The Goal and the Journey

Ambition, passion, goals, desire, commitment. These are all very good and necessary traits for success in this world. We must know where we are going or else we won’t be able to work toward anything. If we have no destination or outcome in mind, what will drive our decisions? These are healthy things to keep in front of us in our everyday life.

So, what’s the point? We all know this, but there must be a catch or why write this post? I was in a time of prayer and fasting in 2022 and God dropped a thought into my head concerning this that revolutionized my outlook on life.

I was praying for the “next thing," to be prepared for the next thing God had for me. I was praying in earnest for that preparation and had in my mind what would be the accomplishment and the signal that I had indeed arrived at “the next thing.” As I was praying this same thing for my husband, who had asked me to pray for Him to be prepared for what God was going to do in his life, God hit me with this truth.

• The only thing we need to be prepared for is Heaven. Heaven is “the next thing.”

When we focus on being prepared for the “next season” the “next assignment” or “where God is taking us,” we can miss the point. Our God wants our goal set at only one thing, oneness with Him. The goal of our lives is Heaven, that’s what we strive for and look forward to. He revealed I was striving for the wrong things. I was striving for an earthly outcome. While it’s not bad to have vision for our lives and tell God our hopes and dreams, we must be careful in forming it in our minds as the end goal.

Instead of saying, “prepare me for what’s next” we should just keep our eyes on Jesus in the moment. Instead of saying, “I am ready for the next assignment,” we should keep our eyes on Jesus and see the assignment of the every day in each moment.

• When we shift our focus from an event that is going to happen to all that God is doing in each moment, our perspective changes.

God’s timing doesn’t seem to be so slow. We learn minute by minute and find a more satisfying relationship with Him. Why? Because our goal isn’t an outcome other than Heaven and our daily minute by minute goals are focusing on Jesus alone. Both of those goals are the same, one is long term, the other short, but both are about cultivating oneness with our Savior.

• As I began to shift my focus from what was coming in my life to what already was in my life, Jesus, my eyes opened and my whole world was brand new.

Suddenly traffic didn’t frustrate me as much (this is actually true) I saw it as more prayer time. Not having things to do didn’t frustrate me as much, I knew I could invest in the things God was stirring in my heart. My outlook on people changed to seeing them as God does and how we can partner with each other, learn from each other, and experience life as God intended at each moment.

In your daily walk do you often find yourself longing for the “next thing” instead of realizing the only thing is right in front of you?

• Jesus wants us to journey with Him, He is always preparing us. What He is preparing us for is Himself, don’t worry about what that looks like. Give that outcome to Him, it’s the most freeing thing in the world.