The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson

Have you ever had a dream?  A dream that you were sure God gave to you, only to give up on it because you are convinced that you must have heard wrong?  In The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson, you will learn how to revive those dreams.  In most circumstances, God hasn't given up on our dreams, but we have.  And that is why we never achieve them. 

The book is centered around the legend of a man named Honi.  Honi lived in the "first century BC, and a devastating drought threatened to destroy a generation - the generation before Jesus. "  Honi was famous for calling down rain from the heavens.  So his community looked to him for help.  Honi drew a circle in the sand, stepped into it, looked up toward heaven and told God that he would not step out of that circle until he sent rain.  And the rain came.  It was more like a torrential downpour from the sky! 

Mark Batterson challenges us to draw our own prayer circles around our dreams and to not give up.  His book is full of so many amazing stories of God's faithfulness to Mark personally and how Mark has used prayer circles time and again to see God fulfill dream after dream.  Dreams that Mark never thought possible.  Dreams that seemed downright silly.  Mark Batterson is a firm believer of circling our dreams in prayer and through his book, hopefully you will become one too!  I know this book has challenged me personally concerning my prayer life.  I tend to pray once for something, and when I don't see God answering the prayer almost instantly, I tend to think "well, I guess it's wasn't God's will".  But so many times we walk away from those prayers without giving God time to answer them.  Most often, God is working behind the scenes closing doors of what is essentially 2nd or 3rd best in order to give us THE best.  Because of those closed doors, we walk away and give up without ever experiencing THE best that God has for us in that situation.  

When I first picked up this book, I really wasn't sure what a prayer circle was, but I was intrigued!  I now am excited to confront my prayer life with a new dimension...of circles.  No longer will I only pray once for something.  I will circle that prayer with many prayers until it become what Mark Batterson describes as "long and boring".  That is when I will see God move on my behalf. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for this honest review.