Life Gave Us Some Lemons, but Jesus is Turning Our Lemons into Lemonade!

 Just a Little Encouragement that He Can Turn It Around for You Too!

Constance Brown, Soteria Brown and Constance-Gabrielle Brown at the 2021 African-American Cultural Festival.

The photo above was taken four years ago. It was a few months after God gave us the scripture in Isaiah 54:2,12 to expand our tents and make room for more children. I remember this day like it was yesterday. We were at the African-American Cultural Festival with our mom in Dayton and it was the FIRST time we had every dream that God had given our mother on display; her school [Sophia Learning Center], her book, and her hand-crafted gifts. Everything that she had out there that day was selling and she was so excited and happy that when it was approaching time to go, she didn't want to leave.

I (Soteria) remember feeling like, "this is it." God is getting ready to launch Sophia Learning Center and everything that he had given our mommy. THIS is what we've been waiting for... but just a couple weeks later our lives would take a turn that we never saw coming, our mommy would be gone and we would be left struggling to see how this God who promises to work out everything for our good could make this life situation that we were facing good...

It’s been four years since God gave us that promise, but in those four years we have seen God keep us, carry us when it was hard to get up, strengthen us when we didn't want to take another step; and sit with us and remain faithful even when we were mad at Him.

Maybe you feel the same way, like life hit you with some pain that you were certainly not prepared for, and this pain is literally tearing you apart from the inside out. We are here to tell you that it's not over and that God can still turn what you've been through into something good.

Romans 8:28 says that God works everything out for the good for those who believe in Him (paraphrasing). Life gave us a situation that was meant to break us, but over the past four year's we've seen God working to make this good and even more recently with moving to our new incubation space, we see God bringing a dream, that we were unsure how it could ever come to fruition with our mom gone, back to life; and He is building the Foundation for what will ultimately be what our beautiful mommy called a “training center” for world changers. Children who come through the doors of Sophia Learning Center will get a firm foundation in Christ and a firm foundation in reading and math and ultimately go back into their schools, homes, environments and change them by being who God created them to be.  

There is a new song out by a Christian artist named Forrest Frank and The Figs called Lemonade. "Ironically" this song dropped the night before we hosted our annual lemonade stand.  One of our favorite lines from the song is, "Life Gave Me Some Lemons, But My Jesus He Be Making Lemonade." Timely, right?!

We don't know what all lies ahead, but we know that God is taking this situation that broke our hearts and is somehow going to turn this into lemonade - cool, refreshing, sweet lemonade that will refresh and bless generations.

So, we just wanted to encourage you today to keep walking. If you do, it has to work out for your good!

Listen to the song we hope It encourages you just as It has encouraged us: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmumYuw-TOw&list=RDRmumYuw-TOw&start_radio=1