Got Goals?

I have a confession to make. I am addicted to my bullet journal. If you don't know what a bullet journal is, go see it at www.bulletjournal.com. There are tons of layouts for bullet journals on Pinterest but honestly, mine isn't pretty, I don't have that kind of time, mine is a little bit of heaven as far as organization and goal- setting, but pretty, it is not.


I have been also slightly obsessed with goal-setting lately as well. Yesterday I spent an entire day in a training centered around goal-setting. This was a training meant to teach us how to help our clients set goals in their lives but I think we all realized we have to be able to set good goals for ourselves before we can effectively help others. It definitely fed the fire. And once again, God was preparing me before I ever left home.


I just finished Leviticus yesterday, a book that basically is God saying do this, don't do that. I spent most of my time reading thinking, man I am glad we no longer live under the law and are under God's grace, thanks to Christ's sacrifice. God gave a lot of orders, and the Israelites were supposed to obey. That should have been everyone's first priority, their goal. They weren't very good at it. We aren't either.


Why are goals so hard to follow? We set goals to be a better person, friend, brother, sister, parent, community member, church member; making something better is normally the reason to have a goal.


And there always seem to be areas of our lives that are just much easier to follow goals in than others. I can put myself on a money diet and do great at it, but eating healthy isn't my forte, even though I feel better when I do.


I have heard, and even said myself, "We make plans, God laughs" but in all honestly, I think God expects us to set goals, we should always ask for His guidance and work at making sure our plans are His plan, but I don't think He just expects us all to wonder around aimlessly.


I only have one verse today, from my beloved Philippians. Chapter 3 , verse 14.


I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.


Mark here is no doubt the same word as goal. I have set my goal to do every thing God has called me to do to further the cause of Christ. Do I fail miserably, yep, do I write it down to do better the next day, of course. Do I probably do better because I have it down and am at least TRYING? I think so.


So, I thought today, if you were not quite as into setting goals as I am I will share something I learned yesterday that really stuck and makes setting goals a bit easier.


You need SMART goals


Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Sensitive.


My dear bullet journal has a set of goals that I want done by the end of the year, some are big, some not so much, all are important to me. Each month, I put down a smaller goal that helps reach the bigger one, and each week, as I lay out my week, I make sure to incorporate those things in there. I have deadlines, and sometimes they have to be pushed back, but the thing is, I keep going, I keep pressing on.


I stated that God prepared me for today before I ever left, yes, I finished Leviticus but I also read a devotional from Casting Crowns. The devotionals from Casting Crowns are always around one of their songs. This one? The Very Next Thing.


I HAVE to share some of the words...

I spend all my time
Dreaming what the future's gonna bring
When all of this time
There's a world passing by right in front of me
Set my sights on tomorrow
While I'm tripping over today

Who says big things
Are somewhere off in the distance
I don't want to look back
Just to see all the times that I missed it
I want to be here and now
Starting right here, right now

That means we need to make it a goal to be ready. Dreaming what tomorrow is going to be like is meaningless if we don't know how to get from point A to point B.

I always remember that old adage: failure to plan is a plan to fail.

I want to be ready when God puts me on the playing field,

Hope you have a wonderful Saturday and go and set yourself some SMART goals, and maybe one of those would be to step out of your comfort zone and share the Love of Christ with the very next person you see.

Of course, you get to hear The Very Next Thing.

Support Staff

Within hours of finishing my blog Monday, I received a text from one of my friends. I had just blogged about how important friends in your life are, but it is just as important, or maybe even more important that you are a friend. I was thinking of the academy awards  and how you always see the Oscars for best actor and best actress, but you also see the ones for best supporting actors. The ones who are playing second fiddle to the main star but making the story amazing. One of my favorites was Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln. I loved his character and though the movie was not about Thaddeus Stevens, his portrayal made me want to learn more about the character.

There are times when our main goal is to be that supporting role in real life. I feel like most of this week, that has been my main reason for existing, to be support to friends and then to family members who were going through some pretty scary times.

There are times you know exactly what to do when put in this position, and then there are times you don't have a clue. You are afraid every word you say might be the wrong one. But I have discovered over the years that they won't remember what was said, even when you are awkwardly trying to comfort, they will remember you were there.

I still have Job on the brain from my past few week's Bible journey, Job's friends made an appointment to come and comfort him, not sure they got that job done but at least they were there.  I think more of Ruth and Naomi though.

Ruth 1:16-17 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”


Ruth was so faithful to Naomi, and did not want to leave her along. Naomi was left with no immediate family, Ruth had other family she could go back to, but chose to stay with Naomi. That is a true example of being a friend.

So today I am leaving you with Point of Grace's Circle of Friends. It is wonderful to have friends to be with you and lift you up, but always work on being that friend right back.


Happy Saturday!

Good Monday Morning!!

Since my Saturday post is two days late, it probably doesn't have the same flavor as normal. This is the first time I just plain out let my life get in the way of my blog post and I now know one of these days, I am going to write a post and just not post it so I have an extra. Kinda like having that zip lock bag stuffed in the freezer that is a last minute Crockpot meal if things happen to not go as planned one day. It is on my list.

I have had so much fun this last weekend, and it has all been due to having fantastic friends. A couple of weeks ago, our preacher was on vacation and we had a friend of ours filling in. On that Sunday night, we looked at the teachings of Paul and studied Timothy. He told us that we should all concentrate on finding a Paul in our lives, someone to look up to, and then we should have a Timothy in our lives, someone that we know is looking up to us, and then we need at least one Barnabas. (He presented this lesson to his college youth group first, and one of the kids asked if multiple Barnabases would be Barnabi, it has stuck at our house and we have talked about our Barnabi a lot since)- anyway Barnabus would be a friend, who is walking the same path.

