Organizing 101

I love organizing. I mean, I really, really, really love to organize. I realize that may qualify me as a complete nerd, but I'm okay with that.

For me, an organized space means an organized life. If I feel like I have control over my space, I feel more in control of my life, and especially my time.

I took on a small organizing project today and was just so energized by it I thought I would share my organizing philosophy.  I conquered the linen closet. Not a huge project, but still a good way to share some important organizational concepts.

Here are the before and after pictures . . .

Here are some of the main things that I have found to be very important in organizing any space:

1. Have an organizational system that works! If you organize something one way and it doesn't end up working for you, don't be afraid to try something different. It has to work for your space and your lifestyle. Sometimes it may take a few tries.

2. The best organizational systems are low maintenance.  Organizing and staying organized requires maintenance.  That is just reality.  A great way to tell if your organization is working is to gage how much time you spend maintaining the space.  If it takes a lot of maintenance, you may need to try a different approach. 

3. Take everything out and put everything back in!  The best way to organize a space is to completely remove everything. This allows you to see the stuff you have and to get a realistic view of the space you have.  I often put things in one way and then rearrange them multiple times as I put it the space back together.  

4. Use space savers and get rid of space "suckers". It is important to use things that create space, rather than suck the life out of it. In my linen closet there were a lot of medicine and band-aid boxes that were a space sucking nightmare!

5. Use labels!!! It may sound cheesy, but you can label in such a way that doesn't look tacky. It is also helpful in spaces that are used by multiple people, such as a linen closet. It is also helpful for children. I have seen moms use pictures for younger kids who are still learning to read.  Obviously, you don't have to overdo it. I mean no one wants to come over and see your dresser drawer labeled "underwear".

Just wanted to share a piece of my obsession. I'll keep posting about organizing in the future!! I have a lot to say about it . . . obviously. 

we are talking about a battle here!!!!

I have no idea how to start this post so here is my witty/enticing opening statement (take that 5th grade).


Last night I was feeling attacked. I mean literally attacked. I was sitting in my community group and we were having a great discussion about prayer.  Early on, I was getting ready to share something but was overwhelmed when I heard,

 "Thats really dumb, its really trivial and stupid compared to what she just shared. And you are just going to start crying if you open your mouth. You really don't want to cry tonight, especially in front of people. Once you start you can't stop." 

"Wow. Yeah, I guess sharing about how God answered this very specific prayer is stupid. I am so over crying right now, I am not about to open my mouth. "

That lie beat me out last night. I chose to believe it. I chose to not let God use my story to encourage someone else, I chose to not open up to the group and instead chose to stay comfortable. And while I sat there for the remainder of the night I let more and more lies fill my head.

 I literally felt like the enemy was attacking me and just beating me down.

And that no one was on my side to protect me.

Later on, I was feeling so convicted for listening to those lies and believing them.  But I felt so defeated. I just felt like I no longer had any energy to fight. No energy to continue to fight against the enemy on my own. I felt worn down.  Exhausted.

A few hours ago I was playing around on Pinterest, which is my new favorite, and I came across this:

"The Lord will fight for you; you only need to be still."


In a moment when I was feeling exhausted of the battle, defeated by the enemy, the Lord comes and finds me on Pinterest!

I wish I could find a picture of what I see in my mind when I hear this verse. When I did a Google image search I found pictures of flowers, beaches, sunsets.

HELLO!!!! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT A BATTLE HERE!!!!

This is what I picture.

I am stuck in the middle of a raging battle. The sun is going down and the night is about to set in. It is cold, and raining. The sounds of screams and explosions fill the air. Fires fill the horizon.  Bodies are covering the ground.  The enemy is winning. Allies are retreating.  I am wounded and exhausted.  I have no strength left. As I look around I realize that there are so few left fighting with me. I turn to the horizon only to see more of the enemy approaching. How hopeless! 


I feel a strong hand on my shoulder. It turns me around and I see the face of my King.  He tells me to hide in the boulders nearby and "be still." He promises to fight for me.  When I hesitate, feeling as if I should stay and help him fight this vast army, his strong arms almost throw me to the safe place.  I want to stay and do my part, but I realize He does not need my help. 


I watch my King take on the enemy. He is swift and strong. Mighty and fearless. He destroys the enemy and wipes them from the face of the earth. There is no longer any fear of the enemy because the King has saved me!

This is what Jesus does! He doesn't want me to feel like I am fighting alone. He comes along side me and destroys the enemy so that I can freely be with Him! And all I need to be is still.

Jesus, I praise you, for you truly fight for me!

faith, patience, and Kim Tone

I never really understood what it meant for God to promise something. I have seen God's promises all throughout the Bible. I have seen the Lord make promises countless times throughout those pages. And each and every time the Lord fulfills those promises.

I have seen Him fulfill promises in my own life, such as salvation, grace, comfort, provision, sanctification, joy, and so many others.

But this is the first time the Lord has promised me something personal and specific.


Lets be real, just because I have a specific promise it definitely does not mean it is easier to believe (I will share more about what this promise is soon).  This promise is not time specific. Which makes it difficult to continually believe not knowing when it is supposed to happen.  I guess Abraham never thought he would be 100 years old when he had a child.

Thankfully, a dear friend of mine was going through a very similar situation.

