You're made for a God-sized dream (by Holley Gerth)

(Amazon UK link)

Having very much appreciated Holley Gerth’s book ‘The powerful purpose of Introverts’, which I read earlier this year, I decided to try one of her other books. I was able to order ‘You’re made for a God-sized dream’ from World of Books online, and a friend brought it out to Cyprus for me. 

I started reading the book in the middle of June, with just a few pages each day since it needed quite a bit of internal processing. The premise of the book is that we all have dreams, planted in our minds and souls by God, which are intended uniquely for each of us. These dreams, when brought to reality, will help us grow and mature, and there may be many of them in the course of someone’s life. 

I was a bit cynical at first, but soon understood that these dreams don’t have to be huge, or world-changing. The adjective ‘God-sized’ is rather misleading, in my view, since God is infinite, and most of the dreams discussed in this book are quite small, in global terms. I would have preferred the adjective ‘God-given’. And when I thought of it in those terms, I realised that yes, over the course of my six decades, I’ve had many dreams which, in retrospect, probably were divinely inspired. 

A dream I had from childhood, for instance, was to learn a particular kind of country dancing; I would listen to the music on my old record-player, and long to be able to dance. When I was eleven, my dream began to be realised at my secondary school, and I continued this dancing, eventually teaching it myself, for nearly a decade.  Having said that, another dream - to be a professional ballet dancer - was not realised. I was very disappointed at times, but am pretty sure in retrospect that a career in ballet would not have suited me. 

When I was about sixteen, I didn’t have much ambition at all; all I wanted was to be a wife and mother. I followed other people’s advice, and acquired A-levels and then a university degree, but they all felt a bit irrelevant. I got a job and was fairly good at it, but it was never my passion. Far more significant was getting married while I was still at university and, six years later, having my first baby. I revelled in motherhood and home education, but lost sight of other dreams so that the ‘empty nest’ was, at first devastating.

Other projects have materialised, over the years, which I think were probably God-given, including reviewing all the books I read on this blog… and eventually publishing a book about home education. Now, I’m trying to find out what I’m meant to do (if anything) beyond looking after the house and a few other small things. So the book was very timely. 

Some of it feels a bit ‘American’, and there are some images using fancy cursive handwriting which I found very difficult to read. But overall, I thought this was an excellent book. It’s encouraging, it’s personal, it shares anecdotes about the author’s life, and the lives of many people she’s worked with. It explains what blockages we are likely to experience, and it reminds us, too, that God loves us anyway. We’re uniquely made for our ‘calling’, whether big or small in the world’s eyes, and that we’ll be our best selves if we follow it. But we’re loved no matter what. 

There are indications about how we can tell whether a dream is ‘God-sized’ (in the author’s terms) or just our own wishes; suggestions about how to confirm this, and many other different aspects of exploring who we are, and how to be our best selves. Although aimed at women, there’s no reason why the contents of this book shouldn’t also apply to men. 

There are questions for what the author calls ‘going deeper’ at the end of each chapter. I did consider downloading the free printable workbook, but decided against it. Maybe I’ll do so when I read the book again, as I expect to do in another five or six years.  

Definitely recommended, if you’re interested in exploring who you are, in God’s eyes, and what he might have put in your mind or heart. 

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