Drum roll please

My 2016 Goals are set and established with a plan for each of them.

God- To increase my time in The Word and therefore expand my walk with The Lord.

Self- To make a conscience effort to move more, eat less, eat healthier, and have more purpose in my movement.

Spouse - To show my husband how much I love him on a daily basis and not take for granted all he does for our family.

Family - To teach our children how to walk in The Lord and being a to be a better example of Christ for my children to model. 


While these seem small, they truly are a big step in the process of accomplishment. Making a plan for each goal is definitely beneficial and gives me a starting place and a clear direction as well as a definitive point of success.
For day two, I have already been in The Word two days in a row and have Zumba tonight for me (and my family's) sanity. I instituted a new bedtime routine for my 7 yo last night and have been working to mirror how all of my children should behave in a variety of circumstances.

I'm going to fail. I am human and that, unfortunately, is our nature. But I am most certainly determined to pick myself up and keep moving forward towards finding better habits in all of the areas in my life that I have selected in my goals.

I look forward to hearing about your goals and your progress as you move on your journey with me. Feel free to share in the comments below!!

How to set up Goals

I won't pretend to be an expert on setting goals, or even sticking to them. I also won't pretend that setting a goal is going to work for you. It takes more than setting a goal to make it work.

Today, I am going to just tell you basic steps I take when determining what goals I would like to pursue for the year. This is a month to think about change; changing habits for you and helping others around you in changing habits. 

My first step when considering goals is to ask myself a series of questions.

• What do I want to accomplish? Is this a realistic goal?
• Who will this affect?
• What is the timeline I am determining for this particular goal?
• Will I need/want/get support with this goal?
• What are the first steps to get started?

Some of my family knows that I make lists on post it notes. LOTS OF LISTS! LOTS OF NOTES!!

                                                                                                              

The lists are probably more of a nemesis than helpful, but at least I am willing to admit that and move forward. 

Today's goal focus is going to be on Me, Myself, and I only. Helping others is a great thing to think about, but this is my chance to be selfish. I want everything to be attainable, so I would like first and foremost to determine how many goals to focus on that will be able to be accomplished in the next year. 4. I can take care of 4 goal categories this year.

Goal 1: God

Goal 2: Self

Goal 3: Spouse

Goal 4: Family

Now, let's go through my thought process with this.

God... What do I want to accomplish? I would like to be closer to God this year by living more in His Word. Is this realistic? Yes, IF I set it to be a very specific goal. Who will this affect? While this is a very personal goal, if I am truly in The Word as I desire to be, it should affect every one I am around. Timeline? The entire year. Support? We always need support when working on our walk. I would like to find a Christian friend that would want to work on accountability to make sure that I am doing what I have set to do. First steps? Determining exactly what I would like to achieve through this goal.

                     Through this goal, I would like to find myself in The Word every single day, but I must be realistic knowing that I tend to say that and then move away from it. I am going to make this a goal that is achieved over a series of months before getting fully into what I am doing. Let's break it down into what I can start and develop a routine that can be added to throughout the year.

January - I will sit down 3-4 days of the week and spend 15 quiet, devoted minutes in The Word in either a Bible study or just in reading and reviewing the sermon from that particular week. 

February - I will sit down 4-5 days of the week and spend 15 quiet, devoted minutes in The Word in either a Bible study or just in reading and reviewing the sermon from that particular week. I will also listen to a podcast twice this month that will move me one step further in direction with The Lord.

March - I will sit down 5-6 days of the week and spend 15 quiet, devoted minutes in The Word in either a Bible study or just in reading and reviewing the sermon from that particular week. I will also listen to a podcast three times this month that will move me one step further in the direction with The Lord.

April - December - I will sit down 6-7 days of the week and spend 15+ quiet, devoted minutes in The Word in either a Bible study or just in reading and reviewing the sermon from that particular week. I will also listen to a podcast once a week each month that will move me one step further in the direction with The Lord.

I feel a little more stable in that goal now, but I feel like with this one, I cannot just state any old Bible study or review or podcast and get away with it. Otherwise, I will specifically end up sitting for those 15 minutes trying to figure out what I want to read. So, I decided that I wanted to go ahead and look at some options. I am going to be specific for January at this time, but each month, I am going to go ahead at the end of each month and determine what is best for the next month. For this month, I am going to use the app, First 5 which is going to cover the book of Exodus. This is done for me and let's me be lazy. In addition, I am going to do a daily reading from Proverbs 31 (again done for me) and a study offered on my Bible app called 31 Days of Building Your Family's Values. All of these started on January 1, so I have a plan of catch up on these since I am starting after the weekend.

So Goal 1 is official. I will be spending more time in The Word starting off with Exodus, Proverbs 31, and Family Values. I will increase my time each day and adjust what I am reading about each month to prevent boredom and make sure that I am covering different topics that I feel strongly about for the time. I will also select a time that fits best for my schedule and consistently make sure that is listed and prioritized properly.

The process takes time. I KNOW. But it has been most effective for me in the past. I am excited to start this first goal and to move forward with my other 4 goal categories. 

I won't bore you with going through every single one, but I will share all of my official goals in tomorrow's post. In the meantime, use the comments section below to tell me all about your goals. What are you wanting to work on? Are you specific or broad with your goals? How has this worked for you in the past? Are you doing something different this year?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts as we continue this journey together!  

Are you eating God's words every day?

Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Matthew 4:4 (NIV)

My husband and I are working on losing weight. We went to a restaurant a few weeks ago and decided to eat a big meal. We knew if we ate it, we would feel miserable. It was something we were willing to deal with afterwards. Do you know that we are told as Christians we should eat god's Word and that it will be joy and strength to us? Not something that will only bloat us and make us feel gross, but something meaningful for our lives. (Jeremiah 15:16, Matthew 7:24-29, John 15: 7,11)    

Ezekiel was a prophet who was told by God to eat his Words which were written on a scroll. While the command seems odd, it was a visual lesson to show Ezekiel and others what God wants us to do with His Word. God desired for Ezekiel and the rest of us to allow His words to saturate our hearts and minds so that we can speak and live them. They are there for our nourishment, for our hearts. (Psalm 119:97-105, 1 Peter 2:2)
    
The voice (God) said to me, “Son of man, eat what I am giving you—eat this scroll! Then go and give its message to the people of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and he fed me the scroll. “Fill your stomach with this,” he said. And when I ate it, it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. Then he said, “Son of man, go to the people of Israel and give them my messages...So don’t be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels.” Then he added, “Son of man, let all my words sink deep into your own heart first. Listen to them carefully for yourself...Ezekiel 3:1-11 (NLT)

The picture of Ezekiel eating a scroll, often made of leather or parchment sheets is actually pretty gross. I don't see myself eating a book anytime soon, but as you can see in the scripture above, it ended up being sweet. God's words are life to our soul. God's words are better than cookies and cakes to Christians, even those words of judgement. As Christians, His words bring us salvation and teach us to be more like Jesus.

We should read, study and memorize God's words daily so that we know them enough to alter our thoughts and actions. There will be times when we are out and unable to have our Bible right in front of us. It is our reference book in which we should study and become familiar with. So many times in life we are faced with days and decisions that we cannot make without God. Knowing His word, helps to ease those decisions.

There are many ways to start your journey into The Word. I am not an all knowing individual. I am human and while I do completely enjoy my time of devotions I am unable to know it all. I hope I grow each day through my readings, but I know there are days when I am just going through the steps with no real thoughts to what I am reading or what I am praying. I am challenging myself to do my best to focus on what I am studying. I challenge you to do the same.

In Christ,
Kim :-)