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7 Steps That Will Change Your Life: Evaluate Your Life
Written By: Denise Finochiaro
"I had a vision in my mind for what I wanted my life to look like, but when I looked at where I was and ahead at my life down the road if I changed nothing, what I wanted wasn’t what I saw."
Think About What Your Life Looks Like Now
Back in October of 2020, I woke up one day, took a look around at the mess I was in and thought to myself, "How in the world did I get here? Is this really the life God has for me?" The answer was NO!!! But the reason I was where I was in life was because of the poor life decisions I had made up to that point. The first thing I did was look at my WHOLE LIFE. I took a good, long look at my past, my present and my future. I looked at every life decision I had made up to that point and it didn't take me long to figure out why I was where I was at that point in my life. Have you heard the lyric to a song that say, "It's me. Hi. I'm the problem, it's me!" Those words fit me perfectly that day. I was the problem. So often we tend to blame God when things don't go as we planned when we are the problem because we chose to persue a life of our own hope and dreams and not the ones he put in our hearts. You have to know where you’ve been and where you are in order to figure out where you want to go from here. Looking back at the past will give you an idea of why your life looks the way it does now. Evaluate your past decisions with an open heart and mind and you will soon discover why you are where you are in life.
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Find Your Vision
God has a dream and a purpose for our lives! Sometimes what he wants for us may look completely different than the vision we have for our lives. But God also puts certain dreams in our heart for a reason! Maybe it's a dream that we really want and maybe it's one that we keep thinking about, but continue to push it to the back burner cause it's not a dream we can see ourselves living or it's not a dream we are interested in. Nonetheless, God put certain dreams and ideas in our minds because they are part of his plan, his dream and his vision for us. The bible says, "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord. Plans to prosper and not harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11. The choices we have made our entire lives have put us in the life we are in now and the choices we make now will determine where our lives are in the future. You vision for your future will determine what goals you need to set to get where you want to be.
As you look forward into the future and determine what you want your life to look like, you will begin to shape your vision. Before you start looking to far ahead though, start praying and asking God to show HIS dream for your life. As Christians we should want what God wants for us and nothing less. After all, he loves us far more than we could ever imagine and he wants us to live our best lives for his glory. We've ALL made decisions we are not proud of. We've all walked down broken roads in life that we never would have been on had we not been making poor life decisions at the time. Keeping your eyes on Jesus and what he wants for us will help you stay focused on the right dreams and plans God has for you.
I had a vision in my mind for what I wanted my life to look like, but when I looked at where I was and ahead at my life down the road if I changed nothing, what I wanted wasn’t what I saw. I had to start seeing my life the way I wanted it and the way God intended for it to be, not what it looked like or where I was in the present moment. Often times, we don't allow ourselves to see our life in a better place. We allow Satan to tell us we aren't worthy or it's not possible to get out of or over come our current situations. But the bible says in Christ all things are possible, "Jesus looked at them and said, 'With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'” Matthew 19:26. Jesus also assures us that he will give us the strength to all that he has called us to do:
"I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:13
"but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:31
Make A List And Check It Twice
Whatever your hopes and dreams are, you need to evaluate them and write them down. Don’t worry about how you're going to accomplish them right now, just write them down. Put them somewhere you will see and READ them EVERYDAY. Then really start thinking about them, praying about them, digging deep within yourself to learn more about why you want your dream and picture in your mind's eye what you want your dream life to look like. This will help you to also know if the dreams you have in your heart are in alignment with the plan God has for you.
I can’t stress this enough, DREAM BIG! Don’t let anything stop you from dreaming of a life outside of your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is where your hopes and dreams go to DIE! It’s okay to be afraid, anxious or nervous about your hopes and dreams. Fears and hesitations are normal. If your dreams don’t scare you they’re not big enough, but don’t live there. Don’t let them overwhelm you. We’ll talk more about this a bit later.
God want's us to have a life of abundance. He says in his word, "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10. He also says that if we seek him with all of our hearts we will find him, "But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul." Deuteronomy 4:29
In James 4:1-3 (New Living Translation) he tells us we have not because we ask not, "What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2. You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure."
He also says all we have to do is ask to receive and knock and he will open doors for us, "For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened." Matthew 7:10.
The bible also says that God want to give us the desires of our hearts and is capable of giving us far more that we could ever think or imagine. I don't know about you, but I can dream and imagine some pretty amazing things for my life and God is MORE THAN CAPABALE of giving me those things! Start believing that if you can dream it and imagine it in your life that God is able to give it to you because he is!
"Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires." Psalm 37:4
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us," Ephesians 3:20
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This Weeks Assignment
1. Take a good, long look at your life. Answer the following questions to help you evaluate every part of your life past and present.
- What kinds of decisions have you made up to this point in your life? Were they good ones or bad ones?
- Are there any decisions you regret making?
- What would you change about those decisions?
- Are you happy with what your life looks like now?
- Why or why not?
- And finally, think about what your life will look like 5, 10 or 20 years from now if you change nothing. If nothing changes, nothing changes. Will you be happy with that result?
2. On a piece of paper, answer the following questions to help you learn more about what your hopes and dreams are. Hold on to this list of your answers. We will use this in a later step.
- What about your life do you want to change?
- Do you want to get a new job, be home with your kids?
- Start your own business?
- Move to a new place?
- Buy your first home?
- Become debt-free?
3. Really start thinking about your hopes and dreams, praying about them, digging deep within yourself to learn more about why you want your dream and picture in your mind's eye what you want your dream life to look like. Start thinking now about reasons why you want these things. We'll use these reasons later on in the course to help you stay on task.
4. Start praying and asking God to show you HIS dream for your life. Even though what we want for our life seems like a good plan, God's dream may look totally different than what we had envisioned for ourselves. But God's plan for us is ALWAYS better than anything we could do on our own. When we make sure that what we want is only what God wants for our lives everything else will fall into place according to his purpose for us.
COMING UP
In the next post we'll be talking about dream stealers, who they are, how they affect us, and how we can protect ourselves from their effects on us. We'll also be talking about what we think about we bring about and how to think in a way that sets us up for happiness and success!
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Labels: Bible Studies, Blog, Change Your Life, Podcast
posted by Denise @ January 03, 2023
2 Comments
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2 Comments:
Much to reflect on throughout this coming year. Taking account of where we are and making small steps toward God's plan for us will grow us closer to Him and into the new creation He intends us to be.
Yes and amen! There is definately so much to reflect on if we want to grow our faith.
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