Intentional Living

by Rhoda Baty

In November, I took a hard fall which sent me to the doctor. Imagine my surprise when they discovered I have something called ‘granulomous disease’—it looks like it’s snowing in my lungs.  One of my sisters died of lung cancer 1 ½ years ago which accelerates my concern. Even when lung cancer is diagnosed in the early stages your longevity is about five years.

Five years! What do I want to accomplish in five short years?

I keep hearing the word, “Intentional.”

After many tests the doctors are ‘pretty sure’ it’s not cancer. But I will undergo two more years of testing before they declare me cancer-free. At the beginning stages, I was petrified. I thought a lot about how I could live my life more intentionally if I truly did have only five years to live.

As we often do, when the imminent threat died down I returned to living unintentionally. Oh sure, I still read my Bible and pray, surrender my day to God, ask Him to lead me by His Spirit, but I don’t intentionally plan too many things. I go with the flow, trying to be flexible.

God keeps speaking that word ‘intentional’ to my heart though. He spoke that word through a coaching client who recently suffered a breast cancer scare. He spoke that word through a fellow coach whose group I joined. He spoke that word through the National Women’s Ministries of the Assemblies of God. Their theme this year is “The Intentional Woman”. He spoke that word through a newsletter that just popped into my inbox called “Intentional Women”.

I think it’s time for me to take this more seriously! It’s time to listen, pay attention, and act on what God is telling me.

Intentional means: premeditated, on purpose, planned, thought out. In my quest to live more ‘intentionally’ I now face a set of questions to answer.

What do I want people to say at my funeral? That seems a little morbid but what they say about me is my legacy whether I planned it or not. So what legacy do I want to leave? How do I want to be remembered?

Once I have answered these questions I can plan my goals for living intentionally. As I plan, I will ask myself, “what Kingdom value does my goal have and how do I plan to carry it out?”

God delights in talking with each one of us. He delights in having a prayer to answer. Are you delighting in listening and acting? How are you living intentionally? Are you arranging your life around your goals? Are you setting your mind on what’s important?

Rhoda Baty is a Life Coach with Hopeful Heart Coaching. She also works as a secretary at an alternative high school.