In You Can Live the Dream, Nick Nilson has written his first book about how we can learn to start living our dreams. Many people know Nick as the associate pastor of Lakewood Church alongside Joel and Victoria Osteen. We need to stop focusing on what we do currently do not have and where we hope to be next. He shared how Paul stated how we are called to live by faith and not by our sight. He explained how living the dream can all come down to having the right perspective. We can have change how we are seeing our lives. We can learn to be content in whatever seasons we are facing. He chose to share a powerful example of taking his son Denver to fish for the very first time. They weren’t having any luck in catching any fish. They would bait the line with worms. Nick thought it was a super failure and he figured his son would hate to fish after that. Later, he asked his son how he enjoyed the fishing. He told him he loved drowning all the worms. He realized at that point that his son thought they were drowning worms. He used this to explain the difference in perspectives. His son had fun and thought it was a successful mission. Our perspectives can greatly impact how we view our lives and we can choose how we respond to it. He shared how we need to give His promises more attention than we do to our problems.
One of my favorite chapters was about progress over perfection. We can choose to celebrate the small victories and the improvements we are making. He used the scripture story of the Israelites rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. After they finally finished the foundation for the temple of the Lord. The priests celebrated and praised the Lord even though it wasn’t even finished yet. Celebrating the process while we are still going through the journey can make all of the difference. He opened up about how his wife, Summer has been battling vertigo for a few years. They believed it was caused from a plane ride. She has been to many doctors and tried different things to get free from it. She hasn’t yet been set free from vertigo. One day he was at church when his wife texted Victoria and told her that she was on her way and she was driving to church. She rarely drove because of the dizziness and anxiety she faced. His wife decided to do it afraid and when she made it into the parking lot. Victoria and him celebrated the small victory she experienced. He used this exampled to show us how important it is to celebrate the process and we can rely on the truth that God will complete His work and continue it until Jesus returns.
Another prevailing story he included was about how he felt up a $100 dollar bill and asked the audience how much it was worth. He then proceeds to crumple it up and stepped on it and made it dirty. He then offered to give it to someone in the crowd. A college student eventually accepted it gladly and without any hesitation. He used this story to explain how the bill was tattered and dirty people still wanted it. He shared how people can’t change our worth and value. We need to see our value in that we are a child of God. He clarified how getting the bigger house, job title, getting married, and whatever else we think will increase our value. When the lights go down, none of that will truly matter. He also touched on the topic of comparison and we have nothing to prove to anyone else.
I would recommend this awesome book about living our dreams to anyone is looking for inspirations. I loved reading about how Nick wanted to play in football and how his injuries led him into the path of becoming a pastor. This was a very impactful story about understanding the power of perspective and celebrating how far we have come. I liked how he shared how we can have blessing in the margins and building character and integrity. The book also discussed how to pick out our dream team and the qualities they need to have. There is tons of helpful scripture references and teachings that will ignite our faith present in the book. Readers will be able to connect with the stories and this is a book meant to be reread and put into practice.
"I received this book free from the publisher, Hachette Book Group/Faithwords for my honest review.”
If you would like to purchase a copy, check it out on Amazon.com:
https://www.amazon.com/You-Live-Dream-Disappointment-Discontentment/dp/1546004661
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