Last year I made my very first vision board…well not exactly my first but they first one I have ever completed. In previous years I always had goals/new year’s resolutions but last year I actually got creative with it.  I can tell you that after this past year I will be doing it forever. Ya’ll when I tell you I have seen God move in my life..omg!!!  In every area I put on my vision board God has done tremendous things (some I hope to share with you in the coming months). The vision board is a great way to be reminded of your goals and to be inspired at the end of the year when you look back at what God did for you and how far you have come.

I wanted to share my experience with you all because I want to encourage you to make your own board! I promise you that as long as you follow God you will see him moving in your life.  Things to remember when creating your board:

1.       I prayed- I prayed about what God’s vision was for my life. At the end of the day you can put whatever you want on your board but you know you have success if you ask according to God’s will for your life. So be strategic!  Strategy is getting on God’s side about your life, not trying to get him on yours. You can’t go wrong this way!

2.       I believed- This sounds simple I know, but there is no point in doing this if you don’t believe that God is able and capable. I am sure that I have the blessings I have now just because I believed that God could and would do it.

3.       Don’t expect the vision to manifest in a specific way- God will answer your prayers the way he chooses to. Don’t expect it to look a certain way. For example: I put on my vision board that I wanted to pay off a Sallie Mae loan I had by the end of the year… Well halfway through the year I was carjacked and I ended up receiving a check from my insurance company (that’s a long story so I’ll share more details in another post eventually) Anyway, the check was for $3,490.00 . I owed Sallie Mae 3,488.32 (I think). It was clear to me that God had given me that check for my loan. Yes, it got paid but I didn’t think at the beginning of the year that having my car stolen would be the way he would do it!

4.       Be Congruent- What I mean by that is your life habits should follow what you put on your vision board. For example: If your goal is to save money this year, then you should not be asking God to bless your bank account while you spend all the money simultaneously. Your words and actions should follow each other. Don’t do things that are opposite your goal.

These are just my tips on what worked for me this past year and sometime later this month I will be doing a post about my new vision board. For now you can see the photo I posted below of my last board!

A lot of us can think of things that we would never want to happen to us… Maybe the death of a loved one, losing a job or being single and never having kids… In fact in the last few days I have heard some really sad stories. A parent finding out that their child has a disability or worse your child not living at all. However, I heard something else recently that made me sad as well.  Someone I knew was talking to me about a problem they are having in their life and I said to them why don’t you ask God what to do? They said to me “because I don’t know how”…  of course I told them what I thought and gave them suggestions but I’m not sure if they really received them.  I thought to myself “how sad, hopeless, and confusing your life must  be when you don’t have a real relationship with God.

I can’t imagine going through any of the situations that I listed above. I cannot know that kind of pain and I’m sure what I imagine doesn’t come close to the reality of it. BUT I simply cannot imagine going through that kind of heartache without Jesus. The God of all comfort. The lifter of my head. He is a necessary in this life.

This world is troubled, its evil and it is unfair. What helps me is knowing that I have a God who is sovereign. One who has a plan for my life. He never misses a tear or wastes a sorrow. It all works out for me in the end. That is my motivation to keep going when it’s tough. God is my light at the end of the tunnel. I’m never hopeless because I’m never helpless.  

The worst thing that could ever happen to us is living a life without God. We have to remember not to take the privilege of having a relationship with God for granted, because that is the best thing to ever happen to us.

When I was a child I always heard adults say “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop” and typically what that meant was children who were “bored” or unoccupied usually ended up misbehaving, and ultimately getting into trouble because they had nothing else to do.  A common parenting method further applies this concept. Experts say that in order to keep your child from participating in destructive behavior give them an alternative activity. For example, replace the bad item (that thing that is not a toy) with a good item and encourage them to focus on that thing.  I believe that even though this advice  was for parents raising children, it is still very relevant today.

Sometimes negative things happen in our life and if you’re like me you think it to death. Or perhaps someone said something to you and you turn it over and over in your mind until you realize that you have taken offense to it. The other day this happened to me and someone said “You have to learn to see it and take no thought” (I’m telling you it’s harder than it seems). We often underestimate how powerful the mind really is. But God Knows. That’s why Proverbs 27:3 says “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.”  Your thoughts will guide the direction of your life. When you spend time dwelling on negative things that people have said or done, you become bitter. When you spend time focusing on your sorrows you become depressed. When you focus on your fear, you become discouraged. You have to learn to see things and take no thought. When something happens that you don’t like, pray about it and move on, that’s what I am learning to do. Don’t think about it over and over in your mind. If I absolutely must discuss it I try to discuss it with someone who can give me godly counsel and I try to limit that to only one person.

You have to learn to focus your mind on things that yield positive results.  The bible says in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” Here, the bible specifically tells us what things to think on. Replace the negative with the positive. Your life will go in the direction of your thoughts.