God's Roadmap

Now may the Lord Jesus Christ and our Father God, who loved us and in his wonderful grace gave us eternal comfort and a beautiful hope that cannot fail, encourage your hearts and inspire you with strength to always do and speak what is good and beautiful in his eyes (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 TPT).


Sunday, January 29, 2017

Developing Habits Can Help You Achieve Your Goals

by Barbara Latta

Make the progression toward a goal become a habit.
We are three weeks into the new year and hopefully you have written down the goals you want to achieve before December 31 rolls around again. If you made a vision board you now have a visual aid to focus on what you want to do. Now we need to find a way to make the progression toward achievement become a habit as we seek the finish line of the goal.

Once upon a time, it was thought that a habit could be formed in 21 days, but research has shown development is closer to 66 days. Once we have built our goals into a format we can work on every day, we will be making habits that can be a foundation for rising higher in our lives. This can also be a foundation ready to build on for next year’s goals.

Sunday, January 22, 2017

How To Make A Vision Board for your Goals

by Barbara Latta

Keep your goals before your eyes with a vision board.
This month we have been talking about setting goals instead of resolutions. The best way to keep your goals before your eyes is to make a vision board. You make ask, “What is a vision board?”

A vision board is anything you use to keep your dreams and goals in front of your eyes so you will constantly be focused on them. A goal needs to be written out and read to ourselves daily as if it has already been accomplished.A vision board keeps us focused on the target and is a notebook, bulletin board, poster, or anything you can use to put your goals in a visual mode.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Say Good-bye to Procrastination this Year


This week's post is by my friend and writing partner, Terri Webster.
by Terri Webster
Do you struggle with procrastination? I’m raising my hand high right now because I do.

Do you struggle with procrastination?

I have many great intentions and ideas. Unfortunately most of them never make it from my head and into actionable reality.

It’s incredibly frustrating.

We are now already in the second week of 2017.

Have you set your goals yet for this year, made your New Year resolutions? Do you have a plan?

I no longer make resolutions. I’ve tried setting goals, but have only been about 50% successful.

What’s the difference between resolutions and goals? 

A goal is a target; an end result that is reached over time. A goal needs a detailed plan; steps on how you’re going to reach the desired results.

A resolution in relation to a new year, is an intention; something you intend to do immediately, but maybe without a laid-out plan.

You might make a resolution to stop smoking or begin an exercise program. But without a step-by-step plan on how you’re going to keep the resolution, will NOT put you among the 8% of people who actually achieve their new-year resolutions. (www.statisticbrain.com)
A goal needs a detailed plan.


I’ve recently learned that successful goal-setting comes from writing them down and then displaying them where you see them regularly.

Last year I set several goals. A couple of them I stuck with and gained wonderful results and blessings. I had a plan in place, with the complete realization that it would be God’s power that enabled me to carry through with the plan.

I can’t tell you what the other goals were. I didn’t write them down and make a plan.

On Sunday, January 1, 2017, I heard a powerful message at church about setting goals. The key is writing them down with a plan of action. Then make sure they’re posted in plain view for you to see daily.

The pastor outlined detailed prompts based on Luke 2:52, which states, And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Since our main goal is to be more like Jesus, this makes it basic and simple.

·         Grow as Jesus did, ie, gaining wisdom and growing spiritually

·         Grow as Jesus did in stature/body; our physical state

·         Grow as Jesus did socially with God and man. Finding favor with God and people.

He ended it with these five words: “Don’t wait! Do it now!”

The pastor challenged us with a timeframe of writing down your goals and plans within 24-48 hours. If you put it off, or wait until a better time, the odds of completing your goals falls drastically.

If you wait until the wind and weather are just right, you will never plant anything and never harvest anything. Ecclesiastes 11:4

Wow! How many times have I waited until I thought there was a better time?

Writing down goals brings success.

According to a Harvard study, those who had goals in their heads, but didn’t write them down, earned about twice the amount of those who had no goals at all. But those who had goals and wrote them down, earned ten times more than those who had no goals, and those with goals only in their head.

I knew if I waited until my next day off or a “better time” to write down my goals and make a plan, it wasn’t going to happen.

My pastor suggested to first clarify on paper what is important to you. Make a list of what you value and what you want.

Once I did that and framed it with Luke 2:52, the rest flowed out into an outline where everything fit on one page.

Under each category, i.e., Gaining Wisdom, Growing in Body and Gaining Favor (Socially), I listed steps on how I was going to accomplish each goal.

Within the first 24 hours my 2017 Goals and Plan of Action was complete!

I am giddy with excitement because setting goals and following through has been a major issue for me.

I’m staring down the tunnel of turning 60, in the not-so-distant future. It’s time I follow through with what’s important to me and achieving goals I’ve only talked about for years.

I hope you’re now encouraged to set your personal goals and make a plan of action. It’s never too late. There’s no time like the present because guess what…later will never come!

Don’t wait! Do it now!

I pray an abundance of His rich blessings on you as you sit down in the next 24-48 hours and write down your goals and plan of action.

Here’s to a wonderful and fulfilling 2017!

Terri

Terri Webster

Terri began writing in her private journals as therapy to cope with the pain and hardships of being a single mom. This grew into a passion to write with a purpose.
She published “Markers for Single Moms: Finding God’s Direction in the Chaos,” in 2013. She wrote and composed “When All Seems Lost”, performed by Sara Oliver, which is the inspiration for her next book, “Prayer Markers for Single Moms: When All Seems Lost.”
Other publications include stories for Chicken Soup for the Soul and numerous feature articles for a local newspaper.
Terri founded Spring Ministries, Inc., in 2011, and is a member of EMACW.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Set Goals Not Resolutions

by Barbara Latta

Set goals not resolutions


New diet aids, nutritional supplements, products for better hair, and wrinkle removers all guarantee us a better tomorrow. Talk shows give advice on keeping New Year’s resolutions that will work this year. Buying this sponsor’s product will bring satisfaction or your money back.

Before you get swayed by professional marketing that plays on your emotions, try to take a realistic look at what your goals are for this year. Don’t let a TV commercial make your decisions for you. Examine your life and what you want to change or accomplish and find out what tools you need to reach your goal.

If you want to lose weight, instead of starting a drastic diet, just eat smaller portions of the food you like. Walk a few steps more than you did yesterday.

Don’t start out trying to read the entire book of Leviticus in a day if you want to read through the Bible. Start with the New Testament and read a chapter each day. If you don’t make it through the entire Bible in one year, who says you have to? The point is to develop the habit of reading it.

Our long term goal is to establish some kind of change in our life. To do this we need to:

  • ·         Make realistic goals that are achievable and write them down.
  • ·         Break the goals into smaller ones that can be done each day.
  • ·         Don’t let emotional marketing decide what your goals are.
  • ·         Don’t get frustrated if you miss a daily goal. Just keep going tomorrow.


If we can learn to be consistent in working our daily goals, we will soon see the long term ones achieved. Navigating New Year’s resolutions doesn’t have to be a dreaded chore.


Have a Happy New Year and enjoy the ride!