“Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it.” -II Corinthians 13:5 (MSG)

It is so easy to start drifting in life. Drifting from our purpose, drifting from God, drifting from good decisions, drifting from those we love, drifting from our goals, and drifting from the lives we expected to live. It happens to all of us.

So, how do we keep from drifting? We need to have regular check-ups in our lives. Times where we lay everything we’re doing, everything we’re pursuing, everyone we’re surrounding ourselves with on the table and ask ourselves, “Is this what I am supposed to be doing with my life?”

If we don’t take the time to evaluate our lives in light of God’s plan for our lives, we will become dull spiritually, miss God, and be miserable! It is critical that we have consistent check-ups to make sure we’re in line with the will of God.

I am going to ask you to spend some time with God this week. Ask yourself and God the following questions. Spend some time reflecting on every area of your life. Journal your thoughts. Be as honest as you can be. Here are the questions:

• Am I drifting spiritually or am I fired up? If I am drifting, why? 

• Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing in every area of my life?
  

• When did God tell me to do what I’m doing (evaluate everything)?
  

• Do I have any sin in my life that needs dealt with?

• Am I where I am supposed to be?

• Is my life focused on God first? Or does work, family, ministry, finances, etc. come first?
  

• Am I hanging around people that helping me become everything God called me to become?

• After you’ve answered all of those questions, ask yourself: What am I going to do about it?

I’m sure as you answered some of these questions, you recognized that you have some work to do.My encouragement now is the same as in the verse we started this post with: do something about it.

After your check-up, spend some time with God repenting and re-prioritizing.

Make the changes you need to make.

Then schedule your next check-up. I recommend  a check-up every 1-3 months.

If you’ll have regular check-ups, I think you’ll find yourself drifting less and less and achieving more and more!

Thoughts?

“What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” -Zig Ziglar

There are very few feelings  like the feeling you get after accomplishing a goal. Whether it’s losing weight, running a marathon, raising enough money to build a building, getting out of debt, you name it . . . it feels incredible!

But what do you do after you’ve accomplished a goal? A lot of people get depressed after reaching their goals. They’ve been chasing something for so long and now that they have attained it, they have nothing to shoot for. That is when depression can sink in.

I thought I’d share what I do after I accomplish a goal. It helps me stay away from the depression that can come after accomplishing a large goal.

I Celebrate – I don’t think we do a very good job at celebrating our successes. In our culture, we’re too quick to jump to the next thing. It is important to celebrate every time you hit a goal! Treat yourself! For me, after hitting my marathon goal, I celebrated by going to dinner with friends, I am going to eat anything I want this week, and I am not going to workout this week! Whenever you reach a goal, make sure you take time to celebrate.

I Reflect - Zig Ziglar said, “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” Reflect on the journey of reaching your goal. What lessons did you learn? What habits did you develop? What did you do well? What could have you done better? Who did you become through the process? Remember that experience isn’t the best teacher, evaluated experience is. 

I Re-Focus – Too many people, once they reach their goal, go back to the life they were living before they hit their goal. Your goal should be to take all the lessons you learned in the process of achieving your goal and make them a part of your life. Then, after you’ve celebrated and reflected, set new goals and focus on them! Don’t let yesterday’s success hold you back from tomorrow’s success!

You should always be in a constant cycle of setting goals, achieving goals, celebrating successes, reflecting on what you’ve learned, implementing the lessons learned, and re-focusing on new and better goals.

What do you do after you’ve accomplished a goal?

Yesterday I posted some of the keys to me reaching my marathon goal. One of my keys was following the 3:50 pacer/pace group. In all 3 of the marathons I have run before this one, I had never followed a pace group before. After doing it this time, I’ll never run another marathon without following them. 

I decided to go with a pace group that was 10 minutes faster than what my goal was, in case I slowed down in the last 5 miles. As I was following the pacer, I was thinking how grateful I was that someone was willing to run for the sole purpose of helping me meet my goal! The pacer’s job was to encourage, motivate, and push our group to do our very best and to meet our goal.

Henry Cloud says that, “Where your maturity isn’t good enough to sustain you, bring in an external force.”

For me, the pacer and the pace group were that external force, along with Laura and Lindsay running the last 5 miles with me.

Had I not followed the pacer and had the girls run those last few miles with me, I am convinced that I would not have reached my goal. It kept me focused, motivated, and determined throughout the whole race.

Following the pacer and having the girls run with me was a great reminder that I need external forces (coaches) in every area of my life. People who have been where I want to go and that are willing to help get me there. People that are willing to make me better!

Following the pacer reminded me that I need coaches in all areas of my life.

Such as:

• My life (God is my external force!)
• Finances
• Relationships – Family
• Running
• Nutrition
• Ministry
• Volunteer Coordinating
• Writing
• Speaking
  
• Career

This marathon reminded me that we will never be good enough on our own to become the best we can be in any area of our lives. We will always be in need of external forces to take us to another level. It’s why the greatest athletes on the planet have coaches. We all need people who push us past our own limits and help us reach our full potential.

What areas of your life need an external force (coaching) to help you become your best?

Who are people in those areas of your life that you look up to that could help coach you and be an external force?