I am a terrible task master.  It’s something I think I have absolutely no genetic coding for.  That might be a bit extreme, but I feel like that some days.  Right now I work full time at an ER and go to school part time to get all of the pre-requisites I need so I can go to nursing school by next fall (hopefully).  I haven’t been writing much because my Biology final is this week, and Statistics ended last week.  I start Microbiology in two weeks.  Life gets interesting to say the least.

I can easily let the house go to ruins, eat fast food every day, and just be a slob.  I’d hate myself in the process, but laziness is what I resort to it seems.  I’m married, want to have a beautiful home, have dinner ready every night and you know…go out and do stuff with my husband.  I’d like to have time to keep up some hobbies, get all my homework and studying done, blog, work, and go on adventures.  It’s completely possible, but I’m so clueless when it comes to managing my time, and I’m this insane perfectionist so I’ve failed before I’ve even tried.

I found FLY Lady while surfing around on the internet (something I’ve spent far too much time doing as of late it seems), and cried while watching her clean sink video.  I decided that it might do me some good to try it and immediately proceeded to clean my sink.  At the time the husband was out of town at a military school and so I made significant progress with FLY Lady while he was gone.  Then he returned and I successfully fell off the bandwagon.  It was so successful that I think the house looks worse now than it did before.

My success for falling off the bandwagon I think was a result of burn out from doing too much too fast and not taking into account how I’d need to adjust with the husband home.  I’ve restarted the 31 day babystep program FLY Lady offers, and this time I only do what’s listed for each day.  This way I don’t get burnt out, and don’t put too much pressure on myself to get some crazy amount of work done that any human being is completely incapable of getting done in twenty-four hours.

This time I’m just taking my time, one little step after the next.  After all, changes like this don’t happen overnight.  What’s really hitting me hard around it all is that I don’t want to be a lazy wife.  Proverbs 31 is a huge inspiration about being a wife that’s resourceful and doesn’t shame her husband.  I asked my husband if I did and he said I didn’t, but I know there are many ways I can improve and do better.  At work in the ER the verse 1 Peter 3:4 is how I try to present myself to my co-workers, leadership, and most importantly my patients.  Colossians 3:23 is another one that gets me through the day especially when leadership takes the credit of my work, which is something that happens far too frequently.

During times like this where I struggle with my weaknesses.  I find the best thing to do is take small steps in the right direction.  After all, we’re not Christ, we’re not God, and we’re human.  We live constantly in sin because of the fall.  On the one hand it can create a kind of hopeless picture and a “why bother” attitude, but on the other we should take it as a challenge to excel still more and try harder and harder each day.  I think this is why I’ve really taken to FLY Lady, and appreciate what she’s trying to do for people like me.  It’s also comforting to know I’m not the only one out there. 

What about all of you?  How do you manage your time and find ways to keep everything running smoothly?  Did a book help?  A forum or group similar to FLY Lady?  Please share as I’m sure there’s more than just me who struggles with this.

Some of my favorite broadcasts are from the ministries of Dr. David Jeremiah, Dr. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries, Beth Moore, and the Encouragement for Today devotional from Proverbs 31 Ministries.  I find that God uses these additional resources in my life to speak to me about something that I directly need to hear from Him.  When the subject matter keeps being repeated over and over or the same Scripture verse is quoted, I know that it can’t be a coincidence.  It’s just God hitting me over the head with repetition so I finally get it or hear what He is saying.  I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced that, but it seems to happen to me quite frequently.  There have definitely been moments in my life when I have had difficulty applying what He is trying to teach me.  At those times, I felt like Jonah and wanted to go in the other direction! But God chose to use the resources from these online resources to get my attention and to get me thinking correctly again.

I hope you’ll check out these resources and take advantage of the multiple ways you can hear from God yourself!

Lisa