How To Turn Your Hopes Into Reality (Easy guide to SMART goals)
Everything starts with an idea, but some of the best ideas never grow to become real. Having ideas is a great and important first step. Making quality goals changes outcomes and ultimately transforms lives.
It has been said that if you aren’t sure where you are going you will surely get there (nowhere) or if you fail to aim you aim to fail!
In order to have a step-by-step plan or leading from God you need to have steps. You can always change them as He leads, but having them keeps in motion. It is always easier to turn a moving ship, car, bike, skateboard... whatever.
To quote American philanthropist Elbert Hubbard,
"Many people fail in life, not for lack of ability or brains or even courage, but simply because they have never organized their energies around a goal."
Dreams are unrefined hope and cost-free aspirations that we might do someday. Converting a dream into a goal is a decision to take tangible steps to pursue it. Goals are specific future targets that we are commit...
Four Flavors of People Who Benefit Coach Training [You probably are at least one of them]
Coach Training isn't only for those who want to become professional coaches. Almost everyone can benefit.
Have you ever wanted to help someone but were not sure what to say or do?
Wish you could have more meaningful conversations?
Tired of hearing the same ol,' same ol', from a coworker or family member?
Most people who take Bridges Coach training are NOT looking to become professional coaches. (But they CAN move in that direction if they so choose.)
Here are four actual people groups who have benefited from coach training!
Parents - of kids still at home, but also of adult children.
Learning to craft questions that help children make wise choices is incredibly valuable and empowering! IT takes the strain off the relationship and actually brings hope. One father of an adult child said, "I used to dread our weekly phone calls. I felt compelled to try and keep him in line and that wasn't fun for either of us. Now, I ask him questions that help him make his own choices and I actual...
Beware The Drift...
Our church has been doing a series called, "Beware of the drift" on the book of Colossians. It's really got me thinking.
Likely, no one plans in advance to gain 20 pounds in 10 years.
Most people don't set out to become distant from family members.
We're not intentional about building a habit of anxiety.
We don't hope and dream to neglect our faith.
And yet, we drift toward all kinds of unintentional behaviors and unwanted habits.
Psalm 141:4a says,
"Don’t let me drift toward evil or take part in acts of wickedness"
What if "wickedness" doesn't only means violence or intentionally hurting another person? Could it also include neglecting priorities or not pursuing what God has for you?
God offers believers so much - as a people group and personally. Let me explain.
As part of God's family, we are all offered forgiveness for whenever and however we miss the mark of living how He wants us to live. There is a peace available to us that the world does not ...
What's Next? I AM
[Personal Practices]
Did Moses always kind of know he was called to be a deliverer? I'm not sure, but God certainly led him to do a great work.
How about Joshua? His path led him to step in as a successor.
Rahab was led to do a one-time courageous act.
Anna waited till old age to receive a promise she felt God gave her.
The Bible is filled with pathway stories. They are written as testimonies of faith.
Hebrews 12:1a says, "We are surrounded by a great cloud of people whose lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up."
What is the race that is before you?!
That's our quest!
We need to answer that question! YOU need to have an answer to that question!
God built us for destiny and discovery. We are all a part of the ongoing roll-out of the kingdom of heaven on earth as we participate in the plans He has for us personally.
Proverbs 4:11 is one of my favorite verses, it say...
Why I Paid April $50 For Just One Question!
Ready for a good story?
Some of you know I recently finished a book that is not yet published (more on that later) but it took me over TEN years to write it!
During that time my husband and I got a redirect from the Lord and moved to Lancaster, PA, where we are both on staff at Worship Center. We love it here. But, in order to be full-time there, I needed to hire people to do what I was doing at Bridges, which turned out fabulously! Sarah Fulton now manages the Coaching Culture branch, April Lonneville oversees the Destiny by Design side, and Michelle Pavasars facilitates the Next Level Coach Training(NXL).
During the very first NXL cohort, I volunteered to be coached by our Mentor Coach, Walt Hastings, while the class observed.
This is where the famous question from April happened!
My focus for the coaching session was whether or not to finish my book. The complication was that I was juggling a full-time job and running a business on the side but still feeling compelled to compl...
