Ready to take your self-care to a higher level? Keep reading to learn how to set self-care goals for your God-given calling and purpose.
The truth is you don’t have to search long to find suggestions for self-care goals. You’ll find hundreds of ideas on one quick Internet search.
But how do you know which self-care goals are best for you? Should you follow that generic list of ‘the best 47 self-care goals’?
Should you just go with everyone else and follow the latest diet trends?
Probably not.
Self-care includes more than just what you eat (or how much you exercise).
Self-care includes everything related to how you take care of yourself, including your physical and emotional care to your spiritual care, to your social and financial concerns.
Before I go on, I want you to know I made a free printable of the 5 steps I discuss below so you don’t have to take notes or try to remember all of this.
Why set your self-care goals for your God-given calling and purpose?
As a Christian, you have an opportunity to set self-care goals for your God-given calling and purpose.
Why would you want to do this?
- It will help you place God as the priority over how you live your life, which is pleasing to Him.
- Because doing so will position you to see where God is at work around you.
- It will prepare you to use your gifts and passions at your highest ability.
When you set self-care goals for your God-given calling and purpose, you see the truth about how important self-care truly is.
And, you see that you have a responsibility to follow through with these goals.
Therefore, you should dive a little deeper before you set them so you set yourself up to succeed.
Taking care of yourself can bring you wellness. But it can also be a way to honor and worship the Lord.
When you start taking better care of yourself, you set yourself up to see where God works around you. Then you can look for opportunities where your gift(s) and passion(s) aligns with your calling to Christ.
Using your gifts and passions for Christ allows you to live out your purpose.
Everyone has a purpose. It comes from the Lord, and it is good.
‘”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”‘ Jeremiah 29:11. (NIV).
What’s the best method for setting self-care goals for your God-given calling and purpose?
Everybody will do things just a tiny bit different, but for today, let’s talk about the steps that I’ve found useful to give you a starting place. The five steps are:
- Bring self-care topics into prayer and quiet times.
- Write down spiritual gifts and how they were used in the past.
- Spend time in prayer, read Scripture, and spend time in prayer (again).
- Write down how God is leading you to use your spiritual gifts in the future. Do this even if it doesn’t make any sense now.
- Plan your self-care goals around these needs.
Let’s go through each step to find the best method of setting self-care goals for your God-given calling and purpose. The steps are written out in a formal manner for the explanation, but I find this process to be short, simple, and informal to experience.
1 Bring Your Self-care into Your Prayer Time to Set Self-care Goals for Your God-given Calling and Purpose
One of the most effective ways to align your self-care with your calling is to acknowledge that a positive relationship exists.
How well you take care of yourself affects how well you use your mind, body, and life for the Lord.
Bringing your self-care into your prayer time provides accountability for your self-care and will also impact how you use your spiritual gifts.
If you want to serve the Lord and live out your God-given calling at your highest potential, take care of yourself in a manner that promotes it.
However, remember it’s wellness, not health, that is the most significant contributing factor.
Taking care of yourself so you live at your most excellent state of wellness (no matter your level of health) allows you to use your gifts to the best of your ability. Even those in the poorest of health can serve the Lord at their highest ability with the right attitude and spiritual disciplines.
For example, I’ve seen patients who were in the dying process share the Gospel with their healthcare providers.
2 Write Down Your Spiritual Gifts & How You’ve Used Them in the Past
It may seem a little silly to write down how you’ve used your spiritual gifts in the past, but I can assure you, it will be fruitful.
Write down as much as you can as it happens (well maybe from the day before) in your prayer journal or on a list. If necessary, go back through the calendar – at least six months to see if you can think of or remember more.
After you have as much as possible written in a list, look for trends.
- Are you using your gifts just in church or in the community too?
- Were you sitting still or active and moving around a lot?
- Rate your level of comfort using your gifts each time. (Not comfortable in the environment; ease using your gifts – did it come easy?)
