Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Are Goals Really Important?

Hey, Gabriel Girls!  Happy New Year! Hope you all had a great Christmas!

It’s that time of year again when people talk about setting goals. What about you? Are you a goal-setter? If not, why not? If so, how do you set goals?




Why are goals important?

Imagine trying to play basketball without a hoop. Or golf without a hole. Or running a race without a finish line.  

A life without goals is pretty much like the examples above.

If you don’t set goals, you will be aimless and you won’t accomplish much. Worst of all, you may miss the destiny God has for you.

So, how do you set goals? And how do you know which goals to set?

I set goals in seven areas of my life, based on my priorities:  spiritual growth, mental growth, physical health and fitness, marriage, family, writing, and church family.

Each year, during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I spend time with the Lord reviewing the past year and setting goals for the new year.

When setting goals, think about the most important areas of your life: your priorities. Then set goals in each of those areas.

When setting a goal, it helps to write it out like this:  Goal #1: To grow closer in my relationship with Jesus by spending time listening to Him and writing down what He says to me.

Most of us have dreams, but the difference between a goal and a dream is that a goal is a dream with a date on it. The date represents the basketball hoop, the golf hole, the finish line.

Of course, we don’t know what life will bring, but setting goals can help us plough through whatever life brings. When we set goals, we have a destination.  When taking a trip, most people know where they want to go. 

The Bible tells us that where there is no vision, people perish (Proverbs 29:18). Vision here means revelation knowledge of God’s truth both in general and for your individual life.

To live a full life, you need to have a vision for your future. To have a vision for your future, you need to think about and set goals. To set goals, you need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Remember this: If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t like where you’ll end up. So set goals, trusting Holy Spirit to lead you as you follow Him. 

Please leave a comment below and share some of the goals you’ve set for 2016. Thanks! :)

_______________________________
If you enjoyed this post, please tell your teenage girlfriends about the Gabriel Girls. Thanks!
_______________________________________________
Copyright 2015 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:
  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

How Can I Know If Something Is True or Not?

Hey, Gabriel Girls!

Do you ever get confused by the many differing opinions about things like abortion, sex before marriage, homosexuality, transgenderism, etc.?  Do you ever wonder who’s right and who’s wrong? Or even what’s right and what’s wrong?

If so, you are not alone.



We live in a world where a philosophy (a way of thinking) called relativism prevails. What is relativism? Relativism is a way of thinking that says that the truth and morality about something is decided by the individual person not by a common standard.

For example, you’ve probably heard someone say, “Abortion may be right for you, but it’s not right for me.”  Or maybe you’ve heard, “What’s wrong with sleeping with my boyfriend if I love him?”

The problem with relativism is that it is based on a lie. The lie is that each of us is our own god, and each of us can decide for ourselves what is right and what is wrong.

But there is only one God, and He has already decided what is right and what is wrong. His decisions about right and wrong are found in the Bible, the only standard of truth.

God’s truth is called Absolute Truth. That means it never changes.  It is the same for everyone, everywhere, all the time.  It is the standard of measure by which we determine whether an action is moral or immoral.

Let me give you an example. When my husband hangs pictures for me, we don’t always agree on whether or not a picture is hanging straight. So, in order to determine the truth about the straightness or crookedness of a picture, my husband gets out his trusty level. A level is an instrument that tells you if something is straight or not.

The level is always right. The picture may look crooked to me, but the level tells me the truth.

It is the same with a way of thinking. We may think it is true, but if it doesn’t agree with what God says in His Word, it is not true.

So the next time you are wondering if something is right to do or not, check with God. Find out what He says about it in the Bible. Then do what He says!
_______________________________
If you enjoyed this post, please tell your teenage girlfriends about the Gabriel Girls. Thanks!
_______________________________________________
Copyright 2015 by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio. All Rights Reserved.

To Become a Gabriel Girl, you need to qualify as follows:
  • You need to be born again. This means that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and the Lord of your life.If you don't know how to do this, click here.
  • You need to have a desire to tell others about Jesus wherever you go and whenever you can.
  • You need to commit to following Jesus by reading the Bible and praying every day and by obeying Jesus' command to love Him and to love your neighbor.
    ____________________________________________________
You can find me on the following Social Media Venues:
Amazon Author Central: www.amazon.com/author/maryanndiorio