Do you want to make REAL change this year? This goals planner is unlike anything you’ve likely seen. It’s a game-changing approach that doesn’t leave GOD and GRACE behind!
Do you struggle with setting goals and keeping them? Do you crave purpose and a plan? Are you always looking for the latest goals planner? Do you want a better way? Congratulations! You’ve come to the right blog post.
If you had known me six years ago, you would have known the scheduled, planned, to-do-list-making me. Life was pretty tamed, at least on paper. Through a series of God-orchestrated changes, twists, and turns, I learned what “one step at a time” really meant. {I also learned how to write in pencil on a calendar instead of sharpie.}
I now have a totally different approach to goals and planning and resolutions, oh, my.
I’m not knocking the planning thing. My heart still races a little when I see a three-year calendar or a new loose-leaf planner with tabs and stickers and color-coded … { but I digress }
Here’s the deal, though. I’ve learned a better way.
Being intentional is good. Great, even.
Planning your work like a wise steward is quintessentially Proverbs 31. High-five, there.
Striving for change and progress. Check. All good.
But when we approach these good actions without stopping to involve God and smother them with grace, that’s when GOOD meets GRUNTLED, or rather DISgruntled.
With all other aspects of life, I’ve become keenly aware of this truth: It’s NOT all up to ME. In fact, it’s NOT all about me.
You have probably learned that lesson as well. So why do we still think our goals and desires for change must rest primarily on our shoulders and plans and color-coded calendars?
I don’t have the answer to that. Actually, I have very few answers these days. In fact, the older I get, the more my questions outnumber my answers. Boy, do I wish I could go back to when I was younger and had it all figured out. {I just digressed again, didn’t I?}
Anyway. What I do have is a new process. I’ll share the basics with you if you’re also looking for a better way.
My Better Way: the Cliff Notes version
Take time to write out the desires of your heart. When you begin by defining what you want and then look to see how that lines up with God’s provision, His specific equipping, and your past experiences, you will eventually identify common threads worth exploring further.
Next, take those common threads to the Lord and ask for His counsel on the matter. Seek out Scripture on the topic and record whatever you read or hear from godly teachers.
As ideas begin to form, record them. Keep a journal of where your thoughts land after a sermon, the day’s Bible reading, or any other conversation with a godly counselor. Ask God for discernment to sort it all out and courage to act.
Through the process, embrace whatever trials and setbacks this year held. Catalog what you discovered through them and what they may have prepared you for in 2018. We learn more from our failures than we ever do from our successes.
Finally (and firstly), lean into God’s grace and rely on His power. It’s not all up to you and you don’t have to get it all right or know it all from the start. In the going, you learn more about how you should go.
(For more on this subject see: Discerning God’s Will: a 7-step process and 4 lessons learned about seeking God’s will)
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One Comment on “A Game-changing approach to setting Goals!”
Thank you for writing this! How timely and appropriate for me to have stumbled upon it as I reflect on the ending year and gear up for the new one. I will adjust my approach. God bless you!