Adult Parenting Is Not For The Weak! (Neither is being parented when you are an adult.)
Remember those midnight feedings?
And then there were the school challenges with sports, or friends, or academics...
Then came the dating years - few of us were ready for that!
But NOW many of us are facing parenting our adult kids - if that is even a thing. They hardly need parenting anymore, except for when they do!
When dealing with your adult children's decisions affects our well-being, we need to take notice and have a plan that will benefit us all.
Here's the thing. There's really no such thing as adult children. It's an oxymoron. Either you are an adult or a child, but all too often the perspective gets confused and we can't stop treating our adult children as actual children.
The parent feels it is their duty to guide (control) the adult child when they are making decisions they don't approve of, and the adult children feel they should be allowed to make their own choices and live with the consequences.
It's a pickle.
What if you could ask your adult child empowering ...
But Isn't Detachment Kind Of Mean? Benevolent Detachment #4 of 5
Ever heard of "Failure to Launch"? It's a counseling term that describes a parent/child relationship where a child remains dependent on their parent into their adult years.
They may or may not still live at home, but they depend on their parents for emotional support or financial aid, or they expect their parents to validate their situation. They believe they can't be expected to move forward because of their extenuating circumstances.
Now, don't get me wrong, of course there are actually extenuating circumstances at times, but for the most part, there is something amiss in the expectations. Let me explain.
When someone feels the need to help someone else out by taking care of things for them when they are actually capable of caring for themselves, that is actually mean. It's infantizing. The result is that the person being "helped" doesn't grow up. Doesn't learn to do things for themselves. To adult.
It seems obvious when you look at it in certain ways:
- We would never carry a...
What Was God Thinking? Benevolent Detachment #2 of 5
Ever just want to shake someone? I have.
Okay, maybe not physically, but I have wanted so badly to help someone SEE something. It's mind-boggling to me how tolerant people can be of difficult circumstances they could actually do something about!
If I'm honest I've wanted to shake myself at times as well!
You'd think the low experience would be enough for a wake-up call, but no. We keep doing the same thing over and over, and not adopting the new thing we know would be better for us.
What was God thinking when He gave us free will?
Apparently, this is not a new phenomenon. Paul says in Romans 7:15
I do not understand the things I do. I do not do what I want to do, and I do the things I hate.
But then later in Romans 12:2, he says,
Do not be shaped by this world; instead be changed within by a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to decide what God wants for you; you will know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.
So, what does this have to do...
What is Benevolent Detachment? Benevolent Detachment - #1 of 5
I am LOVING John Eldridge’s Pause App prompts and the new 30 Days to Resilient plan! (I just completed my first round and am excited to repeat the whole thing!)
That’s where I first heard about Benevolent Detachment.
If you aren’t sure what that is a quick definition includes, in Eldridge’s words, “releasing everyone and everything to Him.” It’s the art of letting God be God and letting go of our compulsion to change people or situations. It involves a combination of a rooted perspective of who God is in our lives, mixed with a healthy understanding of free will, prayer, and trust in God to be there for us and for others.
When we fix our attention on what’s wrong in our lives, other’s lives, or our world - our attention is not where it needs to be. On Jesus.
Benevolent Detachment is a reminder to hit the refresh button in our souls. To close our eyes to the world around us and the chatter within us and commune with Him there. To allow the River of God to well up within us and wa...
Which One Are You?
Dreamers tend to have an idea a minute.
You know the type. They are pretty quick with a "What if?" They keep us moving forward, trying things and improving what is already there.
Maybe you are the type. You have more vision than there are years in the century. It's a gift and a curse because you always have more good ideas, but it's hard because you probably can't do them all. (And let's be honest, sometimes you start stuff that doesn't get done.)
SO, how do you decide what to do when? And how? And with whom?
Coaching can help! In fact, that is one of the outcomes coaching is designed for!
Now, let's talk about Doers.
Doers get stuff done. Their focus is less on what could be and more on what is.
You know the type. They are hard-working, dependable, and responsible. They seem to be tireless.
Maybe you are the type. You don't need someone to check up on you because your internal motivation will keep things running smoothly and get the stuff checked off the list. It's a gift an...