Asking for Promises

Stop asking me to make more promises as if the ones I’ve already laid out are not enough.

I heard that, loud and clear. As I was making goals a few weeks ago, I began almost scared to write anything down on the paper. What if God asks us to move again? What if something terrible happens to someone in our family? What if we lose all of our savings somehow?

I was praying through these, not in an all-spiritual kind of way, but in an “OH CRAP please no please no please no” type of way. I was suddenly almost frantic as I thought about the vast unknowns we could be walking into.

And then I felt in my spirit a stern, but loving, voice tell me that He’s promised lots of things that I can cling to. 100% security and rest all the time is not one of them, because He has much better promises. Promises that He has a plan and a purpose. A promise that He will never leave me. A promise that I will see miraculous things come to pass. A promise that He will do whatever is best for those who love Him.

I can’t ask God to make promises merely for the sake of my comfort. He has literally done everything possible for me. He has moved mountains. He have never left me (Deuteronomy 31:6). He promises I don’t have to worry (Hebrews 13:5). He has guaranteed salvation and written my name on His hands (Romans 10:9, Isaiah 49:16). He has promised to bear my yoke. He says He will give me victory and rest and peace (Romans 8:37, Matthew 11:29, John 14:7).

So God won’t promise I will live in the same house for the rest of my life—but what He does promise is so much bigger and better. If I cling to my own perceptions and desires and wait to be vulnerable and dig into community until I have this one little promise, I will miss out on so much of what He has called me to do.

This year, as I set my goals and intentions, I am believing God is going to do huge things. I am believing for healing in an area of my life that I’ve been harboring for years and years. I am asking boldly for purpose and strength. I’m learning I can’t reasonably ask for these things and also ask for everything to remain exactly the same. And I am learning I can be not just okay with that, but overjoyed in the promises of what is to come.

Setting Goals with Grace: The Goal Part

I’m so pumped about goal setting this year that I outlined the process in a new workbook: Goals with Grace. It includes five days of worksheets guiding you to set goals with God’s plans in mind. Click here to sign up for this FREE workbook!

Part I: The Year of…

Part II: Setting Guides

After setting my verse guides for the year and boldly praying over them, I was itching to set actual goals! Since SO much can change in a year, I am holding off setting goals for the entire year. I have an idea of where I want to go and things I want to accomplish, but I am going to take one month at a time.

Something one of my professors in college talked about was setting SMART goals. Goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound. So a non-SMART goal would be to get healthy. A SMART goal would be to, say, only drink water for the month of January. I typically try to follow this in goal setting.

My first list of goals for January had about 20 goals….blah. Since I’m trying not to fail the first month out, I kept myself to 5 fairly simple goals I want to accomplish in January:

Read a marriage book about supporting your spouse. I checked out Power of a Praying Wife last week and have already started reading! This is definitely an area I need to grow in.

Blog 3 times a week. If you’re reading this, the first week’s accomplished!

Pray intentionally for the youth group. Daily.

Only eat out one dinner a week. This weekend I made 4 freezer meals to help prepare for this—too bad I want to eat them all ASAP. (I made a version of The Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Pot Pies and Annette’s Enchiladas from Shauna Neiquist’s book Bread and Wine).

Memorize Romans 15:13. This is my “guide” for my personal growth in 2016.

In addition to these goals, I am going to continue praying my guide verses and see where that leads me. Looking at the list, it seems like kind of a lot, but it’s all things I’m looking forward to. At the beginning of next month I’ll update you on how I did!

What are your goals for this month? I’d love to pray you through them! Leave a comment or shoot email to lifemeetsgrace@gmail.com!

Setting Goals with Grace: Guiding the Way

This week I’m talking about what happened when I prayed for my goal meeting process to meet grace. Stay tuned to the end of the post for a F-R-E-E workbook outlining how you can follow this process, too!

I do love setting goals every year, but don’t always/hardly ever meet them. This year, instead of putting together a huge list of resolutions, I wanted to really submit everything in prayer before I made my list of things to change. This seems so simple now that I’m writing it, but I don’t think that I’ve ever spent time in prayer before setting goals or guides for the year. I typically make my list of things I know I need to change (“Eat healthier” “Pray more”), then maybe pray one time over them. But this year, without really setting out to, I took a different approach.

I think my heart was prepping for this for a while—my year of dwelling really set my heart in a place where I just know I need God in able to do anything. I feel like my tendencies for perfectionism, while still tangled in this heart of mine, have been loosened as I spent this year learning about God and myself.

The very first thing I did, again, unintentionally, was start praying about a fresh start in early December. Nothing crazy, just a quick “God, please guide me to start fresh where you want me to this next year.”

Then early last week, when the word try wouldn’t leave my mind and before my work day started, I got out a piece of paper and wrote TRY in the middle, then wrote out categories for my life: Personal, Marriage, Finances, Spiritual, Creativity, Career, and Health. Throughout the day as I worked, I would write whatever came to my mind for these areas. All of them were realistic, but some were more ideas that goals. When I went home from work and looked over the paper, I saw some really broad ideas that made me so excited and hopeful.

