Life is fast! Days and months just fly by and sometimes I’m left holding the bag of regret about what I had hoped to do, or accomplish, in the aftermath of that season.
For most of us, the start of a new year comes with a future-focused mindset. So, I wanted to capitalize on this timing and have us strive to gain a faithful long-view for 2019. I’ve asked my friend and fellow Life Coach, Diana Kerr, to help us out with this.
Diana is passionate about living a bold, intentional, God-centered life that focus’ on what matters most. She is the most effective, intentional person I know, because she backs her good intentions with action (which is the hallmark of coaching). So, I thought, who better to share about faith-filled goals then her? As my guest blogger this month she has graciously provided direction for how to do just that with 5 Strategies to Incorporate Faith in Goal Setting.
Enjoy this time to dream, and to plan with God. I pray that Jesus guides you in whatever your goals are, and that you’d be blessed by outcomes that clearly have His fingerprints all over them!
We need to talk about including Jesus and our faith in goal setting.
Because If I read one more blog post or self-improvement book that 1) doesn’t talk about God at all or 2) uses god with a lowercase “g” or the Universe with an uppercase “u,” I’m going to lose it.
Well, okay, I’m being a little dramatic. And I will continue to come across this God-less approach to self-help for the rest of my life—I adore the topic of personal growth and reading about it.
(Confession: I’m a sucker for a catchy blog post like, “7 surprising mistakes you’re making with goal setting.” How can you not click on that? Please tell me you can relate.)
Here’s why God-less self-help is such a struggle for me, though:
To me, goal setting without God as the central piece of the process feels like constructing a lopsided algebraic equation. It’s an equation where you will never really find what you’re looking for or end up with a satisfying result.
Because no matter who you are or what you believe, God wired each of us to know deep down inside that something exists that’s bigger than us. And if the Holy Spirit worked faith in your heart and told you that that “something” was the triune God, you know the truth:
This world, this life . . . it’s not about us.
So how truly fulfilling is it to set goals without God in the center? It’s not. And how obedient is it to set goals without considering the God who created you for his purpose? It’s not.
You might not think that God cares about your goals, but he does. If he knit you together in your mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13) and he knows how many hairs are on your head (Luke 12:7), he cares about each of your goals, no matter how random it seems.
If you know me, you know that I love Jesus and I also love goal setting, and I make no apologies about that! God created me as the go-getter type, and I am determined to channel my driven nature in a positive way for his glory. Basically, I’m so insanely thankful that he saved me that I get excited about living a life of gratitude through my actions!
If you feel the same way, you’ve probably got some goals on your heart that need to be set and started on! Here’s a list I put together for you of strategies you can use to incorporate your faith in goal setting (in no particular order):
1) Pray:
- Before you get started: Start the goal-setting process with prayers for help in the areas of surrender, hearing God’s voice, achieving clarity, and making God’s glory known.
- When your goals are complete: Pray for God’s blessing over your goals.
- Throughout the year: Pray over your to-do list for the day or week.
2) Choose a Bible passage to be your theme for the year. Mine for this year is John 3:30, John the Baptist’s words about his cousin and Savior, Jesus:“He must become greater; I must become less.”(Come back next week for a post on that verse!)
3) Assign a Bible passage to each goal. An obvious way to incorporate your faith in goal setting is to choose a verse for each goal to guide the way you go about it. I’m not saying to twist the Bible and take it out of context, but to use it as a guidebook and an encouragement in a proper way. Need help finding a verse? Google can help! Try searching “Bible passages about health” or “Bible passages about stewardship,” etc. Then look them up to read the surrounding verses and make sure that’s a good fit to guide you in your pursuit of that goal.
4) Surround yourself with goal-oriented Christians to support you.If you don’t have any friends who are ambitious or if barely anyone you follow on Instagram is Christian, that’s going to start to affect you. You may lose motivation, feel guilty about your drive, or forget to keep God in the equation with your goals. Find people who are similar to you and who can support you. (A few women I follow and/or know, women who God has blessed with platforms and who are both goal oriented as well as strong in their faith, are Lara Casey, Val Woerner, Jess Connolly, Emily Thomas, and Nancy Ray, among others. They help me stay focused on the prize, which brings me to my final suggestion. . . .)
5) Evaluate your goals in light of the ultimate goal. Paul reminds you what that is in Philippians 3:12-14: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. . . . Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”Connect your goals to an eternal why. Why do these goals matter in the scope of eternity? Considering this question will not only help you refine your goals if needed but also help you stay motivated.
I can’t wait to see what you will joyfully, intentionally accomplish to God’s glory this year! Tell me, how do you creatively include faith in goal setting in your life?
Let me tell you more about my friend, @DianaKerr. She is a Certified Professional Life Coach who helps go-getter Christian chicks break free from stress, guilt, and overwhelm! If you’re ready to fight for a bold, intentional life, focused on what matters most be sure to Click here! If you’re looking for great practical resources to achieve your 2019 goals, check out another one of Diana’s blogs: 6 Ways to Get a Jumpstart on your 2019 Goals.
#goals #goalsetting #2019goals #intentionallife #lifecoach #EQCoachKaryn #CoachKaryn #EQ #EI #newyearnewyou #faith #faithandgoals #faithandgoalsetting #DianaKerr #Christiancoaching