From Bitter to Sweet

There was a steady hum coming from the large machine nestled up to the outside wall of our house. Just like that, our front porch had become a thrown-together ice cream shop. My husband and our two Ugandan interns were deep into their experimenting, using our blue plastic table as an outdoor kitchen. Making, remaking, and tweaking homemade ice cream recipes according to taste. Adding a little more sugar, trying a variety of milk, and switching up the flavors to find that sweet spot.

Recently transplanted among the Aringa people four hours away, our interns and their children had been adapting to a new language, home, and culture that was vastly different from their own. Since they were now living in an area that is over 88% Muslim, we’d been brainstorming together to find creative ways to love and minister to those who are followers of Islam. We’d been led to open an ice cream and snack shop in order to provide a hangout space for relationship building, discipleship, and learning to walk the way of the Lord.

However, never did I ever think that my many years of working at McDonalds, as a teenager and into my university days as a manager, would have prepared me for this kind of ministry.

Yet, as I swirled up my first cup of vanilla ice cream, it did feel quite natural. I was instantly transported to my early days of working late-night shifts and then waking up early to travel by bus across the city to make it to my teaching practicum at an inner-city school. I remember thinking my time at a fast-food restaurant was useless to all I had planned to do in my life.

However, as I sat there creating a little logo for Sweet Swirls snack shop, I couldn’t get over how beautiful this life of mine had truly become. Of course there has been hardship over the years, but recently (and still in the middle space) I felt the Lord gently impressing on my heart to savor him in all of it.

In both the pain and in the unfolding of the promise.

In both the struggle and in the delight of what’s to come.

In both the uncertainty and in the surety of his faithfulness.

Psalm 34:8 provides a delightful reminder: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him” (NIV).

And even though I’m not out of the difficulties or the waiting, I have a front row seat to watch even the broken and bitter moments turn sweeter as I look for the countless ways he has showed up offering comfort and peace. In memories once so painful, deep longings that brought on mountains of grief and a waiting season that still remains uncertain, I sense that my weary heart is undergoing some tweaking of its own.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen the Lord make a miraculous way in our long-standing adoption process. After six years stuck in limbo while feeling downright hopeless at times, it has slowly become less about the situation and more about him. The sweetness can be found in even the most bitter of seasons as we look for his goodness and find our refuge in him alone. Over the years, he’s been tuning my heart to the beauty he meant for me to discover all along, right there in the middle of the mess.

The silver machine drones on as its levers are pulled and vanilla-white goodness swirls around, filling up each plastic cup. Our front gates are opened wide, welcoming pastors from our Discipleship Center next door into this makeshift-front-yard ice cream parlor. As the line of pastors begins to grow, they eagerly wait to sample the creamy delight being handed out by my children. Even though the grass is still withered from the heat of dry season, and it’s a rather overcast day, smiles soon come out from hiding and begin to form on faces savoring the delicious, cold treat.

Taste and see that the Lord is good even in the struggle, in the delay, in the hardship, in the unknown, despite our own desires and expectations.

His faithfulness can be found there in the intermingling of the joy and the grief, swirling together and always offering a safe space for both. As we intentionally focus our hearts on the Lord’s goodness found in even the most desperate of times, we will begin to discover it has been there the whole time.

Waiting for us to savor the sweetness of his unfailing love always at work in our lives.

In what ways have you seen the goodness of the Lord, even in the bitter or difficult seasons? How can you take time today to surrender any deep pain and open your heart to receiving comfort from the Lord?

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* First published on Velvet Ashes - https://velvetashes.com/from-bitter-to-sweet/