Recalculating

I don't watch commercials very often- I find them boring most of the time, but last week I got into a project and wasn't paying attention to the TV and I started hearing a voice like from a GPS saying "recalculation" over and over. I walked over to where I could see the TV and proceeded to watch. It showed scenes of what the plan was and how sometime happened and caused the person to recalculate their plans.

As I was watching I caught my mind pondering the fact that the goals we set act as a GPS in our lives.

I have struggled with the idea of setting goals in the past and over the last year I've really come along ways in this area of my life. As a teen, young adult, I had some goals - some I had believe in for a long time - but decisions I felt I had to make led me in the opposite direction of my goals. And to be frank, it really put a damper on even wanting to set goals. I mean it's really disappointing when you want something or to do something and then your dreams are dashed.

For a long time - a really long time - I did not allow myself to dream. But in August of 2015 a new spark began in my heart- and I believed that part of my cancer journey led me to that place. It started with not having any hair for 4 months. And the dream began- to have hair again! What a simple dream - but that is what made the difference for me in retrospect. And as my hair grew- I grew - my ability to dream and set goals grew as well.

I had found a pretty journal.

And I began this Hopes and Dreams journal- The first several pages actually tell my story of why I stopped dreaming and how I began to dream again. It didn't mention the hair part- I don't think I realized that my hair played a big part of what contributed to my increased ability to dream. But I get it now!

Dreaming and goal setting helps us evaluate the best course of action to take in order to reach our destination. And as I evaluate my journey towards losing 50 pounds by 50 years old, I realize that a key component to success is the fact that I have set a goal.

In the past, I have set out to lose weight - but never had a goal in mind. I would work and work and lost a decent amount of weight and then something would happen and when I stopped losing weight I would give up. I had nothing inside of me saying - you know where you want to go and you know that directions you need to take in order to be successful. It might be hard right now but you only need to recalculate and keep moving toward your goal. It might take a lot of recalculating and that's ok. I know where I want to end up - I know the basics of how to get there. I just need to allow the Holy Spirit to be my GPS system and I need to be quiet and listen to the Still small voice that says - recalculating when I make a wrong turn. Asking for wisdom for the best course to take to get back on track.

And this is great advice for anyone - with any goal. When your goal is in the will of God for your life - you can be "...confident of this very thing....