Lemons to Lemonade Book Review

The blurb: “Lemons to Lemonade” is the story of one woman’s journey away from God. It is also the story of God’s calling her back to Himself, patiently over the course of years. But it’s more than just a story. This is an upbeat motivational book for spiritual growth for all women. Has your life gone sour?

God can take all the lemons you find in your experiences and make something good happen. He can make lemonade! Just as He had plans for Sylvia, He has plans for you that are uniquely your own – plans to give you a future and a hope of life eternal with Him.

The story is about Sylvia Matiko’s run from and eventual return to God. She was born to a Catholic father and a non-practicing seventh day Adventist mother. Growing up, she did not attend church regularly even though she went to an Adventist high school and college.

After graduating from university, she became a very successful professional but she was not happy. Thus began her search for God.

Jesus reached out to her by answering a prayer she thought was unanswerable: “Lord, please let someone take an interest in me. Let someone reach out to me!” She had made a deal with God to begin attending church regularly after he had answered the prayer for her husband to get a job that he wanted and for their house to be sold quickly.

God had already proven that he could hear her and was willing to answer her prayers yet still she wanted further confirmation.

He pursued her in ways that showed his great love for her. In the process, she came to know God, learned more about herself and started to understand what God wanted her to do with her life.

I was somewhat disappointed with this book because on the cover the banner says finding God’s plan or my life. I took that to mean that the book would somehow help me to answer questions that I had about finding my own purpose. Instead, the book was Sylvia Matiko’s testimony and a recap of a number of books she had read and things she had learned.

If you read the book without the expectation of discovering answers to your question of finding purpose, you will find it to be inspiring. You will also see how God pursued one of his lost daughters. You will see how he used her to help draw others to himself when she submitted to him. You will find hope that he will do the same for you.

Favorite Quotes from Lemons to Lemonade and Why I Like Them:

Sitting there I prayed, “Lord here’s my 5 year plan. You’re going to have figure it out! It’s now in your hands.” pg. 25

My cousin and I said basically the same thing to each other a few months ago. We realized that the plans that we had for our lives either failed to come true, or didn’t bring us the happiness we were expecting when they did. We’ve decided to give God the job to plan our lives to see how he handles it.

It wasn’t until I was broken that I realized I needed changes in side where no one can see. It wasn’t until I would broken that God could make himself real to me. pg. 37

I am fascinated by brokenness as someone who has felt broken before. I love the way that God uses people who are broken to do amazing things.

Pat is my spiritual sister a friend as dear to me as Jonathan was the David. We have shared many of the same experiences and frustrations, often finding ourselves on the same spiritual path enabling us to encourage each other in a remarkable way. pg. 77

Believers need someone to walk with otherwise the journey gets lonely and we turn back. The real truth is sometimes we rarely find the fellowship that we crave in the church. But it is possible to find that one person who speaks our language that we can walk with. That person plays the dual role of mentor-mentee to our dual role of encourager-encouraged.

“Wow!” I thought. “How easy it is to get used to starting the day without him. But how much better keep that appointment.” pg. 112

This is such a true statement. When our lives get busy the first thing that goes is our quiet time with God. But we are so much more effective when we offer him the sacrifice of our time – no matter how little time we think we have.

God already had an answer to my dilemma I just needed to listen. Funny isn’t it, how we worry and fuss when what we most need to do is pray and listen? pg. 121

How many times have you been in this same position? You worry yourself sick over something while God is standing there patiently just waiting for us to call on him because he already has the answers.

Purchase your copy of Lemons to Lemonade on Amazon. Have you read Lemons to Lemonade? What was your opinion of the book? Did you like it? Hate it? Let me know in the comments below.

About the Author

Sylvia Matiko makes her home in Franklin, TN with her husband, Warren, who is the HCIS Manager at Williamson Medical Center. Sylvia is co-founder and a principal of A Different View, an international management consulting firm which specializes in museums, theme parks, zoos, and aquariums.

In addition to her business interests, she was a member of the core group involved in planting a new church in Franklin, TN, and works with the greeting ministry and periodically facilitates a Sabbath School class. She is an oft-requested speaker for various conferences from women’s ministry to leadership training.

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