Goal achievement is vital to your growth. Goals are progressive; they build upon each other to create something you couldn't have envisioned until you accomplished the prior goal(s). Goal achieval is such a common part of everyday life that sometimes we take it for granted. For example; to achieve a goal like to drive a car; you'll have to pass a road test; fill up the car with gas; etc. Of course, you study and you'll gladly work to earn money to fill the gas tank because of your excitement to reach the goal (if you are a new driver). But if you run into a situation where you ran out of gas, or you lost your keys or you got into an accident - what would that do to your goal of driving a car? Overcoming fear, anxiety, unexpected requirements, etc., may dampen your enthusiasm and so you might consider changing your goal, instead of doing more work to achieve the original goal. 

 

Being able to harness your emotions and channel positive energy back into the action steps that lead to the achievement of the set goal builds what is called resiliency. Resiliency is a skill that shows you are willing to withstand the pressure to change your goal when you hit a roadblock. Resiliency is a planned step in the skill building process. If you don't overcome roadblocks, or start over when you fail, you will not be able to complete the skill building cycle discussed and pictured in "The Change Process". The picture shows an example of needing to complete a series of uninterrupted cycles of practicing the new behavior without fail. Resiliency is an inner strength to persevere; to be adaptable but still remain goal driven. Being able to bounce back from disappointment is vital to living a hopeful, vibrant, and progressive life.

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​Having faith in God, not self, is what gives you the confidence to try again, despite past failures (Hebrews 6:11-12). God's power source is in you when you believe and receive. The identity you possess in Christ is founded on God’s love for you, grounded in Christ's character and reinforced by the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit. One interpretation of the phrase, "Have faith in God" is demonstrated in your humble acceptance of God's sovereignty, recognizing that the truth of the words recorded by Isaiah 55:8-9:

     "My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. “For as the heavens are                higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts."

When you struggle with your motivation to continue through roadblocks to achieve your goal or when you struggle with doing the right thing as defined by psych-social societal standards/norms instead of doing those things that fulfill untamed urges and desires, remember God!

 

Reading on from there, in Isaiah 55:10-13, you find that when you do change your perspective to follow Godly standards, you'll attain peace and joy (because you learn to let hope, faith, and self-sacrifice drive your resiliency so you can tolerate the temporary discomfort of uncertainty and make the decision to delay or deny gratification of fleshly desires). Applying this to your thinking produces a focus shift that leads to actions of fervent pray, that never ceases, whether your prayers are answered the way you requested or not (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, James 5:16). To access the positive energy needed to make this happen, you must operate out of a healthy, balanced self-concept; an identity built on the love and forgiveness of a Sovereign and good God (Ephesians 1:11, 3:17-20,

Revelation 4:11, Romans 8:28, Proverbs 16:19, Jeremiah 31:3). Your identity in Christ gives you the power and hope to regulate your emotional responses. The hope that comes alive from faith energizes your every decision.

• The possession of this identity may be hard for you to recognize in yourself, but it’s easily observable to others. Don’t let defense mechanisms, like false pride and independence, block your self-image. They shut out the trust and vulnerability needed to be able to gain access to this new Christian identity (2 Corinthians 4:7, 12:9, James 4:7, 1 Peter 2:9, 5:6, read Appendix 2N). ​

 

Making good, but risky Christian decisions (as defined by the odds not being in your favor or decisions that aren't popular), is more common in a Christian who actually walks the talk of Christianity. Author David A. Sherwood, Ph.D., LICSW, ACSW, (1988), says this, "Ultimately, “doing the right thing” results from our making judgments that grow out of our character as we are “changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18)". Continuing to make cognitively consistent decisions amid uncertainty is what most people would label as having the trait of resiliency. Being a resilient Christian helps you to stay focused on your goals, even in hard/bad times, and makes you more willing to take risks to achieve the promises of God. Resiliency is an expression of the hope that comes from your faith in the Triune Christian God, a Christian's cognitively consistent character (as seen by others as value-based decisions expressed in goal-directed actions or said another way, going after what your faith is sure of but you don't see in the physical world, Hebrews 11:1). Your faith is elastic; the more confidence you have, the more faith energizes your every decision. Hope gives you the energy, and faith gives you the courage, but it trust that encourages you to wait on God's timing to implement creative solutions. When you practice self-discipline by shunning your human tendency to struggle with worry from a negative imagination, you ShinE . You are a reflection of what is possible with God - the ability to do things differently so you get different results (Sweetman, D., Luthans, F., Avey, J. B., & Luthans, B. C. (2011), Proverbs 3:5-6, Jeremiah 32:27).​