In the book I’m currently reading (one of many!), I’ve been challenged to spend some time with the Lord and ask him to give me a life verse and a life goal. Catherine Martin writes in Six Secrets to a Powerful Quiet Time:
“…ask Him to make one verse stand out, a verse that touches your heart and seems to inspire your own dreams and desires. Your life goal should be big enough to capture your heart for a lifetime.”
And later, she gives an outline for a quiet time that can be spent with the Lord to discern specifically what your life verse and goal are. Here she says:
“The best way to begin the great adventure of Knowing God is to establish a life goal and a life verse. As you think about your life goal and life verse, they should captivate your heart, set your sights, and give you direction for a lifetime.”
The book overall is set up so that it can be a 30-Day daily devotional kind of thing, and I have set out to spend quiet time with the Lord each day. [It’s working, by the way…I haven’t skipped a day yet.] It’s going to take way more than 30-days to make it through this book. But this time it’s NOT because I keep missing days so it gets strung out over 2 months. This time it’s because I’m taking my time. Now I’ve gotten to this point about my life verse and my life goal and I’ve already been here, on this one topic (which is actually in the appendix of the book and not one of the daily devotions) for 3 days. I’m not done yet, either. I’ve really enjoyed taking my time with the Lord reading the Scriptures.
It’s hard to imagine right this minute that there will be one verse that sums things up for me, because there are SO many that touch my heart (obviously Scripture has a way of doing that). I’m excited to see what it’s going to be.
And as for my life goal – I haven’t gotten to that part of this appendix yet. I certainly don’t feel like I’m floating around without any goals for my life. I don’t know what it will look like for God to give me something that is big enough for my dreams and for His work, but that’s going to be cool, too.
Do you have a verse that the Lord has shown you, a verse for your life, for all the times of your life? Do you have a verse that walks you through the hard times, that guides you through the uphill climbs, that skips with you when joy fills your heart…?
Do you have a statement that you would call your life goal that was given to you by the Lord? A goal that reaches through the confusion of a busy life, that clarifies your path and your destination, and that always sets things back on track no matter what the circumstances around you are?
If you have one or both of these things that you hold on to daily, I’d love for you to share your verses and goals with me. I think it can be a very personal thing, a very special thing. And I think it can be very inspiring to hear what the Lord has done in a specific area in others’ lives. I would be honored to hear about your life verse and life goal, if you’re comfortable sharing it here. I’ll definitely be sharing mine as they become more defined. And then we can rejoice together in what good things the Lord has done, in his tremendous faithfulness, and in the hope we have for the journey ahead of us.
