Set in Stone

Goals are important. I believe in the importance of setting goals in my life. I remember in high school I set a goal to lose 15 pounds and sure enough I lost 15 pounds by eating healthy and working out. Post high school I set the goal to graduate Taft College in 2 years and sure enough this year I'm graduating. I have many other goals I want to accomplish and work daily to reach. So I believe that setting goals are very important. I also think that planning is important. It's smart to have plans for your future and your life. You definitely don't want to wander through life not knowing what you want.
I'm the type of person who likes to stick to "the plan". In all honesty, I am not the type of person who likes when the plan changes and doesn't go my way. I get angry and frustrated. I'm thrown off my game and I really don't like that. The thing about God though is that he doesn't really go by our plans. The world does not revolve around us. I repeat, the world. does. not. revolve. around. me. In our culture we are, unfortunately, taught this. We are taught selfishness, we are taught that things should go our way and we should get what we want.
This way of thinking is really not healthy at all. This isn't not how the Lord wants us to live our lives. I have found freedom from Jesus that it's more than okay if things don't go my way. I found peace in the realization that his way is better than my own. Although, it is a work in process, he has shown me that I can trust in him and the plans he has for my life. The more I seek him, the more his desires become my own. Psalm 37:4 says to take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. I found that when I delight in him through his word, worship, and prayer he gives me desires that are so much better than my own. The ways of this world are deceitful but his ways are fruitful, beautiful, and grand.
It's so important to not set your plans and your goals in stone. By doing this you will more than likely miss out on an alternate, and much more amazing, path the Lord has for you. He wants to take you B E Y O N D your wildest dreams. His plans for your life are surreal. But if you are so set in your own ways you could miss out on what he has in store for you. Not only that, but learning to "go with flow", has brought me immense peace. When things don't go my way or as planned, instead of freaking out I hand it over to him and say "alright Lord here's this storm, here's this situation, I trust you."
If things are not going your way right now, hand it over to him. Seek him and his word. And most importantly, trust him. And do not be afraid to take a risk and follow a different plan. It's okay if you fail your first goal, you just stand back up and see where he leads you. Life doesn't need to be this step by step plan..where's the adventure in that?
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9