“You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.” Psalms 73:24 NLT

Setting annual goals has been an important part of my growth journey. Yet, the most important part of the process has been to include God in the planning. The time I take in January to pray and wait on God has helped me set goals that have moved me forward on my spiritual journey and helped me follow through on more than I ever expected.

Including God in your goal-setting process helps you align with God’s purpose. More than that, including God in the process is a relationship-building activity. You learn to hear God’s voice. You learn to recognize His presence and feel His pleasure when you advance.

Remember, goal setting is about the growth, not the goals. Including God in the goal-setting process aids growth in spiritual and practical ways. God-centered goals lead to true success.

True success is accomplishing God’s purpose. I can’t know what God’s purpose is unless I seek Him first. I get lots of ideas. I am often more creative than I think I am. But unless I seek God first, I will spend my time working on something that isn’t His first and best plan. Believe me, it has happened!

How do I open up to discover God’s purpose? I spend time in the Word regularly. My daily time in the Scriptures is not so that I can check off the to-do box. It may have been at one time, but not anymore. My time in the Word helps me know God better. I recognize His patterns. I learn to hear His voice. It is one of the most valuable practices on my spiritual journey.

True success is knowing Him better. The best way to get to know Him and discover His purpose is to listen. What does that look like?

We don’t spend much time in silence, do we? We live in a noisy world. Even a silent phone vibrates with notifications and rings! The constant sensory input we experience every day clouds our ability to truly hear each other, let alone hear God.

Part of my regular devotional rhythm is silence. I set a timer for ten minutes every day after my time in the Word. This has been one of the most difficult practices to incorporate into my rhythm but I have realized just how important it is.

The silence has been such an invaluable part of helping me connect with God that I have learned to make this time non-negotiable. When I sit in silence unexpected things come to the surface of my thoughts. I recognize what God is working on in me. I recognize the paths He wants me to take and sometimes I just enjoy Him. It’s a sweet way to discover His purpose and know Him better

True success is to love others as He has loved me. Most teachings about goal setting focus on self-fulfillment and living your best life. But God-centered goal setting is about loving and serving God. Loving and serving God is always connected to loving people.

Following through on the goals I set with God at the beginning of the year has required learning new skills and techniques for getting things done. More importantly, follow-through has required interaction with people who help me learn.

Last year one of my goals was to host an online goal-setting workshop. I had to connect with a group leader to get permission to reach out and invite group members to join the workshop. I learned technology I hadn’t used before. Creating the content helped me clarify my message and better articulate it. But the most important part of fulfilling that goal was to create a workshop that served those who attended. If it was all about me and my growth it would not be serving God’s purpose.

Dear Friend, God loves you and me so much that He wants to express His love to us by helping us grow through serving other people He loves. We accomplish His purpose through loving others, and as we do that, we get to know Him better. That is a true success, indeed!

Key Question: How do God-centered goals lead to true success?

A Scripture to Consider: “You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.” Psalms 73:24 NLT

A YES Challenge: Set a timer and take that time to sit in God’s presence and listen. What comes to your mind? What goals might God have for you to discover?

Prayer: Dear Lord, there is so much I want to do. I want to do great things for the honor and glory of Your name. Help me set goals that line up with Your purpose for me. Help me grow the way You want me to grow. I want to be truly successful, to know You, accomplish Your purpose, and love the people You love. Amen.

September 12, 2026

This is Not Forever

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT

As I tearfully opened the sodden boxes of our stored belongings, wondering what was ruined, a verse came to mind,

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21 NLT

We were temporarily living with my parents, and our stuff was stored in Tom’s parents' garage. They had a plumbing issue in their bathroom above the garage, causing a leak that soaked several of our boxes and other items, including our mattress. We weren’t sure what was salvageable.

That period of time was already difficult. We were waiting for a job to open up and unsure how long that would take, how long we would be living with my parents, how long our stuff would be stored. Both sets of parents had been patient, loving, and gracious. There was no one to blame for the water damage. Sometimes things just happen.

But when that verse popped into my brain, it completely changed my perspective on going through the damage. The tears didn’t stop. There was some mourning and disappointment. But at the same time, there was hope. This was temporary. These things were just things. What really mattered was how I responded. I could choose an eternal perspective. I could choose to treasure Christ more than an earthly possession.

As it turned out, very few of our things were unsalvageable, and insurance more than covered anything that was lost. But the eternal perspective I gained is a treasure that I still carry. That simple shift helped me through the three and a half years of living in the in-between.