“We have been gifted with the dignity of choice. It’s through choice - not chance - that we forge our futures. We owe it to God to use the choice wisely. Choice is our greatest power. No one can ever take it away from us. It’s the ultimate gift and the ultimate freedom.”
These past few months have been a season of growth in my life. The growth process is rarely easy. It’s almost always painful or at very least uncomfortable. It pushes us out of our comfort zone and challenges us to act and think in new ways. But I always learn through the struggle, and am grateful for the way God has strengthened my faith in His bigger plan.
He’s been teaching me lessons I didn’t know I needed to learn.
“Don’t waste hard lessons in life, even if they are extremely painful. Experience can be a terrific teacher.”
During this time I’ve had some great conversations with some great people. I’ve had books and sermons speak right to me and have been journaling and praying more than I ever have in my 31 years.
I’ve come to the realization that many people have helped me make the decisions that have shaped my life.
I’ve been thinking a lot about those decisions; who was I was when I made them, what they led me to; who I have become since then. I am grateful for the good decisions I have made with sound advice. I am also grateful for the bad decisions I have made (many without listening to wise council), for they have helped me even more than the good ones.
I’m convinced that the choices we make based off our perspective, priorities, and purpose set us up for success or lead us to frustration and failure. It all comes down to these 3 things.
Making wise choices is the key to succeeding in life. Everything comes from your decisions. Don’t take them lightly!
“What if you are one decision away from a totally different life? ”
Perspective. Priorities. Purpose.
Perspective involves the way you see the world, your attitude toward it, and the way you choose to engage with it.
Priorities are the things you care most about and the actions you take to show that you care about them.
Purpose is about who you were made to be and the vision you have for your life. It’s about how you use the talents, passions, resources, and opportunities you were given or have developed.
All 3 of them are tied together. Without one you may not have the others, or you may not utilize everything that comes from a decision based off them. A bad attitude may limit your motivation to act on your priorities. A lack of purpose may keep you from having the right perspective. Failure to live out your priorities may take away from fulfilling your purpose.
Sometimes you can have all these things right, and still make a seemingly wrong decision. I think this is God’s way of testing our faith, growing and developing us, and teaching us something we need to know for the future. Can we learn from failure? Do we maintain our integrity through the disappointment? Do we have faith to believe that there can always be redemption? Do we believe that we are one good decision away from a better life?
When you have the right perspective, priorities, and purpose, you have the ability to make a good decision. But making the decision is only half the battle.
Sometimes a decision is a one-time thing, but often it’s something you have to keep making, over and over again. Sometimes a good decision needs to be made a thousand times; it needs to be habitual. It’s only when you take action that your choice become a reality, with either benefits or consequences.
“Seek first the Kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
For me, having the right perspective means being God-focused. Putting God at the center of my lens gives me significance, hope, security, confidence, conviction, and a foundation on which all other things stand. From this view flows optimism, gratefulness, and a love and passion for life.
It gives me a growth mindset; I believe that all things are being used for His purposes and for my growth and maturity. This helps me to see every success and failure as an opportunity to learn how to become a better version of myself.
I know that God values relationship above all else; with Him and with others, so the way I look at the world is in the context of community. I am called to build relationships that are deep, lasting, purposeful and godly. I am called to be a source of love, inspiration, and optimism. I believe in who God made me to be and I want to tell others who they can become in Him.
Viewing the world this way is a choice.
“There are two ways to live your life – one is as though nothing is a miracle and the other is as if everything is a miracle.”
I choose to believe that everything is a miracle. That life is a miraculous gift. One not be squandered or underappreciated. That’s why I believe with my whole heart that we are called to “live life to the fullest.”
From this perspective, my priorities are developed. Priorities stem from core values. They guide our behavior and highlight what we stand for.
Here is a summary of my priorities:
Pursue Him: stay connected to God and His purposes
Be authentically you: utilize your unique talents and personality
Invest your time and resources wisely: deposit into yourself and others
Live intentionally and proactively
Add value to others and leave an impact on the world
Enjoy the journey and embrace the process of growth and development
Strive to reach your full potential; the best version of yourself
Live to love and love to live: Life to the fullest
I attempt to act on my priorities DAILY – to be proactive, consistent and committed. I always make time for important things – spiritual and personal health and development, family and relationships, memorable experiences and having fun. If you aren’t enjoying life, you’re doing something wrong - or you may have the wrong perspective, priorities, or purpose!
“The greatest mistake we make in life is to try to control the things we have no control over and to relinquish control over the things we can affect and change. You cannot know every challenge you will face, but you can know who you are when you face that challenge!”
I have learned the value of feeding your focus and starving your distractions. This means focusing on your priorities and ignoring the rest. You simply need to be in control of what you can control. One of those things you are in control of is yourself – your health and growth, your attitude, your habits.
There is so much value in pre-deciding. It makes decisions much easier when you know what you stand for and what you don’t. My faith gives me a foundation for this. When you have a standard to live up to it’s much easier to say no to things that don’t align with your values.
When your values are in place, your priorities will follow, and it will be much easier to know your purpose.
“You achieve your life purpose by living your life in accordance with your values. Purpose is your vision. Purpose calls forth your passion. And it’s always about making a contribution to others. A purpose that is bigger than you, that’s the key. Your life purpose is the cornerstone of your motivation, the keystone of your work ethic, a standard by which you judge your progress and whether you’re on or off track. Your life purpose is the big dream in which all your other goals and aspirations play supporting parts. It’s the reason for your success it’s what gets you out of bed every morning. Your purpose comes first. All else follows.”
I believe that to find your true purpose you need to seek God, know God, and let Him start to work in your life. When you do this, He will start to reveal to you your destiny, little by little, one piece at a time. You will find fulfillment, direction, significance, identity, and provision in Him. He will help you use every talent, resource, and passion to its fullest extent.
My purpose is to design and cultivate a life driven by God’s direction. To use all the gifts he’s given me to encourage, challenge, and inspire others along their journey. To strengthen myself and my community – physically, spiritually, and mentally. To create memories and experiences and to add value to the world. To help others live rich in relationship, healthy in mind and spirit, and flourishing in joy and love.
By doing this I will be able to walk into my destiny and fulfill all that God has planned for me.
“What can you do or simply think about that makes you feel alive? If eternity is connected to it, that is your passion, and it will lead you toward your destiny. Pursue it. Chase it. Run after It. Go Get It. Embrace it. Live it.”
Your destiny is the customized life calling God has created and equipped you for. You may not think you can control your destiny. But with the right perspective and priorities, you can find your purpose, and your purpose is linked to your destiny. Your passion and vision motivate you toward your potential to live out that purpose, and when you do that, you walk into your destiny.
“Two of the biggest mistakes you can make in life are not starting and not finishing. ”
It is vital to develop the right perspective on life, to establish and act on your priorities, and to pursue the things that lead to your vision and purpose.
You have to start putting the right behaviors in place NOW and you have to have the patience and perseverance to see it to the finish.
With the right perspective, priorities, and purpose, you can walk into the future you want to create.
Do you want to create it? The choice is yours.
“There is one elementary truth, that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incident and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would come his way.”
