Dreams turned Accomplishments (Documenting the Journey)

I KNOW many different things.  I have great ideas about how things should go in life (read my other posts).  The downside to all of this wonderful knowledge is that it has STAYED knowledge.  I have not successfully applied it to my life.  Check out this post Consistent Consistency.  I have thoroughly outlined my dreams and the steps to follow to turn them into accomplishments.  Have I done them?  That would be a big fat NO!  I have not applied action to my dreams.  In April of this year, I was evidently painfully aware of my lack of action that I had to blog about it in Actions Speak Louder than Words.

I did finally begin to act in May.  I decided to get to my -100 pound party.  I was 15 pounds away.  I  I worked hard for two months and was three pounds away from my goal, when I hit a major obstacle.  I went on a trip and most of the hard work that I had accomplished vanished in one week, seven days, a fraction of what it took to get to my goal.  I was devastated and I haven't quite recovered.

Long story short, it is time for me to actually act upon the knowledge that is within me and that has been so eloquently expressed in this blog.

I have been thinking, and I have decided to log my progress.  I want to turn my dreams into goals and my goals into accomplishments.  

My current goals and my daily action steps are as follows:

1.  -100 pound party-deadline September 30th (15 pounds to go)

           -Track my food on Sparkpeople.com

           -Drink 64+ ounces of water

           -Exercise 10+ minutes daily

2. Read 1 book per week

           -Read 1-2 chapters

3. Practice Rosetta Stone Spanish for 1 to 2 hours per week

           -Practice for 15-20 minutes

4. Write my personal history for 30 minutes to 1 hour per week

           -Write for 10-15 minutes

I plan to post my progress, positive or negative, each day as I transform my dreams into accomplishments.

Today was not the best day toward my -100 party.  I hit the snooze twice and had no desire to exercise, so I took a shower instead and readied myself for work.  I did pick up my Herbalife order today at lunch and grabbed a shake and tea, so that was good.  After work, I ate an a apple and protein bar on the way home.  Dinner did me in.  I don't even want to talk about it.  As I ate a not so very healthy dinner, I decided to keep munching.  I definitely hit, grand-slammed, my calories for today.  I knew this, and therefore; I did not even log it in Spark.  I drank a measely 32 ounces of water from Sonic with Sunshine Berry (strawberries and lemons with peach flavoring).  Tomorrow I will definitely kick it in to high gear.  

As for reading, I have discovered audio CDs and am in love.  I listened to an entire book that would have taken me a week or month or even year to read in 3.5 hours in the car on my commute to and from work or whenever I happened to be in the car.  So technically, I have "read" a book this week.  I have started 2 books that are supposed to be finished by now.  I haven't read today, but I plan to after I publish this post.

I haven't practiced Spanish for several weeks, I will do so beginning tomorrow. The same goes for writing my personal history.

This is my time to act, and I plan to document my progress for grins and giggles and maybe just maybe to encourage someone else to go and make their own dreams come true.  

For God's Glory,

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

It is time for me to act.  I am a words person and love to write and reflect on things in my life, but that is about how far I get.  I KNOW what to do, BUT I don't DO it.

This is my time to act upon what I know. It's go time.

For His Glory,

Amanda

Consistent Consistency

I want to get married someday, speak Spanish, write a book, travel the world, and know God and make Him known.  These desires seem so big and far away at times.  These things are all good things, but they require smaller steps of consistency over time to accomplish them.  If I were to make more friends, study my Rosetta Stone for thirty minutes a day, write for thirty minutes to an hour a day, save a few dollars a month for traveling adventures, and study and share the Word of God over a period of time; I would most likely be a whole lot closer to accomplishing the desires of my heart.  My dreams need to become goals, and in turn my goals will become accomplishments.  The bridge between my goals and accomplishments is a consistent consistency of  little steps of action that align with the direction of my goals.

My Dreams are the roles in which I seek to become.  My dreams will not be fulfilled and handed to me on a silver platter or delivered by the postal service delivery man.  God will not just hand me a husband, or allow me to speak Spanish fluently.  I won't wake up the next day with a best-selling book on the shelves of every bookstore.  I won't be able to hop on a plane tomorrow and go overseas.  I won't be spiritually mature ever this side of heaven, I will always be growing into the disciple and missionary God wants me to be.  There will not be this magical day where all of these desires are automatically fulfilled.  Every role or aspect of my life requires work on my part.  This is where my dreams must become my goals.  If my goals are to be a wife, a fluent Spanish speaker, an author and so on.  Then I need to break down these roles into small actions that can be executed consistently over time to get me to my goals.  These steps of completed consistency are the stepping stones for my goals to become accomplishments.  Once these goals turn to accomplishments, the journey is not over.  The role of wife will bring on new dreams such as mother and the steps of consistent consistency begin again just with another goal in mind.

My dreams turn to goals when I PLAN action steps to turn them into accomplishments.  My goals become accomplishments, when I EXECUTE those action steps consistently in accordance to my goals.

Dream BIG. Turn your dreams into goals and accomplish them!  Small steps lead to great accomplishments.

Choose Your Consequences Carefully

I have noticed some beliefs floating around about God that are FALSE.  The idea that God is a loving God, and everyone should love everyone and accept them for "who they are no matter what they have done or are doing."  This is completely untrue!  You must love the sinner, but NOT the sin.  Yes, God is Love, but God is also just.  Because God is love and just, He can't stand sin.  Sin has to be paid for.  Sin is a debt that each person owes, and it must be paid.  The payment is death. His judgement will pour over all mankind in the near future.

Another thing people don't seem to understand is sin.  Most people have a sense of right and wrong. There are a few that believe everyone is good in the world, which I find nearly laughable in light of the events of this world and the evil reported each night on the evening news.  As for the majority with a knowledge of right and wrong, they know wrong is sin.  Simply put, sin is anything you think, say or do that breaks God's laws.  Yes, we could get into a debate as to what God's laws were and justify ourself out of nearly anything.  

Using the Bible as the source and standard for truth, God's laws are clearly found within its sacred pages.  This definition clearly addresses three areas where we sin.  It begins in our thoughts and moves out toward our speech and how we say things on to action, where we willfully take action against God's laws.  All of this can happen within seconds.  Sin is sin.  There is no sin bigger or smaller than another.  Let me say that again, Sin is sin.  There is no sin BIGGER or smaller than another. Sin is equal; the consequences are different.  Did you catch that?  Sin is equal; the consequences are different.  

Telling a lie and extramarital sex/homosexuality are sins.  One is not better or worse than the other.  The consequences are different.  A lie could result in other sin or if confessed immediately, the consequence is minimal such as parental discipline or such.  Extramarital sex could have a variety of consequences such as parenthood, STDs, emotional damage, strained relationships, and more.  Homosexuality has similar consequences such as STDs, emotional issues, broken relationships, social issues, and more.

There are many other examples of sin and its varying consequences, but there is good news.  The sin payment was paid for us.  God, out of His amazing love (that is where love comes in), sent His only Son, Jesus to die on a cruel cross as our sin payment.  Death was the required payment, so God arranged for us a alternate.  Because Jesus died on the cross, we are now given the choice to identify with Christ's payment or take the payment ourselves and live in separation from God forever in Hell.  It is your choice.  God is waiting.  

Churches are not to condone sin.  Their role in ministry to sinners is to love and assist them in making the neccessary changes from sin and towards Christ.  God is love and just, and so must our churches.