“It looks like a tornado hit in here!” Sam is so subtle, and he loves to point out when his sisters’ room looks worse than his. Lately, the girls’ room was looking like a cyclone picked up all their clothes and spun them in the air to land all over the floor about once a week. Here’s why:
They are girls. Trying on outfits and finding just the right one is part of their daily life.
They had an abundance of clothes (most girls do, right?)
They needed more storage.
So, in my Martha mentality (which is getting kind of bad since doing this spring cleaning study if I am being honest), we set out on Friday to some thrift stores to find a dresser for their room. (I refuse to buy nice furniture until they are older). I told Sharon, my African American princess about thrift shopping; how we might not find a “dress-up” at these stores, but that we were going to search through junk to see if we could find one.
Three thrift stores later, she was in tears and we had no prospects of a dresser. (First world problems she is still not used to.) We returned home with a defeated feeling of a wasted afternoon and I started searching on Ikea’s website for something.
Monday morning it hit me, the Holy Spirit hit me upside the head that is! Lol! “Pray and ask me to provide a dresser, Amy.” So, I did.
“Lord, please provide a dresser, like today.”
And guess what? He did. At our homeschool co-op that morning, a friend of mine poked her head into the classroom I was in and we talked about how our spring cleaning was going. I told her about my predicament that had me at a standstill. And she said:
“We have a dresser we were just going to set out by the road, you can have it.”
PRAYER ANSWERED.
(Tornado room on left, like that needed a caption!)
(New dresser on right)
I had set out in a “get things done” mentality, on a mission that wasted an afternoon I really needed to be at home, and came up empty. I asked Jesus and came home with what I needed. A dresser that matches my girls’ bunk beds almost perfectly. Of course, Jesus has been teaching me through the passage in the study this week as I have learned this lesson, for the up-teenth time:
Psalm 127
Unless the Lord builds a house,
the work of the builders is wasted.
Unless the Lord protects a city,
guarding it with sentries will do no good.
I had tried to build my own home without the Lord’s help, wasted an afternoon, and given my girls a fierce hatred of thrift shopping.
2 It is useless for you to work so hard
from early morning until late at night,
anxiously working for food to eat;
for God gives rest to his loved ones.
I had worked hard and anxiously, when I should have prayed, trusted, and waited. It is not sinful to search and purchase things we need for our family, His word instructs us to do so. But He wants us to ask him to provide. I had gone about my business, thinking I was being faithful, but taking away God’s opportunity to show himself to me as our Provider.
So keep on praying ladies, and let’s not turn into Martha, anxiously getting our tasks done while our Provider sits there, waiting. He sits there, calling. He has all we need. Yes, there is work to do. But let’s go to him every morning and set our to do list and our needs at his feet, and then let’s wait in expectation. Let’s allow his Spirit to lead this thing.
Luke 10:38-42
Mary and Martha
38 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. 40 But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
41 But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! 42 There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
He is faithful.
He will give us the right heart to work and serve our families.
He will provide what we need to serve them well.
Don’t go off on your own working anxiously. Remember the theme verse of this whole journey,
“Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:29-30 MSG
He is alive. He is a very present help. Praying for you sweet spring cleaning sisters!
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Amy D Terry 
How do I get to your sisterhood group on Facebook?
Rebekah
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