- Were you with one person or many people when you used your spiritual gift?
Write down any thoughts and questions that come to your mind when you look at how you are using your spiritual gifts.
The most significant take-home point by doing this step may be that there isn’t a lot of data to analyze.
For example, when I first started doing this process, I learned I did not see opportunities to use my spiritual gifts because I was exhausted and tired all of the time.
I didn’t have the energy to talk to people, so I also wasn’t as willing to use my teaching gift.
Therefore, getting proper sleep became a primary self-care goal for me during that season of my life.
3 Spend Time in Prayer, Read Scripture, and Spend Time in Prayer (again).
Spend time in prayer, asking God for direction and wisdom.
Prayer time is the perfect time to be specific about asking God how He wants you to use your spiritual gifts in the future.
It’s also the perfect time to talk to God about your self-care. Ask the Lord to show you which areas of your self-care need improvement.
You can read self-care related verses during your prayer time.
Ask the Lord to show you how to prepare your mind, body, spirit, and other areas of your self-care to help Him grow His Kingdom.
For example, I was running at the gym when I first felt the Lord nudging me to change the way I use my spiritual gifts.
I was speaking to a few people through personal coaching. I felt God was saying ‘Go bigger’ and He led me to start a blog, write a book, and talk to groups!
After the initial shock, I knew I had to learn a few things. And I had to realize I couldn’t do everything at once.
In order for me to have time to do these things, I had to learn how to say no.
4 Write Down How God is Leading You to Use Your Spiritual Gifts in the Future.
This step will look a little different for everyone. You may get direction about just one area of your self-care, or multiple areas.
God may nudge you to start doing something different immediately or maybe some short time later.
God may not answer you right away, or He may answer you outside of your prayer time.
Stay focused on one of the self-care verses through-out the day over three-six weeks to be positioned to hear God’s response.
Try not to get frustrated while you wait.
Be sure to carry a journal or notebook with you so you can write things down as they come to you.
Sometimes God will lead you to specific Scripture. Sometimes God will give you a word (or two). Be sure to write the word down and study Scripture
Sometimes things don’t make sense independent from all of the other thoughts that may come to you. However, later, when you see everything written down altogether, it does!
For example, I had found that God had given me instructions on how to do something before He led me to what I was supposed to do.
Looking back through my journal notes from the previous few months has given me insight into what and how God wanted me to use my spiritual gifts multiple times.
5 Plan Your Self-care Goals Around These Needs.
This last step is a self-care inventory and an honest assessment of your experience using your spiritual gifts.
I also think it helps to consider setting both short-term and long-term goals.
For example, I knew I was going to write a book and be a speaker in the future. But at the time God revealed this to me, I was not completely prepared or trained to do so.
While I knew God would make it happen, I had to take steps in faith towards the goal He gave me.
As I moved forward, trusting God would further equip me as I inched along, I had to change my schedule so I would be able to eat better, get some exercise and get enough sleep so I could manage the stress the would be part of my life.
Set Self-care Goals for Your God-given Calling and Purpose
In closing, spending time with the Lord is always a good thing. But, if you’ve never focused on your self-care, calling, or purpose before, it may seem a little overwhelming to set your self-care goals for your God-given calling and purpose.
Don’t worry, though, it isn’t hard to start at all.
The first step is something you’re already familiar with doing.
It’s talking to God.
Just start adding a little more about your self-care to the conversation.
I promise He’ll guide you through the rest.
Don’t forget to get your free printable!
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Be sure to grab your FREE Self-care Starter Guide! Lisa Kimrey is a 33-year veteran registered nurse (RN), speaker, and author of the Bible study, The Self-care Impact: Motivation and Inspiration for Wellness. At Mylifenurse, Lisa combines her nursing expertise with Scripture-based encouragement to show readers who serve and care for others how to begin and maintain their self-care journey – without feeling guilty or overwhelmed – to feel happy, healthy, and rejuvenated.