If You Don't Like Lemonade, Stop Buying Lemons

By Gil Rosenfeld and Katie Carpenter

Ever since the beginning of the world, man has contained within him an insatiable desire to be the captain of his own ship and master of his own fate. It's a natural flaw in man in our fallen state. It really becomes problematic when pride prevents one from looking outside their selves for help or for the correct answers in life. It's not that God has abandoned us with no direction or answers, it is simply the failure to launch in oneself a humbling posture to allow us to receive that which God has given to us freely""his wisdom. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him" (Jas 1:5, ESV).

After years of history on display, man makes the same mistake every day. He understands what faith is and knows how to apply it but fails to seek out wisdom to point him in the right direction to place his faith. Where you place your faith determines the directions your path of life will be. Will you travel the long, hard, pothole-ridden dusty road, or the well""paved, smooth, and straight road that sojourners decided to take before you to success. Why not follow them and make it easier on yourself?

The book is my commentary of examples from my life where it seemed I always did it the hard way. Taking the wrong road because I trusted my feelings instead of the trusted GPS (men never stop to ask for directions). I wrote this book from my failures and my search for truth to help others reach for wisdom in decision-making processes. Of course, everyone still has that great gift from God of freedom of choice to make decisions in what they think is right. In the end, it may lead to the lemonade stand. (Proverbs 14:12)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9781642992014

Book preview

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If You Don't Like Lemonade, Stop Buying Lemons

Gil Rosenfeld

ISBN 978-1-64299-200-7 (Paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64299-202-1 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-64299-201-4 (Digital)

Copyright © 2018 by Gil Rosenfeld

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

From Would You Like To Know God Personally? ©1965-2018 Bright Media Foundation and Campus Crusade for Christ. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Idedicate my first book foremost to God. It is His Wisdom contained within these pages. It was His inspiration, direction, guidance and wisdom that became the message for this book. I hope I did not let him down. I also want to thank my wife Nadene and daughter Erin. They loved me throughout the mistakes I made that complicated their lives as well as mine. Thank you for your love, respect and support that never ceased.

Introduction

Iam not a big fan of lemonade. So why would I continue to make it and keep it around? There is the solution: if I don’t like lemonade, I should stop buying lemons. Sounds simple, right? But this analogy has been popularized in business and other areas of life which is associated with having to make the best of a big mistake. We have heard the term during a poor life decision, Well, we will just have to make lemonade out of the lemons. The lemons are used as an analogy of the decision or object that has caused us angst. We must turn a bad situation, somehow, into a good outcome. Easier said than done.

For years, I have maintained a journal as a tool to always be reminded of what God is doing in my life. As I look back years into the journal, I am reminded those times I was struggling. To be honest, those struggles were tied in some way to poor decisions I had made. Most of the time, I would react to a problem and try to figure it out on my own. Now reviewing the journal regularly, I can lean into my history and learn what God was trying to teach me. I also had a firsthand account of how God brought me through those tough times. I still remember saying to myself, I guess if I want the pain to go away, I need to stop banging my head into the wall. I was learning that if doing something causes pain, just stop! The journal is very helpful in keeping me in check, even today. It is from the years of recording and reviewing my journal that God has led me to attempt to publish that same wisdom he has taught me over the years. I hope my struggles with applying truth against feelings will be helpful to others.

As you start this journey with me in this book, we are going to use a very old illustration that is compared to the forward movement of a train versus being at a standstill. The point is that there is only one way to drive the train forward and get to where you want to go—it all starts with prayer. Prayer is the single most important fact-finding activity you can engage in. The outcome of that prayer is determined whether you are willing to obey the truth you have found. But sometimes it’s the last thing we try. The direction from scripture is clear: (James 1:5) If any lacks wisdom, let them ask of God Who gives wisdom abundantly. The book of Proverbs was inspired by God through the pen of a wise king named Solomon. When God promised him anything he wanted, he did not ask for wealth, buildings, armies, or cattle. He asked of God only for wisdom. He used wisdom to then accomplish all his desires. It is wisdom that helps us overcome the trials of life and keep us from the pain of future bad decisions. No one likes to go backward in life. We all love progress. It all starts with prayer seeking wisdom, just like King Solomon. As we move forward in this book, you will see the many ways God answers prayer and provides wisdom.

