Imagine a guy who’s on the way to a major business meeting and he crashes his car into the embankment. He wakes up a day later in the hospital and his friend comes to visit him. And his friend says you know, it’s true that your car was totaled, it’s true that you’re in rough shape, and it’s also true that you probably lost that account, which may even jeopardize your business, but look at the bright side, at least you don’t have to change the oil in your car anymore.
That’s an example of what people call making lemonade out of lemons. That when life brings you a bad situation find the silver lining in that cloud. And while that is a very important life lesson and a very good attitude to use in many situations, it has nothing whatsoever to do with bitachon (trust). Bitachon is not taking a bad situation and somehow finding some good in it; bitachon means recognizing that Hashem brought me to this situation. Bitachon means recognizing that Hashem guides my life. Bitachon means recognizing that Hashem has a much better understanding of my needs than I do. What I see is bleak and black, but I see but an inch in front of my nose. Recognizing that Hashem guides me throughout my life, recognizing that Hashem has a much bigger picture of the world and recognizing that Hashem has my betterment in every situation that happens means recognizing that this situation is for my best. Whether I understand it now, whether I ever will understand it, I understand that Hashem knows better than I what I need. And I understand that Hashem brought me to the situation for my betterment.
