10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might…” Ephesians 6:10
(And the following verses speak of putting on the whole armor of God, which we all need to do in order to fight these spiritual battles we are in!)
Yes, I am still here. And I’m ok, in fact I’m doing great! Finding out that the earth still turns and life goes on though I have not blogged in two plus weeks. I needed to know that. Perhaps all bloggers need a vacation sometimes–a break. In pulling back, I maintained my sanity over Christmas. The pull of the blog and computer, in general, needs to be balanced. The past month has been a wonderful time of “catching up” in my real life. So many areas needed attention, either a little or a lot.
PRAYER=purging, reflection, asking questions of God, yielding, evaluation, and refocusing, that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m looking to obtain margin and order in every area of my life. Assessing what God’s priorities are for my life right now.
Margin is the “white space” on the “paper” of life. I need less of all the black marks on the page: possessions, commitments, pressure, food, and spending. We need margin in our lives, and if we don’t plan for it, our bodies will just make it happen, one way or another. Our bodies (minds, souls and emotions, too) can’t live without it.
And what I do have in all these areas must be managed and orderly. I feel a deep, deep need to have my life in order.
Officially, no New Year’s Resolutions have been made. However, change and earnest resolve is taking place, praise the Lord.
- First of all, I’m getting more sleep! That was the first thing that resulted when I didn’t feel the pressure to post something! I guess I blogged when I should have been sleeping! I’ve slept and slept and slept! And I’ve realized how much more productive and stable emotionally and effective for the Lord I am, how much nicer I think I am to live with, when I am rested! Really quite amazing! Now, if I can just get a regular bedtime (earlier), and have a morning routine (shower, dress, hair, makeup, bed made, Quiet Time) solidly in place, and get to morning devotions on time every morning:) Thankfully, the Lord never gives up, or stops working, on me.
- Reading the Bible through in a year has begun in earnest using this Bible-Reading Schedule, (there are three plans listed here for you to choose from–I use the third), as well as memorization (working on Isaiah 53 with our church; I think I finally have Psalm 145 down). Praying for a heart to love His Word more, and to have a hunger and thirst for righteousness.
- People and hospitality have become more important to me. You may say, “You were having people in your home constantly before! How could it get more important to you?” I felt God showing me many people who I really wanted to have over, and even some who I had promised to invite, and because of other commitments, “urgent” and “must-do” events in our home and life, it never got done! That had to change. So, I’ve been very intentionally taking the initiative to invite and plan times together, catching up on birthday luncheons, having loads of fun with groups of young adults laughing and making music in our home, looking forward to having young couples with little babies to our home for dinner, and making absolutely sure I see and talk to my best friends–who I barely saw last year, because we were so busy! Lord willing, I go on record that that will not happen this year.
- God gave me a zeal to work on two “temples” that need attention: my body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the “temple” that my family calls home! As to the first, while walking through a bookstore a couple of weeks ago God ordained that I see a book on the shelf that addressed and taught me to watch how many servings of carbs and grams of sugar I consume each day. In a serious intentional way, I’ve begun planning and recording what I eat which has resulted in 6 pounds lost this past week. I don’t know if it’s because of this, but I’ve been doing more of the cooking and planning of meals than before.
- Margin and order in my home means I’m determined to go through cupboards, closets, and clothes first of all, though for now in an unsystematic way.
Every day I try to put something in a state of more order, and the places that bother me the most are getting dealt with first. So far, that has resulted in my upstairs freezer and oven cleaned out, the floor of my closet almost in order, two shelves in my upstairs pantry straightened and organized (though they won’t stay that way–it still makes me feel good:), and dozens of little corners which had been ignored too long have now been looked into. I’m not sure anyone but me would notice. There’s still so much to do! I’m also attempting to use up food from my freezer and downstairs pantry, rather than going to the grocery store. I’m making plans of organizing other areas after that. It’s really the same principle, gain more margin and order in my life. There’s so much more to do, that I can’t see when I will be stopping or get “done.” But, I’m excited at the progress. - Plans are in place for completing and crossing off “To-Do” items that have been on my list for months, freeing my mind to be able to think better–decluttering my brain! I keep throwing away and sorting, planning systems of organization, moving things around, storing them differently, trying to have a sense of being on top of things again. Just seeing progress in my home: decluttering, organizing, and getting rid of, feels very good!
I’m determined that the hidden spaces of my home will receive my attention!! I will get rid of, give away or put back in an orderly fashion what I keep. I am on a mission! And I don’t want to lose momentum.
And that’s why you haven’t seen me here. When I’ve finally been able to be really focused and have an urgency that, “I’ve got to do something about this now!!” I know that it’s something that the Lord desires me to do for His glory, and I have to become single-minded and push away any distractions in order to see it through to completion!
Many new thoughts and feelings have come, for instance, no desire to blog (for the first time in almost 3 years!). I don’t know what the Lord is planning for me to do. I just need to put some things higher up where I can see them: My family, my home, stewardship of my body, being a good testimony in how I handle my responsibilities…
I’ll post when God moves me, or I specifically sense there’s something I’m supposed to say. Please stay in touch through comments and on facebook. Love you all and miss you!
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