God has blessed me with so many Barnibi in every area of my life. I have four friends that have known me all my life, 2 of them I don't normally go more than a week without talking to at least some. I have 4 friends that I work with everyday that know me probably better than I know myself, and several friends that I work with at different capacities from all over the state, 3 of these are also those friends who know me extremely well. And then I have my very best friend, the one who was waiting on me at the train station Friday night, and was here when I got home Saturday night, and was who I spent my date night with last night, my dear Andrew.

So now, I am going to go from Jason's lesson a couple of weeks ago to Pastor Dave's lesson yesterday. It makes everything fit into place. Of course, tomorrow is Valentine's Day. For many of my friends, it is overrated and I know this but David used a passage of scripture yesterday that I just fell in love with, because it is not just talking about that husband and wife bond, but about all of our bonds.

Ecclesiastes 4:8-12

 There was a man all alone;
    he had neither son nor brother.
There was no end to his toil,
    yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.
“For whom am I toiling,” he asked,
    “and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?”
This too is meaningless—
    a miserable business!

⁹ Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
¹⁰ If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
¹² Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

And of course, the third strand there is having Jesus in your relationship. I saw a very real instance of this Friday evening. I had ate dinner in downtown Chicago with three friends. As we left, one headed the other direction, and though I know she lives there and is very used to doing those things, I felt a little sad that three of us were walking away, I texted her a couple times that night, and I felt better knowing she was home and safe. (Yes, Jen, I know you are laughing right now), but as the three of us walked down that Chicago street, very much out of my comfort zone, I didn't feel the least bit anxious, we were a group and everything was fine. One of my friends stayed with me until I was ready to get on the train, since this was all new to me, I was grateful for that as well. It's good to have friends.

There is also a saying out there that one true friend is worth more than a thousand acquaintances. How true that is.

I have seen that first hand over and over the last few weeks. My friends have stood by my side and encouraged me, wiped tears, made me laugh, and prayed with me and for me. Yes, I am blessed.

I want you to take some time and look at your friends this week, I know everyone reading this has at least one friend because you are either reading this because you and I are friends, or you are reading it because a friend of yours is also a friend of mine. Either way, take a little time out to tell your friends just how much they mean to you. 

To my inner circle, you have no idea how you have kept me going, I pray I can or have done the same for you, but that is my commitment to you, if you need a friend, you know I'm there. And to those who I get to see once in a while, I always think of that saying that people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. I am glad you are in my life, whichever one of those you fall into, God put you and I in the same path, and I am the richer for it.

I am leaving you with  an old, old, song, and it is even secular in nature. Once upon a time, there were records, singles were called 45's, one of my life-long BFF's gave me the 45 one time, and it describes our friendships to a tee. Funny, that was back in the days when we were all just a daily phone call away, and here we are, 30+ years later, and this is still how I feel, and I know, they feel the same. 

Thank you, Lord, for Friends.

Never Too Far Gone

I love the way God speaks to me sometimes. I have to admit there are times, I wish I weren't hearing what He was saying, just needed to throw that out there because I am sure we are all there at times too. This week though, He has made some loud and clear points.


I finished reading Job this week and started on Exodus. We saw how Job, through no fault of his own, was tested and tried and praised God through all of it, even when his friends tried to bring him down and was sure Job had done something wrong.


When we move into Exodus, we meet Moses, who got upset with the way an Egyptian was treating a Hebrew and killed the Egyptian. He thought he did that and nobody knew, but he found out the next day, they did and someone called him on it. Moses took off. God found him. God didn't jump onto him for running, or for the murder; God told Moses He had a job for him. When Moses questioned him, God said, "I AM WHO I AM".


We have had some discussions in our house this week about remembering everything you ever did wrong, intentionally, or unintentionally. It was brought to me that remembering keeps you from doing it again. I felt a little heartsick at some of the things Robert remembered; one being embarrassing a little boy when they were in the third grade. Robert didn't mean to do it, and he apologized but he still remembers it. I have a feeling the little boy doesn't. Sometimes I think we are rougher on ourselves than God ever meant for us to be.


This is a true louder than the voices moment.


I totally agree that a part of us needs to remember where we were and what we have done so we don't fall into the same traps again. However, I do not believe God means for us to beat ourselves up for the rest of our lives.


I think if you make a mistake, there is a lesson to learn or something you need to change in your life, and that is the takeaway.


We all know the verse that says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9), but we seem to have a hard time putting them away, we (maybe with some help from Satan) seems to want to make sure it stares us in the face, for a long, long time.


But GOD says.....


^" For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:12)


Remember, God gave His ONLY Son because of those things we did wrong. He already paid the price. We still need to ask forgiveness and we still suffer the consequences of our actions, and that is that part where we hope we learn from our mistakes but don't ever let anyone tell you that anything you did was too bad for Christ's blood to cover. That is simply wrong.




I am leaving you with a song that was on my radio when I got in the car Friday morning. I always have this feeling that some of the songs, God handpicked for me because he knew that precise moment I would turn the key to my car. With all of these things on my mind, this song was obviously perfect.




Here is Jordan Feliz, and Never Too Far Gone.




Happy Saturday! (and for those of you who saw this was going to be late because I was sleeping in....I slept until almost 7, 9 1/2 hours of sleep, that may be a record for me!)