I posted something short earlier, but God’s been nudging me to come back and invite you to be part of something He’s laid on my heart.
- If you knew that having more order in your home would bring more order to your world – freeing up your time, emotions, thougths and spiritual gifts to do what God’s called you to do – would you make it a priority?
- If you knew it was actually possible, would you take some small steps towards getting and staying organized?
After posting confessions of my cluttered counter tops, closets and cabinets, I worked for a few hours on the mess in my nest. And, I feel like I’ve lost 10 mental pounds! The feeling of freedom that followed my progress is amazing. I promise to post photos later this week of my “before and after.”
Today God reminded me of 1 Corinthians 14:33, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” In the context of this verse, Paul is talking about order in the church. But in the context of our lives this truth also applies.
Order is part of God’s character and peace is the promised fruit of His spirit.
Our longing for order and peace is woven into our souls because we are created in God’s likeness. Our spirits long for a lack of confusion. The Holy Spirit has been showing me since last week that this is a big deal. We care about our homes and want to be good managers of our piles and files. As I read your challenges and honestly assessed how I’ve been feeling about mine, I sensed that our messes are not only piling up – they are weighing us down. Consider this:
- When you see your organizationally challenged areas, do you feel a sense of peace or defeat? Do you get all irritated inside?
- Does your life start to feel out of control when you think about what you need to do to get organized but feel like you have no time to do it?
Can I encourage you to give yourself the gift of bringing a little order to your world. A little peace to your heart and home. I want to gather some girlfriends to encourage and pray for each other this week, and commit together to tackle one of our organizational challenges. Will you join me?
And because we all need some incentive, I’m giving away another copy of Karen’s book “The Complete Guide to Getting and Staying Organized”, and some organizational pretties!
If you want to join in this quest, click on the word “Comments” at the end of this post and tell me what one area will you give an hour or so to this week. Your commitment will qualify you for the give-away. And will you pray for the person who leaves a comment right before yours? I’ll leave the first one. Then for a second chance to win, click here and get the encouragement you need to finish what you start.
On Friday, I have another P31 friend and author who is writing a book called, “I Used to Be So Organized” who is going to stop by to encourage, pray for and help us with some very practical ideas! And I’m working on having my before & after photos up then, too.
I have a few places in my sidebar where you can stay connected via Google connect or Facebook, and sign up for email updates. By the way, I love having you along!
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Incoming mail and going thru it in detail. I have let some pile up into disorder. Paper sorting would be mine.
Count me in. I'm committed to finishing de-cluttering my garage, and my kitchen counters towering with papers just begging to be recycled, etc.
Praying for my fellow sisters united in our struggles!
This is an amazing answer to prayer. There are so many great "getting organized" tips on the cover of just about any magazine. However, they fail to mention what you did. It is such a distraction on our walk with the Lord and service to others. I feel like I've been stuck in a rut for years. My pastor says a rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out. I'm climbing out! I keep setting goals, and never seem to move past the finish line. It isn't just the mess, it's what's causing the mess too. I could use a good strong dose of self discipline. I also could use a little managerial training. Some days I just don't know how to hold it all together with 5 kids. Now, my husband and I are expecting again, and I don't want to continue on the same cycle. I want to figure it out so I can be a good witness…wife and mother. Being disorganized is aweful. I'm committing to a few hours. I don't know where I'll work, but I'm committing to stay with the same task, and not get distracted and move on to another before the one I'm working on is done.
I appreciate your message on "Getting & Staying Organized". I definitely know that material stuff can and does weigh me down. It hinders me from being able to really moving forward like I want and need to do for myself and for God. I plan on cleaning and organizing my car as much as possible. I have a lot of clutter in there right now. However, it's not as much as it was previously which is definitely good. At least, I have made some progress. I just want and need to make even more though. Thanks for the encouragement!
Well it's the end of the week and I just got home from travel….so the hour I will spend is on putting things away and washing clothes….
I agree heartily with your statement about freeing up time/energy/space with less clutter….I am working on trying to SIMPLIFY my life so that I have time to do what is important…Time is such a precious commodity its a shame to waste it on "stuff"….
God bless you!
If you could see the laundry, the papers, and so forth surrounding me right now – you would know the commitment I desire, but am overwhelmed. I organized my pantry and now go stand and look at and feel at peace. I would love that in my home.
Nicole's post was right before mine. I am already praying for her and the peace she seeks after such a blow. I do not even want to imagine what she is going through. I pray she is surrounded in love, peace, and hope.
In His hands,
Cindy Q
oh I need this soooooo much. I recently ended a pregnancy with a C-section & then the death of my baby girl :0(. You can probably imagine that between pregnancy, C-section & everything else my house has gotten so cluttered & just out of control & it stresses me out so much but I am too overwhelmed to even know where to start. This book sounds like just what I need. My goal this week is to spend an hour just trying to get something, ANYTHING, caught up.
Again….here's my email address
brendaschiesser at gmail.com
I don't know why it's not on there.
Brenda
I am committing to cleaning off the "hot spots" in our den where all of the piles grow!!
Our master bedroom is our "catch-all" room when people come over. I want to get a handle on that room first so I have the encouragement to tackle the really big mess…our home office. It is truly a fire hazard with papers all over.
Praying for that peace!
I'd love to have my dining room table back. It has become my desk, table, mail bin…need I go on.
I made huge progress this summer, but since college is back in session; I have lost my muscle.
Carla ^, I prayed for you!
I'll commit to my desk area. I moved it to the living room area thinking I would keep it neat since it would be in a more visible area. Nope…didn't happen.
I feel overwhelmed and a sense of failure every time I go in our playroom/homeschool room, especially since it should be our homeschool room. I'd love the encouragement and prayers of support to keep "chugging away" at getting the room organized in a way that we can maintain it. My prayers for any of you who also struggle with areas that need organizing!
It's funny I stumbled across you on the Proverbs 31 fb feed tonight. We are in the midst of building a new home and are renting a small one that lately has been more of a stopping point than a home. The clutter from dropping and running from one place to another has taken it's toll. I was actually thankful for the rain today so that I could work on some of my piles. You are right about disorder breeding a lack of peace. I am hoping to make some more progress tomorrow and plan to clean off and organize a table in our basement that is pile with scrapbook supplies (that I never have time for). I got a good deal on a rolling storage case for them this spring and still have not "gotten around" to storing it all. Wish me luck… hoping to move in about a month and I want to learn to keep a clutter free home so that it can be a place of peace for all of us and a welcome retreat for friends and family.
Oh choices choices! Where do I begin? I am going to commit to master bedroom and bath room. For some reason these two rooms seem to catch all the leftover "stuff".
I'm also committing to going through the pile of papers on my counter top, as well as all of my kid's school papers that tend to turn up on my kitchen table. This is an issue I've dealt with for a long time. I've organized certain areas of my life, but get overwhelmed when thinking of organizing every area. This is awesome that we can come together and support each other through this!