HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Can you believe we made it through the craziness of 2020? Going into 2020 I was so full of excitement and expectation. I got married, most of the major holidays were celebrated on the weekends which is awesome, it was a leap year, we had a major election, and so many other cool things were happening; What was there to NOT be excited about?
But now? Now we made it into another new year, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that most of my goals for 2020 were majorly halted because of the pandemic. Trips I wanted to take were cancelled, events were cancelled and in general my entire life was flipped upside down. So how do we refocus those goals and make a giant step into 2021?
Write Lists
Hi, I’m Camille and I am utterly obsessed with list making. I don’t even really know what my life would be without all of my lists. I will say with full confidence that making lists is a great habit to get yourself into. Write down anything that you didn’t get to accomplish in 2020 and rededicate it to 2021. I think everyone gets a free pass for last year anyway.
Pray and then Pray again
Obviously it’s incredibly important to commit plans over to the Lord. The Bible teaches us that God doesn’t operate based on OUR plans but His own, or OUR timing but His timing. It is clear that God knows the desires of our heart and if what we want is in His will He has promised that it will happen. So write those dreams, goals and desires down then repeatedly give them over to God. There is absolutely no better way to start this year off on the right foot than to be committing every part of yourself to God. He is and always will be in total control and all we have to do is submit to His plans.
Focus on You, not on Them
I talk a lot about focusing on yourself and staying in your own lane. This is huge when we’re writing out goals and dreams. I have often been left disappointment and hurt when I “dreamed” something that was really just me focusing on what someone else had and thinking it’s what I needed to. When you’re making that 2021 goals list, stay off social media and keep focused on what YOU really want and need to accomplish. Allow yourself some time to dig deep and reflect on what you want at the end of the year to have manifested for your life. Don’t waste even a second looking at someone else’s life and comparing your own. God has a plan for YOU and for THEM and it’s unlikely that it will ever look the same.
Dream Big
One of the few times that God allows us to test Him is in His faithfulness to us. The caveat here is that not everything that we dream or want is how God will answer us. What I mean is, you may pray for years about getting your dream job and when you finally land a job, it’s not what you expected or what you thought it would be but when you take a moment you’ll realize it’s exactly what you NEEDED but maybe not what you WANTED.
It’s that age ole lesson of parents knowing what’s better for their kids than the kid does. God is the same way and knows our heart more than we do. That being said, DREAM BIG! Lay it all on the line for God and tell Him everything you want in life. Tell God all of the accomplishments you’re dreaming of or life that you see for yourself. I promise He can handle it. Just remember it may not look like you thought but God in all His love and wisdom will surely answer you.
Prepare for setbacks
I think it’s clear that almost all of 2020 was a setback for most of us. I love the saying ” A set back is a set up for a comeback”. It’s so true!! Sometimes we have to fail, or not get what we wanted in order to get something greater. I by no means wanted to NOT have my album out last year but God had bigger and better in mind and this year I’m fully ready for a comeback story! That may not be what I have planned, but I know that God is faithful and every set back is already calculated in HIS plan for me. You have to learn to go with the flow when it comes to operating under the Holy Spirit and following God. Get yourself in the right mindset for the year and know that setbacks are OKAY!!
Keep Goals Fresh in Your Mind
One of the biggest downfalls we all make is that we set these awesome goals at the beginning of the year and then two weeks later we don’t even know what they are. Insert, making a vision board. I have a post about this from last year and it’s a really great tool at keeping you focused and reminding you daily of what goals you have. Most importantly this keeps your mindset right and keeps you from making decisions that go against your goal. What that means is if my goal is to lose 20 pounds by summer and I have that on my vision board that I see every day, it’s unlikely that I’ll then go eat a half dozen donuts at dinner time because it’s fresh in my mind what my goal is. Positive reinforcement here people!!
That’s all I have for you on this first day of a fresh new year. Just remember that the goal here is really to draw closer to Jesus so spend some time today with Him and allow Him to speak some dreams, goals and vision into your heart. HAPPY 2021 FRIENDS! Let’s pray is turns out a little more productive than last year 😉
Xoxo,
Camille
Camille Edwards 