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Goal setting God's way ..... by Tammy Swafford

Lavish Your Soul ...

Sometimes God places something on your heart or tells you to do something and you don’t understand why. He just asks you to obey and trust that He knows what He’s doing. This happened to me recently.

God told me to invite some women over and set goals for the upcoming year. I am not really a goal setter and definitely not a goal achiever. I just kind of wing it and hope for the best. So, when He told me to invite people over and set goals, I argued with Him and thought I must be hearing Him wrong. I didn’t listen and I didn’t invite anyone over. I should know by now to just obey since I end up doing it eventually anyway.

He also told me He wanted to spend time with me with no distractions. So, I locked myself in my basement with no distractions and spent time with God.

During that time, He led me to a message about success. I’ve always felt unsuccessful because I didn’t contribute financially to my family. When I got married, I thought I would be the biggest breadwinner of my family. I had a degree in finance and I was planning to take over my dad’s company. However as soon as my daughter was born my whole world changed. I didn’t want to work anymore, I just wanted to raise my baby. My husband and I agreed that I would quit my job when we had another baby. We ended up having 2 more babies and cut our income in half when I quit working. I always felt pressure to make money so I tried numerous things from MLM’s to trading stock options.

Nothing worked for me ...

This feeling of being unsuccessful was all about money.

The message about success God led me to was from Earl Nightingale, he said “success is anyone doing a predetermined job because that is what they decided to do deliberately.” Then the message specifically mentioned mothers raising children. I realized that I was extremely successful. My goal was to raise my kids in a loving intact family and be close to them. I had reached my goal. All the distractions trying to make money was the enemy trying to distract me and split up my family.

My children are almost grown now, I have one in college and a sophomore and junior in High School. God said my goal to raise my children was successful but now He wants me to set new goals. He wants them to be crystal clear so I’m not distracted by the devil. I believe God wants the same thing for all of us. He wants our focused attention on His will. When we align with God’s will everything is possible.

After hearing that message God had me go through a process in writing my goals and focusing. I spent the day refining the process and simplifying it so I could have a 3-hour workshop and everyone could leave with clearly defined daily, weekly and quarterly goals.

In the past I would get overwhelmed with all the goals I’d set. They were all good goals but when I found it too hard to keep up, I’d just quit trying. The first thing God had me do is write down all the areas I wanted to set goals in. Then write where I was in each area, where I want to be and what steps I need to take to get there. After doing that for each area, God told me to pick one goal that if I reached it, my life would change drastically. He wanted me to write it on an index card and carry it with me so I would focus on that goal all the time. The other goals were still there but if every day I did something to accomplish that one goal, my day was a success.

Having that kind of focus made all my goals easier. I don’t reach all my daily goals every day but if I reach my number one goal that’s all that matters. I’ve accomplished my number one goal every single day since I started and my life is already changing. My other goals are hit and miss but I’m ok with that as long as I’m striving for my number one goal.

a few of the ladies in our goal setting group

After writing out my own goals, I did what God told me to do from the beginning... invite women over to set goals with me. We all met at my house the following Saturday for a 3-hour workshop setting our God centered goals. We continue to meet once a month to encourage each other. Focusing on one goal at a time has kept us all on track and reaching our goals.

I would love for you to join us!

If you’d like to follow this easy goal setting process you can download this step-by-step guide here.

Tammy is currently the Co-Founder & COO at Lavish Three as well as the Founder of HopelesstoHappy.com, a marriage mentoring website. She is active in her church as a Women's Group Leader, and, along with her husband Dale, mentor couples having challenges in their marriage. Tammy resides in Henderson, NV & has three wonderful children ... and one big lovable pup.

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