Good Morning Girls!  Just 48 hours til "go time"......are you ready?  We have just a little more "prep work" before we are ready to start.  Yesterday we took our dreams and turned them into identifiable goals.  We came up with a plan.   It would be nice if now all we had to do was proceed with the plan.  However, it's not that simple.  If it were that simple, we wouldn't have to write them out and think about them.  They would already be our "habits" and our way of life.  Chances are, we have other habits that are in the way.  These habits may not necessarily be bad habits, they are simply habits that are going to conflict with our new goals.  Now we need to identify these habits, and get rid of them, or replace them with new ones.  Let's say your goal is to read the whole Bible in one year.  Currently, you read your Bible when your Pastor says "turn in your Bible to Mark chapter 3 verse 21", and that's about it.  Chances are you have some habits that are taking you away from your time in the Word.  Here are some examples of taking old habits, and replacing them with new ones:

1 Old: When I read the Bible I just randomly open it up and read
   New:  I will write out a plan on how to read the Bible in a year (many Bibles have a plan in the back, or there are numerous books on this)

2. Old:  I wake up when the kids wake up....it's one of the rewards for being a stay at home mom
    New:  I will set my alarm

3. Old:  I like to watch tv to wind down before bed
    New:  I will finish my daily reading, and then I will watch tv

4. Old:  I've tried this before, after a couple weeks I get too far behind and quit(more on this thought process in another message)
    New:  I WILL NOT QUIT.  If it takes me 2 years to "read the Bible in one year", I will not quit.

These sound pretty easy, but trust me, they will be a shock to your flesh.  You need to read your goals, and your new habits daily to keep you accountable.  Your flesh will scream "why are you doing this?".  You better have an answer for it.  In fact, that will be our step for tomorrow.  Earlier I said the habits that you currently have, may or may not be "bad".  Well, it's now time to think of any habit that conflicts with your current goal as bad.  Worse than bad....evil.
Proverbs 13:19 It is pleasant to see dreams come true, but fools refuse to turn from evil to attain them

Have a great day!
Jen

ps the old habit/new habit is from Bill Phillips' Body for Life Journal.  Hew uses the word patterns instead of habits.