New Years Resolutions?

The beginning of a new year causes many of us to think about making new years resolutions. Going beyond the typical ideas about creating a resolution for the new year … here are some thoughts about how I approach creating goals in my own life.

I have a guiding principle for my life regarding personal goal setting. The principle is simple; God’s will and desire for my life trumps all of the goals I will ever develop… ever. My life, and therefore my goals belong to Him. I put all of my goals into His hands to open or close doors as He sees fit. I fully trust that God’s plan is far more wonderful, creative, imaginative and life giving than I could ever create on my own. Indeed, my overarching goal and desire in life is become more and more like the person that God created me to be and do more and more of what He created me to do. This is the path to a joy-filled life and the means by which, I best glorify my Creator.

This however, does not mean that goal setting is unimportant. It simply means that my goals must always be subject to and secondary to God’s will and direction. Setting goals does not mean that I am trying to create my own path or direction but that I am trying to discover and search-out God’s best for me. Some of the benefits of goal setting for me are:

Goals help me seek after God’s will. They help me to prayerfully and submissively discern how God is leading.
As I follow God, He will form the desires of my heart and therefore the goals of my life.
He is a good and loving Heavenly Father who delights in giving His children good gifts – it is my pleasure and joy to come to Him to ask for the very goals and desires that He is growing in my heart.
Apart from goals, I tend to get distracted, lazy and out of focus. Goals help me to be a good steward of my life.
My goals span two worlds. The world I live in and the world that is yet to come. One day I will stand before my heavenly Father to give an account of my life.
My goals exist to serve God and He will never be a servant to my goals. In other words, I am not trying to put together my own plan for Him to bless but to seek out His plan and try to live it fully.

About markwhelchel

I am a pastor and a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and I serve as the Director of Counseling for The Renewing Life Center. Without a doubt, I believe I have the best job in the world. I get to spend hours every day working with a great staff and walking alongside incredible clients who are doing courageous work in their lives, marriages, and families. I did my undergraduate work in ministry at Hope International University and then became a pastor at Central Christian Church in Las Vegas, where I served for 30 years. My time at Central gave me the opportunity to work with some amazingly gifted leaders and learn a great deal about leadership, building teams, and caring for others. I found a tremendous passion for working with individuals and couples in crisis which led me to doing graduate work in Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, to my licensure as a MFT, and to my role at The Renewing Life Center. I am also an Approved Supervisor with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and I find great satisfaction in mentoring new Marriage and Family Therapists who are entering the field. I have been married to my wife Christie for 29 years and we have four great children.

View all posts by markwhelchel →

This entry was posted in Spiritual Growth. Bookmark the permalink.