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A review by bellesmoma2021
Dare to Dream Again by Alana Terry
5.0
I love LOVE. It’s one of my most favorite things in all the world. If I’m not sitting on my couch reading a fabulous Christian Romance, then I am probably watching the latest film premiere on the Hallmark Channel. Love is wonderful, and I love that God made us to fall in love. What a wonderful Creator we have!
BUT love can be misleading. We can love incorrectly and this gets us into a lot of trouble. Real love is all about correct priorities and appropriateness. God needs to come first in our hearts ALWAYS. How we feel about God should trump our love for anyone or anything. When we place God first in our lives, priorities seem to naturally flow in proper, appropriate order. Unfortunately, many times without our even recognizing it, we place our love in people first, God second. Our entire day can pass by filled with thoughts and actions towards our husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, children, etc. We can go the entire day and not consider God even once.
In Dare to Dream Again by Alana Terry, the main character, Gloria, is a young widow. She explains in the novel that she and her husband fell deeply in love, married really young, had babies young, and then she lost her husband young. She has been a widow longer than she was ever with her dear husband, Stan. Over the many years of Stan’s absence, Gloria has taken to having internal “conversations” with him. I’ll be honest, I started to worry about Gloria. Gloria has an active faith in God and works really hard for her church, but she appears to have completely closed herself off to the idea of moving forward. She had the greatest love with Stan, so she is content now. She doesn’t need anyone else. But this line of thinking closes her off from God’s will. Maybe God’s plan for her is to have a new companion, or maybe it is to be alone. But not consulting God on the matter closes God off from the conversation.
We have to stay so focused on God or we might turn our loved ones into idols. God is the God of LOVE. He loves love, and totally condones His kids falling in love and making families. But we must remember daily that it is God who gives us true joy, a sense of belonging, and the acceptance we deeply crave, not our husbands, wives, friends, or children. We must look to Him first for these needs of ours. Then, and only then, will we be able to love our spouses/significant others and children appropriately as God desires. Of the many themes brought up in Dare to Dream Again, this topic resonated with me the most. This is definitely a reminder that I needed as my extremely busy day can pass by in seconds (it seems). If I am not careful I could let the entire day go by and never think about God, which would put my love priorities out of whack!
Dare to Dream Again is a wonderful story. It’s highly engaging and fast paced. It’s filled with wonderfully written and realistic characters. And the topics discussed in this story are timely and good reminders for readers today. I highly recommend this sweet romance!
I received a review copy of this novel in eBook form from the author via NetGalley and Celebrate Lit. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.
BUT love can be misleading. We can love incorrectly and this gets us into a lot of trouble. Real love is all about correct priorities and appropriateness. God needs to come first in our hearts ALWAYS. How we feel about God should trump our love for anyone or anything. When we place God first in our lives, priorities seem to naturally flow in proper, appropriate order. Unfortunately, many times without our even recognizing it, we place our love in people first, God second. Our entire day can pass by filled with thoughts and actions towards our husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, children, etc. We can go the entire day and not consider God even once.
In Dare to Dream Again by Alana Terry, the main character, Gloria, is a young widow. She explains in the novel that she and her husband fell deeply in love, married really young, had babies young, and then she lost her husband young. She has been a widow longer than she was ever with her dear husband, Stan. Over the many years of Stan’s absence, Gloria has taken to having internal “conversations” with him. I’ll be honest, I started to worry about Gloria. Gloria has an active faith in God and works really hard for her church, but she appears to have completely closed herself off to the idea of moving forward. She had the greatest love with Stan, so she is content now. She doesn’t need anyone else. But this line of thinking closes her off from God’s will. Maybe God’s plan for her is to have a new companion, or maybe it is to be alone. But not consulting God on the matter closes God off from the conversation.
We have to stay so focused on God or we might turn our loved ones into idols. God is the God of LOVE. He loves love, and totally condones His kids falling in love and making families. But we must remember daily that it is God who gives us true joy, a sense of belonging, and the acceptance we deeply crave, not our husbands, wives, friends, or children. We must look to Him first for these needs of ours. Then, and only then, will we be able to love our spouses/significant others and children appropriately as God desires. Of the many themes brought up in Dare to Dream Again, this topic resonated with me the most. This is definitely a reminder that I needed as my extremely busy day can pass by in seconds (it seems). If I am not careful I could let the entire day go by and never think about God, which would put my love priorities out of whack!
Dare to Dream Again is a wonderful story. It’s highly engaging and fast paced. It’s filled with wonderfully written and realistic characters. And the topics discussed in this story are timely and good reminders for readers today. I highly recommend this sweet romance!
I received a review copy of this novel in eBook form from the author via NetGalley and Celebrate Lit. In no way has this influenced my review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.