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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Wow – this has been speaking to my heart since last week. A family crisis and ongoing stress at work have left me feeling very overwhelmed. As i am off work for the week, i determined that if I could just get things at home organized, it would help my stress levels. so, i am committing to cleaning out the storage room in the basement, so we can actually get to the shelves!
Renee, you nailed it…my clutter is always hanging over my head. I am committing to going through the pile on my kitchen counter that has bills, receipts, and a ton of other things in it.
I' going to organize my bedside table which doubles as a desk, bookshelf, snack area, you name it and it is probably on that table!!
My bedroom is worse than a teenagers. I have small closets and don't have room for everything. I am short on time and so stuff ends up everywhere. I spend a lot of time looking for things. Pray for me.
dora
Today is my "pile of papers" day! I am sorting, filing and organizing. This is supposed to be my year of "organizing". All 3 of my children are in school full time for the first time and I have vowed make organizing/sorting and being a better homemaker my priority. I would LOVE to win Karen's book and I have appreciated your blog so much!! Peace. Erin
Why can't a person ever keep the kitchen and/or kitchen table clean? It's amazing how much "stuff" a family collects: junk mail, craft items, toys, etc. That is my goal – cleaning up my kitchen and cabinets and keeping them organized!!
Just about every room in our home needs some de-cluttering. I know that I would feel a sense of accomplishment and peace if things were organized. The area I will work on this week is the book case that is filled with school papers and a box of papers that need to be shredded. Thanks for the encouragement, Renee!
I am committed to going through my dining area/ home office. I have piles of stuff(bills, flyers, remnants of an Avon business) lying around. I really struggle with letting go of things( material things and people). I am always afraid that I will need it/them later in life. I really feel that this book my not only help me to get my office area organized but possible to organize some other areas in my life
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I will work on my office and bedroom. Those two rooms are always the last to get organized. I've decided to actually purge these areas. I feel trapped by all the "STUFF". I have been feeling God's gentle nudging to tackle these areas, so that my mind will be open to his plans for my life.
Thank you for encouraging us!
I am going to tackle paper clutter. It is the one that haunts me the most.
I'm going to work on putting away my two-year-old daughter's new birthday toys and clothes that she recently received. I'm also going to write thank you notes for the items so that I can throw the cards away.
I also want to work on teaching my daughter how to clean up after herself. I pray that God can help me become organized and disciplined so that my daughter won't be a messy like me!
Oh my. After having a rough first five months with my sweet, now-happy son, the whole house is a wreck. But, the kitchen has finally become more manageable and the living room can be easily straightened if I just take 5 minutes each day to do so.
The worst areas of the house right now are the office and our bedroom. I commit to an hour this week to work on one of those (whichever one I can get to!).
My "happy clean place" in the house, where it is NOT allowed to get cluttered is the mantel above the fireplace. Such a small place, I know. But if everything else is a wreck, I can put blinders on and just look at that for a minute.
One piece of advice I've heard several places is that if it takes less than 30 seconds to accomplish a cleaning task, do it right then. When I follow that, the kitchen and common areas definitely stay cleaner and straightened.
Thank you for this post. I look forward to the guest post at the end of the week.
As of the time of writing this, Mary is the person before me, so I'm praying for you and your "deep clean" and of straightened your room, Mary!
Renee have you been hiding in my closet :-)? This post is exactly what I have been feeling! I have really been trying to get organized this year. I committed to taking 1 room a month to clean out & deep clean. So far it has gone ok but, I am beginning to lose steam and get frustrated. I have been focusing on my kids rooms lately and can't seem to make an improvement before they mess it up again. After reading your post I am going to focus on "my space". Once I take care of the chaos & piles of stuff in my bedroom then maybe I will be able to breathe again. My husband may appreciate it as well :-).
Thanks for the encouragement & focus that I needed.
Mary
I am committing to working on finding some way to organize and sort all of my craft "stuff" that does not have its own assigned place. Since I am only a couple of weeks out from knee replacement I am not sure I will actually get the plan put into action but I atleast want to get a plan down so when I am able I'll be ready to dive right in.
I am committing to working on finding some way to organize and sort all of my craft "stuff" that does not have its own assigned place. Since I am only a couple of weeks out from knee replacement I am not sure I will actually get the plan put into action but I atleast want to get a plan down so when I am able I'll be ready to dive right in.
Oh, I'm so happy. Will you all take before photos, too? I am so excited about doing this together! Maybe we'll be able to share ideas, suggestions or organization tips we discover along the way. And maybe my guest poster/author friend will put us in her book :-).
Two are better than one, and a chord of three strands can't be broken. God will be our 3rd strand!
An hour to the unfinished basement will be my goal this week! Trying to establish a craft corner down there, but not sure how to make it baby safe so we can use it with her awake.
I'm praying for you Renee as you tackle the mess in your nest. I am committing to the 'collection' I have in my master bathroom cabinet. Thank you for all of your encouragement! Pam
I'm in. Since your first post about organization I've really been taking a look at how disorganized my whole life is. I'm going to commit to making an organizational plan. I'm going to start by making a list of household chores that each person is responsible for each day/week.
I'm committing to going through one last pile of papers that were on my counter top, and to tackling the chaos under my bathroom sink. I haven't even shown you all that mess but I promise, I will. 🙂
Can't wait to pray for the rest of you!