Anxiety about the Future.

I woke up in a small panic the other morning.  I suddenly realized that Ty and I were in a place in our life where things were really going well.  For once in my life, there were no health issues, no broken relationships needing mending, no strife, no financial difficulties.  And although thankful, the reason for my panic was that I was also very comfortable and content.  I felt like I'd reached a lot of our goals we'd set for our life.  And my anxiety came from knowing that this can also be a very dangerous place to be.  For if we're not moving forward, we're slowing slipping backwards.

Now some would say that "comfortable and content" are great words to be able to describe your life.  And I agree to some extent. Ty and I have prayed about, and worked diligently to live the life we live today. 12 years ago, Ty and I wrote out lists showing what we wanted in life. We weren't Christ followers at the time, just two newly weds trying to figure out this thing called life.  And at the time I knew enough about goals to know that we needed to write them down.  I found the lists this afternoon, and thought I'd share:

"Only 3 percent of all people have goals and plans and write them down. 10 percent more have goals and plans, but keep them in their heads. The rest- 87 percent - drift through life without definite goals or plans. They do not know where they are going and others dictate to them... The 3 percent...accomplish from 50 to 100 times more during their life than the 10 percent who have goals and plans and merely keep them in their heads." - from Success the Glenn Bland Method. 

I asked Ty that morning, what our goals were for the next  5 years. He took a moment and responded: "To be closer to God". As his christian wife, I should've been thrilled with that response, but I wasn't.  I felt a little frustrated. I wanted him to give me a concrete answer... Something I felt we could physically work towards, achieve, and boast about as another  successful, tangible goal accomplished. As I shared with him how I felt about his answer, he calmly reminded me that the closer we get to God, the easier it'll be for us to see Him directing our paths.  And the closer we get to God, the more we listen and obey, the more fulfilling our life will be...  "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV). The closer we get to God, the more easily we'll be able to see, and hear, and act on His plans.

And although working on our relationship with God comes above all things, let me give you a couple of action steps that worked for us to help keep us on track.  A couple of steps that I feel Ty and I will be taking again in the near future.  

1.  We assessed our present situation.

2.  We determined what we wanted out of our life and what would measure whether we were happy (successful) or not.

3.  We sought advice from people who were in life where we wanted to be.

4.  We read books to expand our capacity for thinking and recognizing opportunities around us.

5.  We wrote down short term (1 year), mid term (2-5 years), and long term goals (10 years and beyond) for our life.

6. We prayed about the decisions we were making and made sure that as a couple, we were in agreement over all decisions we made for our life.

I'm thankful for Ty's response to my question.  So today, I will "Not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present my requests to God" (Philippians 4:6 NIV).