It's the beginning of a new year, and you know what that means...It's time for goal setting! Although I am not a huge believer in new years resolutions, I believe that setting goals at the beginning of ever year can be powerful and productive!

When it comes to setting goals, I certainly practice what I preach! In fact, my husband and I have been setting goals together since our first year being married! Taking the time to sit down together at the beginning of each year has not only caused us to dream bigger dreams, but more importantly, to seek God's direction and guidance in a deeper way.

I’m going to share some of the steps that helped me tremendously when I was learning how to set goals in my own life. These steps were inspired from the book, God Hunger by Desiree Ayres, which is a wonderful book that talks about finding God's best plan for your life! As you go through these steps, I would encourage you to not only read them, but to put them to practice in your own life at the start of this new year!

Step 1. Begin to Imagine. Discover Your Heart’s Desires.

There is so much power in the imagination! In fact, a vision truly is using your imagination in a positive way to dream of where you want to go. Vision is a gift from God, which allows us to dream about our greatest potential. The devil knows this so he tries to distort our visions with fear and doubt, which ultimately stops us from dreaming up the plans that God puts in our hearts. It can be dangerous if we let fear and doubt dominate our thoughts, because ultimately it means we will stop the the plan that God has put in our hearts from becoming a reality.

The first step in imagining what God has for you is to identify the vision God has given you. You can do this by simply spending time in The Word of God and praying, asking God to align your thoughts with His thoughts. As you ask God to show you what His plans are for you (in this case I’m specifically relating it to the health of our bodies, but this truly does apply in any area of our life), begin to let Him dream through you.

Sit down and begin to think: What would you do if money and time were not an object and if you could be or do anything. (Remember God is not limited by time or money!) Think in detail, what would you like to look like, how active would you be, what would your energy level be like? Remember that this is God’s dream for your life, not what the world, time or money has to say, but who did God create you to be!?! Ask yourself: Does He want you to enjoy your body? Does He want you to have energy and be fit? Does He want you to be healthy? Of course He does! The Bible says that He came to give us abundant life! Surely a fit and healthy body is part of this plan!

Step 2. Write Down Your Goals.

After you have taken time to dream up what God has placed in your heart, (about who He created you to be) the next step is to write it down! I generally do this by writing down my goals in two categories, short term, and long term goals.

This helps me to take small day by day steps in the direction that I envision my life going without feeling overwhelmed. Ask God to help you with this~ remember, He already has the plan laid out for you, but He wants to work with you day by day to achieve the Master Plan for your life!

Also, dare to dream big! God is a big God and His plans are so wonderful for us, but He works with us according to our level of faith, so ask Him to help you believe for nothing but the best!

Step 3. Take Action.

I like to remember the verse “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20) when I begin to move in the direction of my goals. What I mean by this is that you must take action (or put in the work) and be faithful in what you are trying to accomplish.

In other words, when you read your goals on the page, you must begin to think about what you can do today to take a step towards that goal and then actually do it! It may not seem like a lot each day, (maybe it’s just taking the stairs and cutting out your afternoon latte) but every little step adds up!

The good news is, when you take steps towards your goal, no matter how big or small, God will join with you and bless all that you do!

Step 4. Believe it.

Start seeing yourself accomplishing your goals. Imagine what it will be like when you get there. Don’t let anything or anyone discourage you or talk you out of it... Believe you can achieve it!

In the Bible, we see that the Israelites never made it to the promised land because they saw themselves as ‘small grasshoppers’ compared to the ‘giants’ that were in the promise land. What they believed about themselves is ultimately what came to pass. Ask God to give you a vision of yourself accomplishing your goals and keep it in the forefront of your mind!

In addition to envisioning yourself accomplishing your goals, it’s also important to start to speaking them out! The top five wealthiest people in the world had one thing in common: They spoke their goals out load daily. Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue”. This clearly demonstrates that life-giving power is released as we speak positively about our situations!

Step 5. Stay on Course.

Maybe you have a long way to go before you achieve your desired goals. That’s why the bible reminds us to “not grow weary in our well doing, for we will reap a great reward in due season if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:9).

There will be times when you will be tempted to be discouraged, and you will have to encourage yourself! After all, every great accomplishment has been achieved by holding onto a vision and choosing not to let go, regardless of the obstacles!

Continuously come back to your written goals and ask God for wisdom and re-evaluate if you need to. Remember that we can do nothing apart from Him, but if we continuously seek first “The Kingdom of God”, all things ARE possible!

Click here for more inspiration on goal setting: Setting Goals and Living on Purpose