When I was young, I dreamed of becoming an astronaut. I decorated my room with posters of space shuttles, collected books about space travel and exploration, studied the lives of female astronauts, and visited NASA as often as I could.

But in time, my interest in space began to fade, and it became clear that what I thought was the dream of becoming an astronaut was really nothing more than a daydream.

There is nothing wrong with daydreaming. I still daydream about space plus many other things such as becoming a ballerina, traveling to exotic locations and sewing elaborate dresses for my daughter. However, I now recognize the difference between a daydream and a dream.

Daydreams are the ideas that I imagine in my mind. Dreams are the ideas that I DO something about.

One of my favorite dreamers in the Bible is Nehemiah. Nehemiah lived after the Jewish exile in a time when the holy city of Jerusalem faced destruction. When Nehemiah learned that the walls of Jerusalem had been broken down and that the gates had been burned in fire, he was devastated. He immediately began dreaming of rebuilding the wall so that the restoration of Jerusalem could begin.

I’m sure many Israelites shared Nehemiah’s desire to see the walls of their precious city restored. They probably talked it over with their friends and family members. They imagined the finished task in their minds. They wondered and speculated and launched a thousand different hypothetical strategies. But in the end, they only had daydreams.

Nehemiah, however, had a true dream because his dream resulted in action. And once he acted on his dream, the Bible says that the wall was rebuilt in only fifty-two days!

If God has placed a dream in your heart, you may expect everything to fall into place simply and easily. But we forget that when God chooses to do big and exciting things, He often chooses to do them through His people. Even when the Lord parted the Red Sea, He still required Moses to raise His staff.

Nehemiah wasn’t content to sit and daydream about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He didn’t sit on the sidelines and hope that God had a plan. Instead, he maintained the proper respect that God was the ultimate authority and humbly submitted himself as available to get the job done.

If you have your own dream that requires action, I recommend that you read and study Nehemiah’s story and see how Nehemiah turned his dream into a reality. For now, here are the 8 steps you can take as well if you want to live beyond your daydream too.

1. Reconcile your dreams with God

Before he took the first step to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah spent time in prayer. He didn’t whisper a flippant, thoughtless “please bless me” prayer before running out of the trenches. Instead, he spent several days in focused mourning, fasting and prayer seeking God’s will before he acted.

2. Look for opportunities

Since Nehemiah was a cup bearer to King Artaxerxes, the King noticed that Nehemiah was upset and asked him what was wrong. Nehemiah recognized this as an open door and took it. He explained his desires to the King and took advantage of the opportunity to further his dream.

3. Make bold requests

When the King asked Nehemiah what he wanted, Nehemiah didn’t just settle for time off work. Instead, he boldly (but humbly) requested that the King grant him safe travels, letters of reference and help gathering supplies. In the end, the King granted all of his requests and even sent him away with army officers and a cavalry.

4. Recruit help

Nehemiah knew that he could not rebuild the entire wall himself. So he shared his vision with fellow Israelites, reminded them of God’s promises and recruited them to work with him. His dream became their dream.

5. Embrace opposition

Nehemiah faced serious persecution for leading the efforts to rebuild the wall. His team was threatened, taunted, accused, insulted and attacked. He had every reason to back down and abandon the goal. However, Nehemiah remained strong and focused. The opposition did not tear him down; instead it caused him to work harder and pray more frequently.

6. Encourage others

When his team became discouraged, Nehemiah did what every great leader must do – he encouraged them and reminded them of the bigger picture. They weren’t just building a wall. They were trusting the Lord and fighting for their families and homes.

7. Ignore distractions

Over and over again, Nehemiah’s enemies tried to lure him away from the wall. They wanted him to leave because they knew that if they could get him to take a temporary break, he would lose momentum and get off course. But Nehemiah was not distracted. He was committed to the completion of the wall and did not stop until the last stone was in place.

8. Celebrate

When the wall was complete, Nehemiah knew that there was still much work to do on the inside of the town. He could have moved immediately from one dream to the next. Instead, he made sure that the Israelites enjoyed a grand celebration. For seven days, they praised God, feasted and dedicated the new walls of Jerusalem to the Lord.

The truth is, anyone can be a daydreamer. It takes no effort and requires no accountability. But as you can see from Nehemiah’s story, being a true dreamer is much more difficult because it requires work. And not just a little work. No. It requires intentional work.

My favorite verse in all of Nehemiah’s story is this: “Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other” (Neh. 4:17 NIV). It reminds me that true dreamers are those who have learned to work and fight at the same time. As a Christian, we can “fight” with prayer. So whenever God places a dream in my heart, I try to remember those two essentials. Work plus fight. Perseverance plus prayer. My efforts plus God’s efforts.

Anything less is just a daydream.

What else would you add to this list? How do you live beyond your daydreams?