Chief End of Man: Goals Series - Part 2

I only have one little one awake and he's comfy on the couch. I've been up for almost 2 1/2 hours at this point and think I'll make it until this afternoon before I crash. I've been having trouble getting to sleep. I'm sure it's because I have so much on my mind that I want to do and not enough hours in the day to get it written down. I should definitely start planning my goals for 2011 in December of this year!

The reason I'm sharing my goals on here is mostly for accountability and in hopes that they may spark some ideas in you for your year. We each must seek out God for the goals He has for us, individually. Then we need to speak to our husbands.

You know the cliche - when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. This couldn't be more true for me! I seem to get so much more accomplished when I have a plan, than when I don't; even if I don't accomplish all that is in the plan. Often times I either don't have a map to find my way or I have a map, but I run out of gas! I'd rather run out of gas than not get anywhere at all. But, I'm really trying to prepare to fill the tank so that I don't run out of gas! For those who are fans of The Amazing Race (we haven't watched it in several years due to no television or cable), you have likely seen what happens when the contestants having no clue where they are going? It always seemed to cause a ton of contention with their running mate and they don't end up getting to their destination in a timely manner.

So, here is the first set of my goals for the year. You'll notice that my list is full of resources from other people. These are people that either I, or Pete and I have studied up on and feel have really sought God with their whole hearts and have thusly used their time to write resources that I can spend my time on it.

Spiritual Christian Woman Goals (for some reason I really don't like using the word spiritual. I'm sure it has a derogatory connotation for me or something. Makes me think of mysticism.)

This year I would like to:

1. Read the Bible all the way through without stopping

• I'm using the chronological plan from www.BibleYear.com. It integrates Job into the reading of Genesis to more closely align the order in which things actually happened.

2. Complete the 3 phases of The Lord's Table Bible study.

• Phase I: 60 lessons to help you gain control of your eating habits while learning to look to God for spiritual sustenance
• Phase II: 20 lessons of interactive Bible study and fasting
• Phase III: 120 lessons containing ongoing biblical instruction on weight loss, as well as mentorship training so you can pass your new found freedom along to others.

3. Remember ACTS of prayer and do it a lot more often through the day.

• express ADMIRATION for God
• CONFESS my sins
• THANK God for...
• SUPPLICATION for..
• help to serve Him faithfully and glorify Him
• Big P
• each child individually
• extended family
• friends/church
• other needs as God brings them before me

Books/Studies that I would like to read/do:

• Quieting a Noisy Soul by Jim Berg (our ladies are doing this together at church)
• Complete Institute for Basic Life Principles Basic, Advanced, and Anger Management seminars via DVD as a family. (we joined as an ATI family in November. One of the benefits is getting these incredible teachings on DVD rental)
• So, What's the Difference? by Reidenour
• Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets Them Free by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
• A Hunger for God by John Piper
• Your Price is Far Above Rubies a study compiled by Delwyn McAlister (I'll have to start this one when I finish The Lord's Table studies)

The Plan:

Morning quiet times:

• ACTS of prayer
• Bible reading (assigned per plan)
• The Lord's Table study

Afternoons:

• Quieting a Noisy Soul study (2 x per week during "free" time)

Sunday evening:

• Read goal pages from current book on reading list

As a family we will work on the IBLP Seminars 3x per week at 8pm.

photo from: http://harvestpetaluma.org/255287.ihtml