Open Your Eyes

Thomas Nelson Publishing, through the BookSneeze program, provided me with a copy of Open Your Eyes by Jake Olson and McKay Christensen in exchange for an honest review.

What an inspirational book! Jake Olson lost his sight to eye cancer when he was twelve years old. But that hasn't stopped him from playing football, taking AP classes in high school, having a positive attitude, praising God through it all, or even working on his goal of one day playing on a PGA golf tour (seriously!).
So this book is about Jake, yes, but it also has stories from others who have faced major struggles in their lives (Muhammad Ali, for example). There is also a lot of "self-help" talk by McKay Christensen, a researcher and speaker about how adults learn and find happiness. That writing is always followed by "Insights From" Jake, his parents, or his twin sister to show how they have put that particular teaching into practice.
Each chapter begins with a quote and ends with "In Summary" bullet points.

Some spots I marked in the book:

• "Struggle and pain...were not put here to torment or mock men, but to life and build them...Adversity, pain and struggle do not challenge the Lord's love for us, they prove it." (p. 28)
• "When we make mountains from molehills, we expect others to change, when it may be we who need to change." (p. 64)
• "One of the most important things I have learned is to stay calm and not imagine the worst possible outcome. It's important to focus on the best possible outcome." (p. 75)
• "A dream without reality is only a wish." (p. 157)
• "When you have a positive image of the future and confront the facts realistically, you learn and get better. You constantly get stronger and wiser from adversity. You can bear more challenges today because you've lived through them in the past."
• "If you're not happy with who you are or what path you're traveling in life, if you don't feel that you've met your true potential, then maybe you need to live consistently with your moral compass."