The writer and futurist Alvin Toffler, once stated, The illiterate of the twenty-first century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn. With a background in technology, communication, and business, his future-looking hypotheses had to be rooted in facts that were known. He looked both back at where he came from and in his present to see where he was headed. After college, he experienced the day-to-day struggles of life and business from a blue-collar working perspective prior to continuing to higher academics. His quote serves as more than a well-stated jewel of wisdom but a warning. Understanding and embracing this quote is not just wisdom for establishing and running a successful business, but a trouble-free life. This quote is full of meaning. It is pregnant and it will give birth to a whole new direction for navigating the potholes in the roads of life. Read it over and over, then read it again. Here is where wisdom begins.

Why is it that we cannot relearn? Is it because we are really that resistant to change, or is it that our opinions and our peers’ opinions are more important to us than doing the right thing?

Perhaps others might think unkindly of us if we don’t think or act as they do. What about the amount of history to look back on? Is it lacking? The answer is resoundingly no. When Toffler was speaking of learning from history and re-programming our thinking, he had the history of the world in mind. We can easily look in the rearview mirror and glean from the many historical events birthed out of the decisions of mankind to adjust what we know and be more successful. We can return all the way back to the very creation of life. We first learn of this in the opening pages of the Bible. Man sinned against God and the curse was a hard and difficult life. The first man and woman truly had nothing to worry about or no decisions to make. They only had to follow God’s wisdom. However, as we so often do today, we think we have all the wisdom we need and rush into decisions based on our feelings. The evil message of that day to Adam and Eve was, Did God really say that? In other words, God’s wisdom cannot be trusted; trust yourself, what does your gut say? From that decision, we now live with the curse that fell upon all men. Looking back, it is easy to conclude that life is difficult and very complicated by itself as famously stated in the book, The Road Less Traveled. I may not agree with everything in the book, but this opening statement is true. And it is all tied back to the opening chapters and history recorded in the Bible.

Most of the time, we further complicate life by not seeking wisdom from the world around us from the creative expertise of God. Whether it is business decisions, relationship decisions, financial decisions, or the many other quandaries we will face in life, there is wisdom all around us. We have first and foremost the Word from God, preserved over the centuries. After all, if it was good enough to help Solomon who was very successful, it should be good enough for us.

I know most of us are the same. We want to be successful yesterday. If I want to be successful, and I do, I would want to know what other successful people and/or organizations did right that led them to their success or goal. I also would want to read about what mistakes they made along the way, so I can avoid them. Why recreate the wheel?

I can speak from experience. I will say, as many of us eventually do, Oh, if I had it to do over again. However, most decisions we make in our life we cannot take back. We are then left to make the best of the consequences of those decisions (making lemonade out of lemons). Many of us will face a tough road in life naturally because of things not within our control. Death, destruction, disease, natural disasters, and many other trials that cause hardships in our lives. So, let’s not complicate life further by adding additional trials that we can control. This is a continual lifelong goal I have. I know personally when we feel like we are carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders, the easy thing to do is turn to what we know best, our feelings. My emotions, and many times anger, misguided me in decision-making. When I should have been becoming wiser with age and removing complications from my life, I was making it worse. Not only was I moving in the wrong direction but needing help myself limited my opportunity to help others. That would be my family, my friends, neighbors, and the world around me. Because after all, isn’t this the real purpose in life? To fellowship with God, our Creator, and to utilize our God-given gifts to serve one another? It is difficult to help anyone when you are in much need of help yourself.

Sometimes, the sovereignty of God must take over. He started placing me in the lives of many people who possessed wisdom. I have been privileged over my lifetime to be around key people who not only had book smarts, but also wisdom. There were physicians who had to process a lot of information in managing the care of another individual who needed help. There were never hasty decisions, but well-thought-out decisions based on facts (in health care we call them diagnostics such as x-rays). I still work with some of the greatest physicians in medicine today and nothing has changed. There is much arguing and reasoned thought in professional societies to try to identify real facts that will aid in saving lives and controlling suffering. It is a never-ending search to know more to provide the best care and make the right decisions for the world’s many diseases that create so much suffering.

Suffering is not just disease related. I have also worked in industry for many years surrounded by many businessmen and women who had to run multimillion-dollar organizations. While not directly treating patients or managing a family, the underlying processes of decision-making and problem-solving was the