My first blog post of the year! Happy New Year! It’s been a minute since I’ve blogged about anything – mostly because I was kind of in a place where I was over it. Writing has been one of my greatest talents and something joyful and therapeutic for me, but what do you do when you’re no longer into things that brought you joy and provided you a positive outlet? Do you just stop? Do you take a break and then come back? For me, I guess it was about taking time to refocus and really discover how God wants me to use my talents. I felt like I was being overwhelmed by other things I had going on and just didn’t use the little spare time I would get to write. I think we all go through those periods where we question life and what we’re doing and just need to take a moment to pause and re-figure everything out. One thing about this time of year is that it brings about a sense of refreshing or restarting. It’s kind of like when your computer or phone is acting up or it’s slower than usual. It’s not necessarily broken, but hasn’t been powered down in a while and just needs to be restarted – powered down and then powered up again. I like to think of the New Year like that. As one year ends I like to unwind, power down, get refreshed and start anew.
As I sat and reflected on my 2017 goals and thought about how I’d like to grow in 2018, many of the things I thought about were similar to or building upon last year’s goals. So for me this year is more so about taking the necessary action steps. Sometimes it’s not about the goals, because let’s face it we have goals for days, it’s more about the objectives or action steps we take to reach those goals. Having goals is wonderful, but if you don’t know how you’re going to get there then they are just pictures on your vision board. This year for me is about building the strongest relationship with God that I’ve ever had (I’m calling it my God goals), then everything else will fall into place or by the wayside, depending on His will. Often times we have these goals and visions, we throw them on our vision board and we put them up on our wall – which is awesome – but many of us grow weary, we lose sight and we fall back into old habits and not accomplishing the goals we set at the top of the year. I’ve discovered that somewhere along the road of reaching those goals we leave out the One who sustains us, who gives us the strength when we feel like giving up, and who reminds us to whom we belong. I don’t know about you, but that’s been my trip up year after year and then I find myself trying to reach some of the same goals year after year.
This year I said I was going to do things differently. Yes, I still have my goals and visions and am going to put them on my vision board. But I’m shifting my focus this time around from the goals to the one action step that they all have in common which is seeking God. I want to ensure that each of my steps towards reaching my goals align with God’s will for my life and that He fully equips me to accomplish those things. I’ve learned time and time again that putting Him first is the game changer (from my vegan lifestyle in 2016 with zero desires for cheese or chicken – who was that crazy girl?! – to the building of our first home), so I’m applying that principle for 2018. This year is the year of God goals – spending more time in prayer and devotion with Him in order to crush my goals. I’ll have my vision board to remind me of many of the desires God has given me, but that reminder will always point me back to Him. It’s like a win win when you include God from the jump, rather than planning out your life then asking God to bless it. How many of us are guilty of that? So, let’s do something different in 2018. Let’s start the year off with asking God to show us His will for our lives, what He wants us to do with the talents He’s blessed us with (some of us may already know) and surrendering everything (every desire, every sin, everything struggle – EVERYTHING) over to Him. THEN we write out those goals/visions, develop our vision boards and post these things somewhere where we can see it daily. Finally, go back to the source of our strength everyday for motivation, renewal, guidance and endurance. No more doing this thing by ourselves, no more sitting watching other people succeed and wishing we could too, and no more losing motivation and giving up. Each of us was born with a purpose and God is expecting us to fulfill that purpose just like we are expecting Him for the blessings He’s promised. So make your 2018 goals your God goals! Have a blessed and prosperous year 😉
Live well,
