Personal Vision
The word vision relates to sight. A personal vision refers to how you see yourself in the future based on a professional or life goal.
A personal vision is usually a statement that details and describes your desired future. Personal Visions are essential because they allow us to picture the achievement of a goal through our imagination before obtaining that goal. It has been said that you must see it and believe it before you can achieve it. Therefore, a personal vision relates to what a person plans to achieve, and a lack of vision is like traveling without a map or GPS.
The most important reason why personal visions are crucial is because they come from God. We see an example of this when God tells Jeremiah that before he was formed in the womb, God foreknew him. God also tells Jeremiah that before his birth, he was appointed as a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5).
God often gives a person a vision to fulfill a purpose. Vision speaks to purpose, and one of the jobs of a Life Coach is to help people find their God-given purpose.
For this reason, a Life Coach must ensure that a client aligns their goals with both their life purpose as well as their personal vision. Coaches can help people find their life purpose by encouraging them to discover it from clues in their career, their church ministry, or their life activities. Coaches can also help people find their life purpose through prayer and by listening to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. For this reason, a spiritual gifts test can be a helpful tool in this endeavor.
Many times people confuse their own vision with God's will. God is under no obligation to make people's selfish dreams or visions come true. In Jeremiah 29:11, God says, "For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Nevertheless, as Christians, we do believe that God does put desires in our hearts. Therefore, personal visions should be driven by the desire that God has placed there. The Bible promises that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts ( Psalm 37:4).
When clients start to wander from the goals they made from their vision statements, they can be helped through various methods. I suggest first starting with prayer. A Christian counselor or coach should not be slow to pray and seek God's counsel for a client. Seeking God ensures that a coach will not only offer their expertise and knowledge but will also be sensitive to what God wants to share with the individual.
A good Life Coach will help their client refocus by asking thought-provoking questions that challenge, encourage, and prompt the client to remember their vision and purpose.
Pursuing a personal vision requires time and energy to achieve. However, achieving the goal of a personal vision will be worth the effort.
