Happy New Year!! 2016 can be a victory year for each of us because Jesus has already won our victory! Whatever comes into our lives, as Christians, this year has already been allowed through His wisdom and He will give grace more than sufficient for every trial or hard thing.
One thing that I’ve been doing for the past few years, is making a list of goals for the new year. It may be more helpful to some than others, but I’ve found that it is really helpful as I’m trying to live an intentional life. It can help keep you on track and evaluate distractions. So many people don’t have many goals, let alone goals written down on paper. God calls us to “redeem the time” and “walk circumspectly” (very carefully) and putting goals down on paper can help us to see how we can use our time better and not waste these years.
First, I want to make sure that my heart is in the right place. I want God’s will for my life more than anything and want His desires for me to be the desires of my heart. If we ask God for wisdom, He promises to give it (James 1:5). I don’t use goals to plan the whole year out, (as it’s God who controls the future and often brings awesome opportunities into our lives that we didn’t even consider,) but rather to establish practical steps to what God’s calling me to do and things that I’d like to do to keep learning and growing. It’s wonderful to look back at your list after the year is over and see what God has done in your life, how he used something to teach and grow you, brought amazing opportunities into your life, and gave grace, strength, and answered prayer. I also see how some things lost importance and didn’t get done, but that’s ok – God had something so much better planned. We must always be open to His leading because He does know best for us and has a plan for our lives.
If you are looking for an organized way to start, it can be helpful to start with four different catagories:
- Spiritual goals
-Like, learning to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. That’s one of my life goals so I put it on my list. Some things I also wrote this year were: To be fully abandoned to God, resting full weight on Him and trusting Him through everything, and growing in specific character qualities like boldness and meekness.
- Relational goals
-Like praying for certain people, countries, things, etc., Specific ways to grow in my relationships with others.
- Ministry/Calling goals
-This can include specific ways God is calling to to live out your faith, ministry opportunities he is calling you to, whether it’s serving in your church, serving your family and siblings, school/learning, teaching a class, etc.
- Practical goals
They’re all practical :), but the goals that could go here are, for example, learning to play an instrument, perfecting cooking skills, learning to plan menus, starting an exercise routine, building something, journaling, memorizing scripture, business-related, you get the idea!
If God has given you any “impossible” or life goals, I like to add those on the list too.
Sometimes the goals can seem overwhelming and daunting, (I know because I feel that way sometimes), but God will give us the strength to do what He has called us to do. He has everything under control and it’s our job to rest in Him. Sometimes all we can do is the next thing and there is always sufficient grace.
So think of who you want to be in a year……..and then let’s embrace this year that God has given us, by learning to rest in Him more, trust Him through everything, not fight against but give thanks for the trials, stretching and pruning as part of the healthy growing process, and act on the calling that He has given us.
Some quotes that have encouraged me:
Good ideas!