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Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9

We as mothers need to be strong and courageous to get through the tasks and jobs brought about in our life.  God wants us to step out of our OWN life and have courage to do it. He wants to bring about change. We are going to need a willing heart to do that AND it needs to be strong.

I have been reading in the Old Testament about the Israelite’s. In the book of Numbers, these people were afraid of what lie ahead of them. Even though God had spoke to them and told them what it is He was leading them to, among  their own anxiety and trials they wanted to turn back to Egypt. They would have rather subjected themselves to the bondage and slavery that the Egyptians would put on them again, then to endure and MOVE FORWARD with what God had for them.

We are not of those to go back!

Do we want to stay small forever?  Well if you are speaking of physical skinny then maybe yes (*smiley) —-but no we are talking about spiritual size.  We grow by having God stretch us from the inside. Just as our physical bodies also have to stretch to grow taller or wider—our spiritual bodies must do the same. When life feels uncomfortable and we feel a little hesitant to do what God chooses—– we oftentimes go back to bondage just as the children of Israel did because it is easier.  We operate out of FEAR instead of FAITH.  We need to recognize that it is God working through us to help GROW us.

What if you feel like your tasks are so mundane and life seems boring. Let’s face it, sometimes doing the SAME chores and the SAME routines over and over again can be boring. Think of Moses, where did God put him? He was a shepherd in the desert for 40 years!!! I would have to think caring for sheep on a mountaintop would become rather mundane after doing it for so long.  Sure you would have your trials—the occasional wolf trying to attack your sheep or carefully trying to navigate them safely on the mountain.  Just as we as moms have the usual mundane tasks of daily care sprinkled in with trials and issues that comes with raising children.  What was happening here?  God was molding and stretching him to become a shepherd of  people in time.

God will bring you out and move you up to an even greater place then what you expected.

Don’t be like the children of Israel who began to give up on the inside. They gave up because of their impatience.  They grew tired of not seeing results and figured they would return to what they knew. God’s words sounded great but because it did not happen today, they gave up.  How many of us get frustrated because the weight didn’t come off this week, you fell farther in debt this week, or your children took a step backwards in their walk with the Lord?

Don’t lose heart—- take heart, take courage.  Just as He led the children of Israel out…….God will lead you out of your situations.

Do first things first…..stop COMPLAINING.  Stop complaining because it is taking too much time to accomplish things.

DON’T:

• look at the entire house filled with clutter
• that teenager slowly slipping into rebellion
• those hips and think they will never get smaller
• your husband and wonder if that spark will return

Look at ONE thing you can begin changing today.  Start small.  Things in life WILL take time.  Weight loss takes time.  Simplifying a home takes time.  Children’s hearts need to trust and that takes time. Romance needs to be rekindled and takes time.

Work diligently in ALL that God has for you and be patient!!!

Take courage, be encouraged.

Adjust your time to His clock. Ask the Lord to show you what things you NEED improvement upon in your life.  Seek what it is He has for you.  Have the courage that is necessary to bring about change.  Courage comes when your awareness of Gods presence comes up.  When you do what God has for you, the courage comes for you to be bold and you do it.  You won’t stress that you might mess something up because you are operating with the courage and strength from the Lord.

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord  in the land of the living!   Wait for the Lord;  be strong, and let your heart take  courage!

Psalm 27:13-14

The world needs us to be brave, we NEED to be brave for our children for our husbands and for whomever the Lord brings about in our life.  If God wants you to improve something in your life….do it!!! Be COURAGEOUS, start with something, and be PATIENT.  He will do the rest.

Have you grabbed the book?? For the cost of a cup of premium coffee you can enjoy reading and learning how you can declutter your entire home and start enjoying life in simplicity.

I hope you have been busy decluttering your kitchen. It only takes a few minutes each day or a couple hours on the weekend to get to a life of simplicity.  This week we will be focusing on the dining room.

Remember that no amount of decluttering will ever stick, if you don’t change your HABITS of how you go about in life.  If you are in the habit of putting things wherever you want to…then your home will soon become cluttered again within a matter of weeks.  I am trying to get you to focus on HABITS so that your decluttering will actually STICK in your life.

For most of you, the dining room table is probably a catch all for papers and objects that you bring into the home.  It is easy to be in a habit of setting things down when you first come home and the table is a convenient place to do that.

To declutter this area, start by taking things off your table and put them where they belong.  If you have old mail, throw it away.  Office paperwork, put in the office.  Children’s paperwork, give them a spot to hang a few papers up and the rest goes into the trash—probably when they are not looking.  Don’t put miscellaneous things into the junk drawer.  Remember you NO LONGER have a junk drawer, put it where it goes!!!

Use your table for eating on.  If you use it for projects like school, crafts, or sewing as soon as you are done, clean up and put everything away right then and there.  Do not leave it for a later time.  That time may never come and then you are left with a cluttered table.

We need to get into a habit of NOT setting things down wherever we want when we first get home.  Bring in all bags, papers, and things and put them away immediately.  It only take a few extra minutes to do that, but it completely gets rid of clutter that is left lying around.

Remember the saying “a place for everything and everything in its place?”  It is a classic because it WORKS.

Have a place to store your keys, purse, or other items that you need to walk out the door with.  Some choose to put these near the door so that they can grab everything when leaving out the door.  Have a spot that you put them in EVERY TIME.  If you put them there every time you will never have need to search for them when pressed to get out the door.

If you bring in paperwork such as mail when coming home, have a place for them like a drawer or basket that is out of sight.  If you see junk mail in your pile, immediately throw it away without looking at it.  Don’t just set it down on your clean tabletop.

Make this a habit that sticks.  Each time you come home, put your keys, purse, and other items in the SAME place.  Put away your mail and other paperwork immediately.  Do this over and over each day to help it form part of your regular habits.

If you find that you are still putting your items on your clutter free tabletop find out why.  Sometimes when I organize an area, I find that it still gets messed up and I realize that I need to change the way I organized it or find a new home for things.  If it continually gets messy then I need to find a NEW place for the items.  If you still put your purse and keys on the table, find a new spot for them.  Maybe a more convenient area to store them in.

If you keep up on these steps they will eventually form habits in your life and you will be able to enjoy clutter free tabletops.

Here is our table.  It almost always looks like this unless someone is eating on it or doing schoolwork.  Immediately after meals, I have children clear the table and put away water bottles and we wipe it off.  When school is completed I have one child pick up all papers and throw them away while the other grabs any type of writing utensils–crayons, pencils, etc.  They have to search under the table as well.  This keeps our tables clear always.  I don’t dare leave my purse or keys on this table or I am opening up the door for curious toddlers to go through it!!  I don’t normally have anything in the center, but this was a gift from a neighbor for Christmas.  As soon as the pine needles fell, I threw it away to avoid more work in cleaning.

If you bought the book, there is one more step for this room.  We will skip that and go onto the next room…living room.

Keep working on decluttering your home.  Remember you just need to START somewhere and then EVENTUALLY you will get there.  It takes time, but in a few months you will be able to look back and SEE how far you have come instead of looking at the present and seeing how far you have to GO.  Be blessed.