“I love (and think of often) the principles and organization skills you taught, but again I think more about how each room/lesson had a biblical message for my Christian walk, heart and life. I can’t go in my closet just thinking about how it needs organized again or just to pick something to wear – I’m reminded of Colossians 3:12-17 Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering, forgiveness… and let the peace of God rule in your hearts and be thankful. Wow, I haven’t read the whole verse for a little while… I think I’m gonna put this verse in my closet so I can read it all more often! A great reminder for me! So thankful for you, your teachings, your godly example, encouragement and love. Blessings to you!!”

— Melissa

“I’m honored to share with you about the class, Your Home Matters, led by Sue Wilson. Your Home Matters was about learning how to better create our home’s environment the way we want it to be – a place of peace, laughter, acceptance, and praise. Not the kind of place where stress and clutter have control. And along this journey we looked at scriptures that applied to the rooms in our heart. Before we began looking into the different areas of our homes, Sue offered some guidelines to encourage successful evaluations of our rooms – mottos such as “It’s a Cinch by the Inch – Hard by the Yard.” and “Eliminate and Concentrate” – eliminate the mess and concentrate on the rest, good reminders for me, a person who likes to think I need to empty an entire space to organize it. We learned to ask questions like “Will this add or relieve stress from my life?”Sue shared the overall strategy for each room – boxes labeled Throw Away, Give Away, Put Away, Store Away and Not sure. The boxes give us a way to evaluate items and find the best place for them – our rooms, someone else’s room or the trash. We traveled from the entrance, to the living room, bedrooms, bathrooms, laundry room, office, media spaces, kitchen, closets, and even to our purses and cars. Each week practical tips were shared for easing stress in these areas. And then what I found to be the most important was the spiritual applications. Just as we looked into the rooms of our homes we looked at the different areas of our hearts that might need some de-cluttering; such as un-forgiveness, priorities, serving God and others, seeking truth always with scripture. In the Laundry Room we were reminded to clean up any language not honoring to God, such as gossip. Ps 19:14 reads “May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to You, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.” In the Office we looked at de-cluttering our minds of all the stuff that leads to poor choices. 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 reminds us to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. It’s lassoing every impure thought with the power of the Holy Spirit. All that we learned brought clear to me the truth – we can clean our homes for guests and still have a mess in our closets and drawers – it’s just not seen by the guest. The same applies to our heart – we can look good on the outside and still have a heart cluttered by stuff not dealt with. I found I did more throwing away and storing away in the rooms of my heart during this class. Now I’m really ready for my bedroom closets!!”

— Donna

About a month ago, I posted a Facebook request for suggestions on someone to help me get my home organized. A few weeks later, Sue reached out to me to ask if I had found someone to help me. I replied that I had decided to take on the task myself.  She encouraged me, reminding me if I did it, then I would be able to organize things the way I felt they would work best for my family. I knew she was right, but I was dragging my feet because I really did not want to take this task on again. You see, just a few short years before I had tackled this same project, and while I was successful, it was a lot of work and the results were only temporary. I was very organized before my daughter was born and now that she was getting older, I didn’t want her growing up around a lot of clutter and thinking it was normal. That was enough motivation for me.

I knew I needed to do something different this time and Sue really helped me to understand the difference between organizing my things and organizing the things I really need AND purging the rest. I don’t like clutter, so I have never had an issue purging items but I have had issues not purging enough items. It sounds so simple, but this was a revelation for me! I made so much progress the first week, my husband even got on board.  We are close to being finished with the first step of purging items and have already taken 21 bags to our local Christian Missions Center. There is so much freedom in donating things I don’t use on a daily basis, (or in my case, a yearly basis), and that I really don’t need.

 What I have discovered so far, is that I was holding on to things that ‘I might someday use’ or although we don’t have room for it now, we might in ‘the next house’.  God quickly reminded me that we are never promised tomorrow; that was enough for me. Simplification. I have seen God moving in my life in this way over the last few years and it was time to let the organization of my home be the next adventure.  Blessing others with things I don’t need gives me more joy than just saving them for ‘someday’. Finally, I’m free from the trap of thinking more things equal greater happiness!   Thank you Sue!!

— Jennifer

Dear Sue – with tears streaming down my face, I have to tell you how much your blog means to me. The Lord has asked me to give up everything outside of my home…everything. It has been one of the most wonderfully excruciating times in my walk with Him. No grand stage, no applause, no approval from the outside world, just the walls of my home… Please don’t get me wrong, I love and adore my children, heaven knows more than anything, but I was able to receive immediate appreciation in those areas in which I “served”. “What a great service!”, “How do you do it?”, “Where would we be without you?”, “You’re amazing!” can be intoxicating words that keep one going in a direction that pulls the heart away from home.

Over the last several weeks I have been looking around my home thinking, “There is so much that needs my attention. Attention that I have given freely to other things. There is so much to do.” I have noticed that it is harder and harder for me to be relaxed when there is “stuff” everywhere and have begun to “love” my home. Then, by a shear stroke of God, your blog came across my FB page; curious, I clicked on it and began to weep.  It is as if it was created just for me by someone I know, love and trust. Thank you so much for this precious gift…

Next communication from Jeannette: Is it normal to feel more overwhelmed during the process? I hope so!  After 3 – 30 gallon garbage bags filled with “babies”, 13 garbage bags full of trash, a hall full of things to go to Goodwill, and a suitcase filled with 50 lbs worth of clothing for a Jamaica missions trip, I’d say we are about 75% done…with my youngest sons room…  He was so thrilled as we finished today. He just kept thanking me over and over and realized that it is good to grow up.   Tomorrow I will do what I should have done the very first day, sit on my porch and ask The Lord to enter our home.  Thank you for checking up on me!

— Jeanette