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After severe financial difficulties, Wendy made a decision to move forward and become self-reliant once again. She told her husband, Simon that their family needed to do all they could to avoid finding themselves in a situation of financial insecurity. Having made that decision, Wendy prayed to Heavenly Father, asking Him to guide her towards something she could start that could help alleviate their financial struggles. It was then that an old recipe came to mind.
For years Wendy had made lemonade for her guests—something which was especially popular with the children. One day, when she and her husband were chatting, he remarked that her lemonade was good enough to be bottled and sold. That’s when the idea for Wendy’s Lemonade was sparked, but first she had to prove the idea through prayer and pondering. The more she prayed and pondered, the more it became clear that this was the right thing for her to do. With a confirmation from Heavenly Father, Wendy began selling her lemonade at a small craft market. The lemonade was an immediate hit.
Wendy began to employ a lady part-time, and together they made a ready-to-drink lemonade. Armed with this new variant of her product, Wendy approached a nearby school in Johannesburg, and in no time the school was asking her for more and more of the juice. With time, distribution expanded to more schools. The manufacturing process had expanded so much that Wendy and the team of single mothers who now worked with her, moved into her garage. Her sister-in-law, Daphne also worked with her and was a constant source of support. Things would only get busier as she began to introduce her lemonade to different retailers. It was not an easy process getting the product onto the shelves of established supermarkets in South Africa, but through trial and error she made it. Today Wendy’s Lemonade enjoys even more demand, and her range includes a cordial, a ready-made drink, and a new pink lemonade.
Wendy plans to further expand her product offering. The business is expanding and will soon need to be housed in bigger premises. “I knew that my business would be a success from the beginning, simply because I felt Heavenly Father’s approval,” says Wendy. Today she is still confident that with heaven’s help, her business will grow from strength to strength. “When Heavenly Father has given you an answer to your prayers, you can do it all,” she adds.
Wendy feels that her experience has valuable lessons for each one of us. First of all, in the quest for self-reliance, she stresses just how critical it is to save money when possible. Her formula for financial success is to set aside 10% of their income for tithing and another 10% for saving.
And the principle of generosity rings true as well. “The more you give, the more you will receive,” she says. That is how you take the lemons life gives you, and turn them into lemonade.