Our Dream Session for 2016

Part 2 - Dreaming & Goal Setting for 2016

I gathered a group of my sweet friends this weekend and we had a dream session for the New Year. We enjoyed chatting together during brunch and brainstorming, dreaming and praying together. It was an incredibly refreshing and energizing time!

There’s just something about getting together with a group of beautiful people. In our case we didn’t all know each other but are in similar seasons of life. Speaking out your dreams is powerful, and even more so is speaking life into another person. If you want to create a gathering like this as well, see my preparations below including some great questions for goal setting in 2016 for yourself and your business!

 

*Links are provided on italicized words, click words for link. 

Menu | Brussels Sprout Quiche Muffins, Kielbasa, Cranberry & Blackberry Oatmeal Bars, fruit, juice, tea, and coffee.

Setting | Rifle Paper Co. notebooks, colorful sharpies, colored pencils, markers, watercolors, paper, pens & pencils.

What we did | Prayed – asking the Holy Spirit to join us. Brainstormed – Asked the Lord for insight for the year; using colorful utensils to draw and write down words that inspired a theme for the year (i.e. Hope, Fresh Start, Love, Grow, No Limits). Goal Set – Started by asking ourselves these 3 questions: 1. What am I passionate about? 2. What makes me come alive? (Don’t take too long to answer these questions - write down what you think of first). 3. What can I do this year to fulfill these things? Then we answered these questions for 2016 (Included are 2015 review questions however we did not do these at our session). Also see here if you are goal setting for a business. We then chose one of our goals and wrote down practical steps towards making that happen this year (scheduling a date, calling someone, etc). Shared our passion and one of our goals while encouraging and speaking out what we see in each other. Prayed for one another. *Coffee and tea were consumed during this process. :)

 

We are all incredibly unique individuals and each have beautiful gifts to offer the world. We don’t always know what we’re passionate about until we take time to pray and think about it though. Anytime this year, I’d encourage you to get a group of people together and point these things out in each other. If you choose to goal set during that time, you can keep each other accountable throughout the year, encouraging and inspiring each other. 

“Think, not of what you can change about yourself this year, but of what you have to offer.”

 

God is doing a new thing! And He is beyond GOOD.

Happy New Year and blessings upon your dreams!

 

Love Shyla

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Scroll down to see Part 1 of Dreaming and Goal Setting : Timing and Obedience

Dreaming for 2016

Part 1 – Timing & Obedience

I’m planning a dreaming and inspiration brunch for a group of my girls here at home this weekend. We are going to brainstorm, goal set, share, encourage, and pray with each other around a table of food and coffee. I’m so excited to share it with you!

Until then, I want to share with you this bit of insight that the Lord has been showing me in this past while in regards to our dreams.
 

A journal entry from yesterday:

I’m sitting at the window in the living room and it’s snowing.

As I’m watching the big soft flakes, I’m asking myself “What things am I obligating myself to that God’s not asking me to do?” It’s Sunday and I’d like to continue my routine of contributing to a project that I’m building but right now nothing seems right but to take in this beauty and be totally carefree.

This is Sunday after all which is such a gift from the Lord. “What other gifts has the Lord given me that I’m are not taking advantage of?”

Dreaming is an intricate thing - for believers and non-believers alike.  For those who feel their dreams are inspired by and directed by God, there is a special approach to goal setting.

As a believer you believe the desires and dreams in your heart are from your maker but the path is not fully revealed. So you try to listen carefully to His Spirit and wait patiently for the right time (emphasis on try).

For me, in this journey, I’m still discovering things that make me come alive and trying to figure out what part they could play in my future. I don’t actually know what my dream fully is. And when I say dream I also mean my purpose –the fulfilling thing that serves a need in humanity as well.

The Lord gives me glimpses of things that are apart of my giftings and I often want to make them into a business plan for the next 5 years… :) For instance

I’m good at organization, it was my job for 7+ years but I desired to create an income on my own, something that I could do at home in the future when I want to settle down – So I considered starting a consultation business.

I grew a love for flowers –  (still working towards the goal expressed above) – I began plotting to become a farmer/ florist!

God gave me inspiration for Love Shyla – I feel like I need to have a consistent/ highly populated blog. (Although I truly believe messages from the Lord are what I am to deliver.)

Each of these things are pieces of my heart that God was awakening. They are beautiful things given to me by the Lord, but some of the plans I constructed for them might not have been.

And you know what, that’s ok. It’s a learning process. Maybe I will do some of those things in the future, although some of them I concluded that I don’t want to. Some things are only a part of our callings - some are vocations, some are recreational. Whichever way, I don’t disagree with testing the waters or having goals and trying to make them happen! I think that it is necessary to “try” and start until we discover where our sweet spot is. After all, that is the best proven method in life, isn’t it!

What I don’t want to miss out on though, are the gifts that God’s given me for right now because I am focusing on the wrong thing. Gifts like rest, and carefree creativity that doesn’t have to be profitable. I don’t want to forge a path that is not ready to be forged to the dreams God will undoubtedly make happen in His timing.

Amen.

I may not know how my dream will be fulfilled, or what it really is in totality; however, I do know what God is asking me to be obedient to now.

This is a confession. God does not make it hard for us to hear his voice – it’s just that sometimes what we hear is not quite what we think we should be doing - obedience is the hard part. Or perhaps the voice is very still and quiet which often means to remain where we are and trustingly wait. Then, sometimes God allows us to learn life lessons. Thank-you Jesus for that too.

 

The true joy is in obedience if we will surrender to it. In obedience and patient waiting is also where the key to God’s greatest blessings are. I am getting a peak into how beautiful that can be this year. 

Don’t miss out on the gifts that God has given you right now. Most likely it will be a relief because your self-forged path can be quite hard work can’t it, especially if it’s in the wrong timing or direction. You can stop striving. God may want to make your load lighter, more carefree, and joy-filled!

I believe that God has greater dreams for us than we have imagined for ourselves and He will make them happen.

 

God bless you as you dream in this new year…

 

love shyla

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I would also LOVE to hear the dreams that God is fulfilling in your life if you want to share below!