with laughter, and we sang for joy.’ Psalm 126:2 NLT To move from failure to success, you must do these: (1) Learn to laugh at yourself. No matter what you lose or how often you lose, never lose your sense of humour. When you take your mistakes too seriously, everything becomes a life-or-death issue. The psalmist wrote: ‘When the Lord brought back His exiles to Jerusalem, it was...

Moving from failure to success (3)

‘Many are they who say of me, “There is no help for him.”’ Psalm 3:2 NKJV John Maxwell writes: ‘Oliver Goldsmith was born the son of a poor preacher in Ireland in the 1700s. Growing up, he wasn’t a great student. In fact, his schoolmaster labelled him a “stupid blockhead”. He did manage to earn a university degree, but he finished at the bottom of his class. He was unsure of what he wanted to...

Moving from failure to success (2)

‘You are snared by the words of your mouth.’ Proverbs 6:2 NKJV A noted psychiatrist remarked that two of the saddest words in human vocabulary are ‘if only’. He believes people who get trapped by their failures spend their lives saying, ‘If only I had tried harder. If only I had been kinder to my kids. If only I had been more truthful. If only…’ The way to change that mindset is to change your...

Moving from failure to success (1)

‘Whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle.’ Hebrews 11:34 NIV The writer of Hebrews said: ‘I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets… whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies.’ (Hebrews 11:32–34 NIV) Some of the biggest success stories in...

Who are your true friends?

‘There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.’ Proverbs 18:24 NIV The ancient Roman writer Cicero said, ‘Friendship improves happiness and abates misery, by the doubling of our joy and the dividing of our grief.’ It’s impossible to have more than a few close friends because true friendship takes time, attention, and commitment. ‘One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there...

Never stop learning and growing (2)

‘Wisdom is far more valuable than rubies. Nothing you desire can compare with it.’ Proverbs 8:11 NLT To keep learning and growing, you must recognise that: (1) Successful people view learning differently than unsuccessful people. Joshua learned from Moses. Timothy learned from Paul. Who have you chosen to learn from? Author Sydney J. Harris wrote: ‘A winner knows how much he still has to learn,...