In our home, we don't set New Year's resolutions, but we do set goals. We got our fancy 2017 Passion Planners over a month ago, and have already started transferring important dates into them. I have a tendency to over schedule and over plan, which is a behavior that my accountability partner is helping me walk through (thank you, Karna!). The over planning and extreme goal setting was pretty extreme, especially when we were trying to have our first child. We had been married for four years at the time, and we were all about S.M.A.R.T. goals, and put a timeline with every goal we set. So along with our other goals for that year, we added a conception goal (with a date).

So when I say I put our conception goal date in the yearly goals, I literally added it to our spreadsheet along with all the other goals we had for that year, as if I had that much control over a goal like this. On the goal spreadsheet, the goal was typed out on the first column on the left-hand side, and each subsequent column was for writing yes or no if the goal was met. So there was a column for every month in the year; and at the beginning of each month, we would review how our monthly goals were going and what the status or progress was. So for the goal of conception, every month was "no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no."

Looking back at this, if I had to do it all over again, I would definitely NOT put conception on my goal list. Putting it on the goal list made it seem like I had all the control over that situation; and made me focus even more on it to the point of being overly consumed with having a baby.

As I'm setting goals and plans for 2017, I am reminded of this lesson, and continue to glean from it. No matter how much I plan and do, it's the Lord's purpose that prevails (Proverbs 19:21), and He determines our steps (Proverbs 16:9).

As we begin making New Year's resolutions, may we step back and filter them through His goals. Not our plans and purposes, but His.

New Year Planning with Him, Brandi

P.S. If you want to read more about vision goal setting, click here for a great reference from one of my favorite stores.

A portion of this post was excerpted from "Was Called Barren."