Revamp my life day 1

The husband forgot to take my laptop to work this morning. Fortunately, my daughter hid it as soon as I told her what I was trying to accomplish. It's late but I drank too much caffienne this evening while visiting with a friend. The boys are on a scout camp out. I feel bad for them because it is very cold and rainy outside.

So my first day was just okay. I did make it through and accomplished a number of things during the day. The biggest one was my quiet time. I dusted off "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. I always find this to be a good place to start when I'm really lost. And today I was really blown away by what the passage was about considering the changes that I'm trying to make.

Beware of the tendency to ask the way when you know it perfectly well. Take the initiative— stop hesitating— take the first step. Be determined to act immediately in faith on what God says to you when He speaks, and never reconsider or change your initial decisions. If you hesitate when God tells you to do something, you are being careless, spurning the grace in which you stand. Take the initiative yourself, make a decision of your will right now, and make it impossible to go back. Burn your bridges behind you, saying, “I will write that letter,” or “I will pay that debt”; and then do it! Make it irrevocable.

We have to get into the habit of carefully listening to God about everything, forming the habit of finding out what He says and heeding it. If, when a crisis comes, we instinctively turn to God, we will know that the habit has been formed in us. We have to take the initiative where we are, not where we have not yet been.
 

 And the corresponding verse:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶ and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷ and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. ⁸ For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.⁹ But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. (2 Peter 1: 5-9)

 

 WOW! My realization that I spend a lot of time "asking the way" about homeschooling an housekeeping when I already know perfectly well what I must do. I will be working on the habit of carefully listening to God. I already heard that small voice yesterday when I made the decision to start revamping my life.

So here it goes:

• I will stop using my computer as an escape and a time waster.
• I will turn to God more and my computer less (especially when I need answers on managing my time & life).
• I will continue taking steps toward being a woman who seeks God in all things.
• I will continue to diligently teach my children.
• I will continue steps to maintain a less than perfect, yet orderly home.

If you are interested, "My Utmost for His Highest" is available for free here: http://utmost.org/take-the-initiative/. It's a great devotional and I often find it speaking to my situation!

I'm going to be working on more specific goals for revamping my life. But right now daily time with my Heavenly Father is the highest priority. I want to make sure that I'm starting with a firm foundation and not building "castles in the sand" as I have so many other times before. I never burned the bridges as referenced above. There was always a path right back into my mess.