Bittersweet

As a child I didn't like chocolate as it always left a bitter taste in my mouth after I ate it. The beginning was okay. It was sweet and delicious but when I was done the aftertaste didn't make it worth eating it. I always wondered why people enjoyed eating chocolate because to me it wasn't worth it. I'd never be a chocoholic no matter what people said about it. As I've thought about this I've realized that I've had many of these same experiences in my life. Often I have had the most amazing fun but then something comes along to hurt me and that bitterness returns and leaves me broken and hurting. No matter how hard I try it takes me time to recover and remember the fun I had. These are my bitter sweet moments in life and I've had many of these. A friend told me recently that this is just Satan trying to discourage me so I lose heart.

This reminds me of the story found in Exodus 15:22-25. It says, "Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet."

Maybe you have faced moments like this and feel discouraged and grumble about these disappointing, bitter things in your lives. This is when we must cry out to God as well for help just like Moses did. If He can turn the waters of Mara into sweet-tasting water, He can turn the bitterness of our life into something sweet as well.