I pared down these ideas into what I’m calling guides. For instance, under Spiritual Goals, I wrote that I really just want to fall in love with Jesus. That’s not really measureable or specific, but it really shows what I want to happen in my heart this year. All the other goals I wrote down in that category fall under this general idea. So that was my guide for Spiritual Growth in 2016—all of my goals and ideas throughout the year, I want to help me fall in love with Jesus more.

My guides looked like this:

Spiritual: Fall in love with Jesus.

Health: Be strong.

Personal: Have joy.

Creativity: Commit to consistency.

Marriage: Be a support.

Career: Work diligently.

Finances: Be faithful.

Missions: Serve my community.

I mulled these over for a few days and talked about them with Chris, too (let me tell you, he absolutely LOVES goal talk…NOT!). I really really didn’t want these goals to be just from or for me, another way I would keep striving to become the “Perfect” Woman. Instead I want to listen to what the Lord is asking from me, in my career or with my creativity or marriage and allow him to refine me. I want to be intentional to accomplish things that I feel like God is asking from me.

So, last Saturday, I woke up and instead of turning on the Pioneer Woman, I pressed record and then sat with my Bible, my journal, and my guides. I felt really great about the guides I had written out, so I set out to find verses that would match these and put them into perspective (aka about God’s glory and not about mine). I used Google search and my Bible to search these out, and here’s what I’ve got:

Spiritual: Isaiah 61:10 “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul will exult my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness.”

Personal: Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”

Creativity: 1 Peter 4:10 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

Marriage: Ephesians 5:22 “Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord.” (Side note: I was surprised by how much I really wanted to find a different verse, but this is what God stuck on my heart and wouldn’t budge from. Looks like I have some learning to do in this area)

Career: Colossians 3:1 and 3:23 “Seek the things that are above…whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord.”

Finances: Hebrews 13:5 “Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he had said, ‘Never will I leave you nor forsake you.’”

Missions: 1 Peter 4:10 “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

You’ll see Health is missing, because I’m struggling to find one there! I don’t want to take a verse out of context (i.e. Philipians 4:13 isn’t at all talking about working out), so I’m waiting on that one.

I was really surprised to see how God allowed me to find the perfect verses that really summarized what I wanted to ask for this year. And ask is right—I am going to put a lot of work in, but this year one thing I am trying is to pray boldly and frequently. I have a feeling God is going to move some mountains in my personal life this year, and my expectations are through the roof.

Another thing about these guides is that I am going to use the verses, instead of the original words I wrote, as my guides for goal setting in 2016. That way, each month when I look these over, I am reminded that God is the source of change and refinement in my life, not me.

Setting Goals with Grace: The Year of…

Towards the end of December, I started thinking and praying about a word for this next year or season to focus on. I wanted something that I could really sink into, whether that meant reading lots of books, word studies in Scripture, whatever. And what I came up with is super not that, and I love it.

I was reading this article by Kelsey Humphreys where she talks about dreams, and this paragraph really stuck out to me:

“When you start a blog, no one reads it but your mom. When you start performing at coffee shops, only your friends show up. When you start writing your novel, you’ll only have a few measly pages at first. Technology and the internet make everything seem fast and simple, but anything worth doing takes time and effort. I have seen many an excited dreamer start on their new project only to bail one month in because they didn’t anticipate just how lame starting actually is.” Source

It’s like she was giving me personal permission to put something out there that…isn’t super awesome at first. I can figure it out and get better as I go. And I know it’s kind of lame, but this year I am going to hold onto that. This year I am just going to…try.

To me, this means:

Not being afraid of being vulnerable or lame.

Having the self-discipline to follow through.

Trying something and not committing.

Being okay with lameness for a while.

This year I accidentally set some guides and goals for the year in a way that hasn’t left me overwhelmed or striving. Instead I am so hopeful and excited for what God’s going to do in 2016. Over the upcoming week, I want to outline the process I unintentionally did this year that I probably will carry into years to come. Part II of Setting Goals with Grace will come your way this Wednesday!

2015 Recap

In January God laid the word dwell on my heart, and it really set the tone for the year.

In February we invested in this space and bought a domain, and I volunteered at IF: Gathering in Austin.

In March we celebrated 4 years together.

In April I saw the most beautiful city in America.

In May I got to meet some amazing missionaries in Prague, Vienna, Trieste, Bologna, and Venice.

In June we celebrated 2 years of marriage laughing at the worst resort ever.

In July we relaxed and just enjoyed one another and a break in the travel schedule.

In August we celebrated birthdays in San Antonio and hung out at Jen Hatmaker’s farmhouse.

In September we lost someone we love.

We love and miss you, Derek. Thank you for being an amazing friend, truly the very best, to Chris.

In October I headed to Spain and Portugal and Chris began a new job.

In November we fell in love with our new church and community, and I got to hang out with my high school best friends at Disney World.

In December we celebrated another year in love, a new house, living in our callings, and, most importantly, we’ve started The Office at episode 1.

Favorite Books in 2015

I am an avid reader, and with all the traveling this year, I got to read some really great ones. Here are some of my favs I read in 2015:

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Dec 30, 2015