Hello dear friends!
I am so happy to be writing this as I sit next to my window watching tiny snow flakes swirl through the air in a beautiful little flurry. I am feeling extra energized and joyful today after almost two and a half uninterrupted hours spent with the Lord (how rare is that, am I right?!) meditating on His Word and my goals for the upcoming New Year.
2016 has seemingly been an exhausting year for many of us, and as we near the end of it, we are ready for a fresh start and a new hope as we look forward to 2017. As I have been traveling to see family members over the past couple days, I have had many hours of car-time with my sweet husband, reflecting on the past year, looking ahead to what is to come, and of course, discussing the goals we both hope to achieve in the New Year.
Many of us find ourselves in this position every year: Exhausted by the year we are leaving behind, and desperate to make drastic changes in our lives for the future. However, if you are anything like me, these aspirations motivate us to sprint towards them energetically at the start of the year, extending for a few weeks or months (if we are lucky), and then they eventually fade away as we fall back into the trends we have, seemingly, always embodied.
Will you join me on a mission to be different this year?
This year, I have challenged myself to stop that cycle of giving up on the resolutions I place each January. I hope to attack the upcoming year with Christ at the forefront, just as I have placed Him in my own heart. We often times rush to make a long list of goals without taking time to thoughtfully consider what the Spirit might be leading you towards in the New Year. This year, let us attack it in our hearts with prayer, first; consulting God as we take each step towards the goals we hope to achieve. It is vital for us to evaluate our dreams and our motivations behind them:
Are they driven by selfish ambition?
Or rather a desire to further glorify our Lord?
When we choose to chase after resolutions for our own glory, without allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us, we find ourselves weary, and living according to the world rather than setting our hearts and minds in Heaven. Galatians 5:16 says this: “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” Our overarching goal for all of our life should be to bring glory to God in everything we choose to do, and to walk according to His commands and His truths as we embark on new adventures throughout our lives.
In this post I hope to share with you some insight on how I am planning my resolutions for the New Year, so that I can keep Jesus at the forefront of my heart and life. I have also found several excellent resources that I will include to help in each of these areas! Enjoy!
How To Create (and Actually Keep) Your New Year’s Resolutions
1. Pray: Spend time with the Lord as you sit down to plan your resolutions. Be silent and rest your heart as you ask Him to guide your desires for this upcoming year. Just as we start each day with Him, begin this process by spending time in the Word and in prayer.
2. Reflect: Spend time giving thanks to the Lord for all the good He has done in your life this year! Think back on the times He healed you, answered your prayers, or revealed more of Himself to you. This is always a great practice to apply to our daily lives, but looking at a full year of God’s faithfulness is a true blessing! A great tool for this is Jennie Allen’s 2017 Dream Guide, which will help you reflect on the Lord’s work in several different areas of your life (enter your email in the box and the Guide is sent directly to your email!).
3. Write it down: Start by grabbing a piece of paper, or a spot in your notebook, and writing down areas in your life you hope to give some extra love and focus in 2017. Whether it is spending more time in the Word, reading more books, or getting back into shape, write it all down! This will help you organize yourself and stay focused as we move forward to the next steps.
4. Go to Scripture: This part of the process, only second to your time in prayer, should be where you spend a significant amount of time. As we create and evaluate our goals we need to confirm that these are Godly desires, and implementing them into our daily lives would further glorify His name. Search through the pages of your Bible in each category of your goals to find out what the Lord says about them. Life Lived Beautifully posted an excellent resource that helps you ask tough questions and plan for 2017, and you can find it HERE to help you on this step!
5. Define the “How”: This is one of my favorite parts since I LOVE the process of organization. Get crafty and create a chart or some type of visual system that will help you track your progress on achieving your resolutions. This helps you define exactly how (and when) you hope to accomplish each goal. Whether it is an inspiration board on your bedroom wall, a bullet journal/notebook, or an insert in your planner, find something that will help you stay consistent! HERE is a link to my Pinterest “Organization” board that is filled with a lot of my favorite organizing methods. Also, perhaps more important than a tracking method, get an accountability partner that will hold you to your standards and keep you on track.
6. Be realistic: As you set resolutions and work to achieve them, it is incredibly important to remember to give yourself some grace. Just as we have been given grace by our Lord, we need to give ourselves some slack as we stumble towards meeting expectations we set. Our God and Savior does not expect perfection from us, so we should not expect it of ourselves either. We will slip and fall as we climb towards the next rung in the ladder, but that does not mean we stop where we are and create a culture of disappointment in our hearts. It means that we take it to the Lord in prayer, and give ourselves some grace as we wake up tomorrow and try again.
7. Pray some more and be flexible: Scripture tells us to, “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:16), which means we should do the same as we walk towards each goal. Never stop praying about these goals you are setting for yourself. Spend some time each day, or at least once per week, praying about these resolutions and asking the Spirit to continue to guide you on this path. As you pray through them, remain flexible to change, and know that He could lead you in a different direction at any time He sees fit. Proverbs 16:9 says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord determines his steps”. Never forget that His plans are always far greater than our own, and although we might not understand, we can always know that God is good!
I hope that there might be something in here that is of use to you as you walk (or sprint for some of us) towards 2017. Let your hearts be filled with hope knowing that God is faithful and just to fulfill His promises to us, and no matter what we might plan for our lives, have peace in your heart that His plan is far greater than any resolutions we can set ourselves!
Life awaits, dear friends! Prayers and love to you all as you begin this new year!
Love always,
Cat
Life Awaits 
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