"A Goal Without a Plan Is Just a Wish"

Today in Elder’s Quorum we had a lesson on having a purpose in your life and trying to achieve that purpose in our lives. As i pondered this in class today it brought back something really big that my Mission President taught me about setting goals in this life which is what the title is he always said that a goal without a plan is just a wish. He would try and get this point across to us a lot and it took me awhile to realize just how true that is. It is super easy to set goals and think well if I set them it will motivate me to accomplish them, but let's be honest most of the time we set a goal and then we forget about it and think every once in awhile, “Oh ya that would be nice I want to get there someday but i am not there yet.” Well duh you are not there yet because you aren't trying hard enough.


It was in an area on my mission where the work was really struggling that I learned how important it is to have a plan behind your goal. Me and my companion sat down one week to plan and we set goals like we always do, but this time made very specific plans for each and every one of those goals and within the next two weeks the amount of people we were teaching doubled and we found 3 people in those weeks who are baptized members of the Church today. It had been a long time since Elders had baptized someone in that area, almost a year, but all it took was setting goals and then making  a plan and working hard to follow it!


The Lord blesses those who try their hardest to achieve things that bring about good in our lives. I think that far too often in this life people don't think that the Lord cares about the goals we have in this life if it isn't related to anything spiritual. That couldn't be farther from the truth. God cares about every aspect of our lives and he wants us to be successful! So if we have goals in our lives we want to obtain that are good God will help us he tells us this in the scriptures. In Alma 7:23 it says
"And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive."


If we are living a righteous life and doing our best to follow the Lord he tells us that we will be able to ask him for anything that we stand in need of spiritual or temporal. So if you have goals don't just wait for them to happen make a plan and then take this plan to the Lord and if it is his will he will help you achieve these goals! I have a strong testimony that the Lord cares about every aspect of our lives. During my mission I had gained a total of 40lbs and I really wanted to lose it before I completed my mission and went home. I had been trying for months, but I never made a real plan to reach that goal. In my last area of my mission I set the goal again and then I made a plan and I took that plan to the Lord and every time I prayed I asked the Lord to continue to help me to be healthier and to keep trying to archive my goals. Over the last four months of my mission I worked extra hard to eat healthy and work out and by the time I went home I weighed 210 lbs I started at 253 when I got to that area.


We can do anything we put our minds to with the Lord on our side. so if you want to be better at something do it! You can do it. Have faith in yourselves and in GOD   "for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you."- Habakkuk 1:5