Getting Specific with a Plan of Action...{Finding Sanctuary - Part 13}

Working hard with all my favorite things...

Have you been having fun, learning, letting the Lord draw you deeper into your heart, where He abides with all of your own deepest longings, passions, griefs, thinking and memories?  Has He been bringing forth treasures from dark nooks and crannies?  Some to keep and some valuable only in the fact that they have given you insight?  Yes, this is a treasure hunt, and at the end is the most valuable treasure...more of your heart, found, cleansed, sanctified and knit together with the whole...

I am giving your next assignment first...today, tomorrow, as early in this process as possible; carve an hour of time to sit with God and listen to Him speak to this heart of yours...ask Him for His plan in moving you to a new way to deal with the issue we have been exploring.  You have spent much time already, and in partnership with Him, in making the connections, discovering the roots. Now it is time to engrave, deep within, the new way of walking out this path of deeper peace, quiet, rest, worship and balance.   And so, we will be taking all that He has shown us, embodied in our Spirit-inspired reflection journaling, our leadings and longings and life-change ideas - and offer them to Him to sort and add to and develop the vision to walk out this goal, this new direction for our lives.

You may even have this verse dancing around the edges of you mind:

Then the LORD answered me and said,
         “Record the vision
         And inscribe it on tablets,
         That the one who reads it may run. Habakkuk 2:2

We are writing the vision, inscribing it on paper and the tablet of our hearts - did you know that research shows that writing goals down by our own hand increases our retention and probability of achieving those goals by 33%?  I always love when science proves scripture!  Also, the more specific the plan, the more details that can be recorded, the more fine-tuned our brains become to the new plan of action...it is a function of our Reticular Activating System...that part of the brain that acts as a thermostat in what we pay attention to...the RAS is why we don't feel the clothes on our skin after a few seconds, or why we startle to a loud sound invading a normally quiet setting...it tells us "you can quit paying attention to _____", or "keep paying attention to ____".  The more specific we are, the more our brain knows it/we need to "keep paying attention." It becomes the "one who runs" with the vision!

So, the work for today, or at least before you have your strategic planning session with God, is to make sure you have written down in some fashion (notes, art journaling, full reflection entries, art that represents, etc.), the connections to the topic you are working on and possible plans of action to move forward. 

Why is this important when you are going to spend an hour developing a plan anyway?  First, it will clear your mind of "the chatter" - all those loose thoughts that can distract us from listening to God.  Secondly, since you have been inviting the Holy Spirit into the process, there is every likelihood that the Lord will build on these notes. Don't forget to let Him tell you which colors and materials He would have you use to add to the reflection strips of your weaving...{it is extra nice when you hear Him say "you choose!"}. 

A little of my own process coming tomorrow...

Older posts in this series: 
The Journey begins  
A new tool, part 2
A new tool, part 3 
A new tool, part 4 
A Soft Answer, part 5  
How do We Step Into and Out of Anger? part 6
A Time for Reflection, part 7 

My Mind Map and Thoughts, part 8  
Color a Prayer, part 9 
Using the Mind-Map to Build a Personal Art Piece, part 10 

Building a Personal Art Piece - Stage II, part 11
Building a Personal Art Piece - Stage III, part 12