Your ministry, organization or home can benefit from a reset every so often. Mostly, it's the day-to-day, mundane operations that cause us to slip into a business-as-usual mindset. When things are running smoothly and there isn't too much conflict, when the waves aren't rocking the boat, we can start to sail along and enjoy the ride. Along the way, in this mindset, we can miss a turn or veer off track. The Lord, in His mercy, redirects us, like a rudder steering a ship, to stay the course.

Right now, we are sensing this is the time to reset. For a computer, "reset" means clear the memory, shut down and restart the programs. It can be a time for downloading and installing new instructions. The result is a faster processing speed, more efficiency and better functionality. For a ministry, organization or home, a reset has similar implications.

Here are four principles to apply when you sense it may be time to reset:

Slow down and take a breath. When we are running the engine full steam ahead, it's harder to make a turn. That means you may need to scale back, take some time off and do less. Take each thing you are doing and pray about if you should continue. You may need to push pause on that conference you have been running for 19 years.

Revisit your vision and mission. You set out on this journey with a specific vision and mission. Hopefully, you wrote those down. Get them out for review and ask the Lord to tell your leadership team if He wants you to refocus, refine, clarify or change directions.

Evaluate and realign how you spend your energy and time. With your vision and mission in focus, evaluate everything you are doing in light of what you want to accomplish. Then measure everything with a plumb line according to the vision and mission before you. Prune the nonessentials in your sphere of influence so the essentials can flourish.

Reconnect your team members as a family. Maybe you have been so busy doing the stuff that you forgot to make time to connect with the other people on your team in meaningful ways. Reset is a time to call a family meeting, reconnect on a personal level with those on your team and build strong relationships as you move forward. You might need to go away on a retreat where you don't talk business. Whether things stay the same or drastically change, you want to go into the future with people you love, trust and work with well.

Remember these four principles if you are sensing a need to reset, refocus and reconnect.

Lenny La Guardia is executive director of the Children's Equipping Center and vice president of ministries at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri.

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