have got to be first because I know that will affect every other thing
in my life.
My next set of goals involves my relationships with other people:
my husband, my family, my church family, my friends, and people
we support in prayer. I try to make these goals as specific as possi-
ble. What part do I want to play in the lives of my children and my
grandchildren? How can I be a better wife?
Next I have goals relating to my work as a songwriter, an author,
and a speaker. The main goal in the work category is that God be
glorified. But specific goals may involve seeking God’s guidance as to
how many “writing appointments” I want to make per month, how
many times I want to speak per month, how many books and musi-
cals I want to work on per year.
Someone asked me to teach a Bible study this year and I really had
to seek the Lord about that. It sounded so appealing... but the
Lord showed me that one more commitment would be one too
many.
Seeking the Lord is imperative. We must learn to want God’s will
and pray as Jesus did when he said, “Not my will but yours be done.”
“This is what life-planning is all about,” said Anne Ortlund in her
book Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman.“Under that wonderful um-
brella of ‘if God wills’ we need to see what provisions are necessary
for each leg of the journey, and get them. Then we need to say
‘no,’... daily all the rest of our lives to everything that would get us
off course.”^1
Father God, thank you that you have plans to prosper us and not to
harm us. Help us to follow your plans. Amen.101 MOST POWERFUL PRAYERS IN THE BI BLE 143