I decided to focus on how to set personal priorities in this post following the response I got from last week’s post on how to find time to pursue your dreams and goals.
A few years ago I struggled with an excruciating stomach ulcer…
It got so bad that one day, I told my darling hubby:
“I think I need to fast and pray so I can finally get rid of this stomach ulcer”
The pain was beginning to alter my life and responsibilities.
I’m that kind of person, I always want to get rid of problems. But this one was getting out of hands. And I started thinking that this kind only goes out- only by prayer and fasting, hence what I told my hubby.
I was slightly annoyed at his response 🙂
And I think you would be too 🙁
Ok maybe not, let me not judge you in advance 🙂
Try to understand my plight a little…Ok, picture this: you’re struggling and in pain, what do you need? I dont know about you, usually I wish that I could always be pampered. Especially back then, I didn’t want to ever hear that I was wrong.
His response, though it was what I needed to here, sounded to me as judgmental, at least at first.
Ok now, I’m sure you’re wondering he said.
Here you go:
He smiled (if you know my sweet hubby you can also picture that nice Pst Ade’s smile) and he said:
“I don’t think what you need is fasting and prayers, I think what you need is to stand on what God has done already”
It took me some minutes before I could let go of what he said and actually think about it for real.
That comment was exactly what I needed, and that was what led me to a place of clarity on how stressed I was. This was the process that started my journey to complete healing from the stomach ulcer.
I recorded a video in my Facebook group this Tuesday and uploaded it to youtube for you here.
Now, what’s the correlation to setting personal priorities?
You see, at that time I was so stressed but for some reason I was still living my life, juggling all the responsibilities I had. I made sure I showed up for everyone and anyone. I was constantly volunteering to help whenever needed.
I was so sure that as long as I had a little window, I cant accommodate any call of duty. I was cruising through life, business and ministry. I was a ‘superwoman’! The only nagging thing was the unbearable stomach ulcer I sometimes had to deal with.
This way of life to me was the way to be a blessing to my world.
Thank God for the stomach ulcer, I would not be where I am today.
I had learned to norm the call of God inside me.
Gradually, I began to realize that one of my main problem was that I had not learned to set my personal proirities. It was a long jouney back and I can tell it all here.
There were 3 questions that I answered that really helped me to put my personal priorities out.
- How do you want to be remembered?
- What’s most important to you?
- How do you want to get from where you are to where you want to be in the future?
The more I tried to answer these 3 questions the more I realized that I didn’t want to be remembered as that stressed lady that helped people but she was always having issues with her tummy. Note that this was my personal experience and not a way to see anyone else.
The only response I’m suggesting is that if you are feeling stressed in any way but for some reason, you think there’s more to your life than this. Or if you just wish that your time would be expanded, maybe you need to check your personal priorities.
Again, the journey involved a lot of things and people that God used to open my eyes.
And now, it’s not only that I’ve been healed, I also have a firm grip on my calendar.
I’m able to do every single thing I believe I need to do. I don’t feel stressed about my time and I have processes in place which also work for on-going life/business/ministry management.
Thanks a lot for reading to this point of the article. I really value you and pray that you’ll step into higher levels in every area of your life. And most importantly that you will build businesses that honors God and brings you lots of money to do all that you have in your dreams 😉
Over to you, have you answered any of these questions recently? Did it help?
