It is early Saturday morning – the house is quiet and still.  I have just finished reading a passage in Ephesians (1:4) of how God has chosen us before the foundation of the world.  I was using my Defender’s Study Bible (Morris) and began to look at the footnote on this verse.  There listed were numerous references of verses of things that were decided upon before God ever made the  world (John 17: 5, 24;  I Pet. 1:20;  Rev. 13:8;  Rev. 17:8;  II Tim. 1:9;  Titus 1:2;  and Acts 15:8).   Upon conclusion of looking up all these verses, I was encouraged that God is in control.  The God that chose me before the foundations of this world, and has written my name in the Book of Life (Rev: 13:8 and 17:8) has my life planned accordingly.  Although we may live in times of uncertainty, I can be certain that He is with me and has planned everything for His (and my) good.  I recall the verse that says, “All things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to His purpose.”   This morning while in prayer, I reflected with Him upon all the times that things did not look good, things that were outside my control; but how He worked these situations according to His purpose and for my good.  I can look back now, and see how those events closed one door, but opened another.  He has always been faithful to me.  I praised Him this morning in reflection of these things, and looked forward to what He is doing now in my life.

It was a good week.  I feel very satisfied with how I spent my time.  There were no dinner engagements; out-of-town business appointments; luncheons; or last minute calls to the office.  There was one dentist appointment on Wednesday, but praise Him, it was the last one.  I now have a calendar free of any outside regular commitments. 

But because the previous weeks/months have been filled to the brim with activity, the order of my home had declined.  Little piles of disorganization had begun to mount; I found myself missing quite a few things.  Where is the plastic citrus juicer?  I needed it for preparing a lemon drink for my mom.  I could only find one part to it.  Frustrating.  I spent time looking for it, and finally gave up on it.  The next day, the missing part mysteriously showed up.

Ruthie’s McGuffey book went missing.  This was particularly frustrating because we had lost this same book a few months ago.  After looking for it without success, I had ordered a new one to replace it.  And then, within two weeks of its arrival – it went missing in action.  We did find it this past week – it too, mysteriously showed up. 

I had bought a rice steamer recently, after reading a fellow homeschool blogger rave about their purchase of one that they used to cook oatmeal in.  I was enjoying making rice for my mom on Tuesday’s and steaming fresh veggies.  And then, all of the sudden, a main part to it went missing.  I now have a new rice steamer that I cannot cook rice in until the inside pan shows up.  It’s been two weeks since it went missing – I’ve searched my house high and low, and there is no sign of it anywhere.  Did the kids take it outside to play with it?

These are just some of my frustrating moments of missing things (but I haven’t mentioned all of them.)  So last week, I felt it would be a good week to undertake a spring cleaning organizing.  Little piles of accumulated misc. stuff; the back closet that stores a lot of things; re-organizing my freezer spaces and refrigerator; all of this I accomplished this past week. 

I was reminded as I worked of how things used to be around our home since the conception of our homeschooling.  I would copy the surrounding schools calendar “ditto,” with no flexibility.  By the end of the school year, when summer began, there would be one fried mama – burn out with a capital “B”.  There would also be a house full of projects to be done and a summer defined with organization and cleaning projects.  And this would also mean that during the school year, I was often frustrated with the chaos of the clutter and cleaning projects waiting for the summer to begin. 

I had to hit the brick wall before I was able to see that what I was doing was only going to send me to the asylum if I kept it up.  Praise Him, He showed me a better way.  Through Him, He has helped me to become more flexible; do projects during the school year as they are needed (contrary to waiting until the summer); to follow my own calendar of school days; and to rely on Him and His guidance by the Holy Spirit for my days to be ordered by Him.  Believe me, this is a much better way to live.  There is an inherent way of freedom that is felt, contrary to being a slave to a system, or a school calendar.