Jessica Wilkinson - The Dream Giver for Teens

The Bugs Story parable is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogues are products of the authors imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

THE DREAM GIVER FOR TEENS
published by Multnomah Books
A division of Random House, Inc.
Based on The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson and David and Heather Kopp.
2004 by Exponential, Inc.

Published in South Africa by Lux Verbi.BM

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from: The Holy Bible, New King James Version 1984 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Other Scripture quotations are from:
The Message 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002

Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

Multnomah and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout prior written permission.

For information:
MULTNOMAH BOOKS
12265 ORACLE BOULEVARD, SUITE 200
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO 80921

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wilkinson, Jessica.

The dream giver for teens / Jessica Wilkinson ; with Bruce Wilkinson.

p. cm.

eISBN: 978-0-307-76933-6

1. Christian teenagersReligious life. I. Wilkinson, Bruce. II. Wilkinson, Bruce Dream giver. III. Title.

BV4531.3.W554 2004

248.83dc22

2004015519

v3.1

This book is for every teen who holds on to the hope that life is able to take them places they are afraid to even dare dream of.
May you find your dream, embrace it, and change the world because of it.

I know words will never be enough to thank my family for all they have done, but I hope you know how grateful I am to God for giving you to me. Your belief in me has pushed me to build wings and fly, though most would think it impossible. Thanks for not letting me simply take their word for it, but instead encouraging me to test it for myself until I find that it is possible. Thank you for chasing your dreams so passionately and leaving footprints in the sand along the way for me to follow.

Most of all, Dream Giver, thanks for giving me a dream far too big for me to hold on my own.

Welcome to Dreamlands magic carpet ride! Please climb aboard your personal flying carpet. Try to ignore the talking parrot, begin rubbing the old lamp located in the right corner of the seat pocket in front of you, and hold on tight! Your very own large blue genie, with a voice much like Robin Williams, will be with you in just a moment with the answers to all your questions as well as the ability to let you see into your future and reshape it to create the life of your dreams. But before you do, I must warn you that when dreams come true, your life will never ever be the same but then again, thats the point of dreams, isnt it? We hope you have a pleasant experience and enjoy your stay with us!

What would you do if that situation could take place in real life and not only in your imagination? What would you do if you had the ability to see what God wanted your life to look like, or if you could look at your dreams through eyes of understanding and not of confusion? Would things be different? If you understood your heart a little more, do you think your life would have more meaning and less frustration? Do you think your life would look a lot different than it does now? Would you be willing to follow your heart more and let it take you out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary? What would you do if I told you that it doesnt take a magic flying carpet to get you there? A life full of meaning and dreams begins just inside of you, actuallya little to the left, in what we call the heart. Interested? There may not be any talking parrots, but there will be excitement, passion, and contentment, and if you look hard enough, you just may find that life that God created you to live. Keep on reading and hold on tight. The ride is only just beginning!

Im almost entirely convinced that every single person in the world believed that they were invincible when they were a kid. In fact, I dont think Ive ever met a little kid who didnt believe that wholeheartedly. Boys make their belief in it a bit more obvious by trying to fly off couches and tables, but deep down we all thought we were secret superheroes with the ability to change the world without getting hurt. Worst-case scenario was that we might need a Band-Aid after we saved the world.

But then the day comes when we wake up, and out of nowhere something known as reality hits us. And it hits us hard! We discover that we arent invincible, that we arent actually superheroes, and that worst of all, we cant even really fly! Our eyes are suddenly opened to the fact that, whether we like it or not, we dont live in a world of fairy godmothers and things arent fixed with a wand and a magic saying. In our world, most people dont even live happily ever afterthey just live. Every day we do the same things, over and over and over again. We are taught to forget about fantasies of wild adventures and thoughts of saving the world, and instead begin studying stuff like how many animals are left in a field when all the sheep are taken away from the cows. We forsake our dreams and learn to live without the one thing that used to be our very life.

But what if I told you that its not supposed to be this way? What if I told you that life isnt meant to be lived apart from dreams, but for them? What if I told you that your dream of saving a little bit of the world just may be whats supposed to come true, and even though you wont be someones hero by flying across the sky, you just may be their hero by using what God put inside of youif you find it, that is.

I used to think that living a dream was only for special people who had done something right and had somehow captured the glance of God. My theory then changed, and I began to believe that dreams were nothing more than a feeble attempt to escape reality for a whilethat in order to keep going, we tell ourselves the lie that someday life will be better and we will be happier. But we dont usually do anything with our dreams except think about them, and so they dont change anything. I became certain that dreams come true only in Disney movies.