God had promised her and called her to go share His truth in the Middle East.  But she had to wait. She had to wait to finish school and wait to raise all of her support.  I cannot even begin to express how encouraging it was to watch her walk through this time of faith and patience.  She was so so patient! Even when the rest of her team had already arrived in the Middle East. She had such faith in God's promise to her that when she was given what seemed like an impossible deadline, she continued to believe.

I came across this verse recently:

Hebrews 6:12

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.  

God's Word truly is living and active (Hebrews 4:12).  This verse is exactly what I need! To imitate the faith and patience God showed me in Kim as she waited for God to fulfill what He had promised.

Thank you my dear friend for being such an incredible encouragement! I am so stinkin' excited for you!!

Every Morning

Well, hello blog! Its been awhile!

I just need to share what my sweet Jesus did for me this morning.

I woke up with a "cry hangover" from last night. It was just an emotional night, for no particular reason and nothing significant triggering those emotions.  I woke up, turned off my alarm, and turned on my lamp.  All I could do was lay on my pillow with all of those emotions and thoughts from last nigh still swirling around in my head.

"They are new every morning"

God brought to mind one of my favorite verses of all time. Lamentations 3:21-24

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.'"

The Lord provided me with such a sweet reminder of His grace and compassion that he longs to pour out on my little fragile heart every morning.

Don't pray for patience

I have spent the last four summers working at a Christian sports camp in Branson, Missouri.
It is a time in my life where I am constantly needing to be more patient.

It is hot (Like 100 degrees for 3 months).
There are kids, everywhere.  And they ask a LOT of questions.

My first summer as a counselor my co-counselor and I prayed for patience consistently throughout our first term of campers.  What we found was that there were more and more situations that drove us to the edge of our sanity.

My co had a revelation. "I'm not going to pray for patience anymore. Because God doesn't just make you patient.  He gives you situations where you have to be patient. Its not working. I'm never praying for patience again."

It is true. Patience is developed by situations that causes us to practice patience. And not just one situation.  Time and time again I found myself in situations where I needed to be incredibly patient, until it becomes second nature.

The same goes for many spiritual disciplines.

If I pray for faith, God is not going to simply give me more faith. He is going to allow me to go through circumstances that will force me to depend solely on Him, therefore causing my faith to grow.

Another is fear.  If I ask God to help me not be afraid, he is not going to turn me into Superman.  I am going to have to go through experiences that cause me to confront my fears. I am going to have to choose to trust the Lord instead of myself through my fear.  And I am going to have to face them again and again until it becomes second nature.

Essentially I am saying that if you don't want to grow, you shouldn't pray for any of these things.

BUT, if growth and maturity are what we desire, then ask for them!! Because God will answer!

Hebrews 12:11-12 says,

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful.  Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.  Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees."

If we want to be stronger we have to go through the training! If we want to get in shape, we have to put in the painful miles.  

Galatians 6:9 says, 

"Let us not become weary in doing good, 

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." 

Keep praying for patience, don't give up! Go through the training to reap a good harvest!!

Don't Waste Your Life

Your money, your singleness, marriage, talents, your time; they were loaned to you to show the world that Christ is Divine

Don't Waste Your Life

Running and Jesus

It has been a rough, long, few months.
Among other things, I decided that it was not the right time in life to run a marathon.
But Bethie and I are running the Chicago marathon in 2012. Get ready. We'll probably win.

I stopped running completely for about a month.  I'm just now getting started again. Very slowly.  BUT my re-start has triggered a revelation.

Running is such a parallel to one's spiritual journey. And, yes, I talk about that a lot. Deal.

But as I was struggling through my easy/default 2.5 miles I had another Jesus/Running revelation.

Just like I can always pick back up and start running from nothing, my relationship with Jesus is NEVER at a point that cannot be redeemed.

I can go from no exercise to running a mile, then two, then gradually working my way back up to what I consider "normal". My body always responds accordingly and begins to get itself back into shape.

I can go from ignoring Jesus, to reading a verse, to reading a chapter, to studying a chapter, then gradually working my way back up to what I consider "normal".  Jesus responds accordingly and begins to reveal himself to me once again.

(Sigh) I love Jesus. and running.

Do not lose heart!

"Therefore we do not lose heart. 

Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. 

For what is seen is temporary but what is unseen is eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

A few days ago I blogged about trials. And how they can sometimes be beyond our ability to endure.  Paul writes that in the first chapter of 2 Corinthians.  This is written in chapter 4. I can't help but connect the two. The trials he faced in his ministry in Asia were so difficult that he says he, "despaired even of life" and "felt the sentence of death."

The root of "we do not lose heart" in v.16 means "to be utterly spiritless, to be wearied out, exhausted" (definition from Blue Letter Bible).  That is exactly how these trials have me feeling. Spiritless, wearied out, and exhausted.  How can Paul say that he doesn't lose heart?

He says he is being renewed in his spirit daily, even though outwardly he is being consumed by his circumstances.  The Greek word for renew in this passage means "to cause to grow up; to be changed into a new kind of life as opposed to the former corrupt state." Paul realizes that his trials are refining him and bringing him to a new life--away from his former corrupt state.

The trials he is experiencing are renewing his spirit because he is choosing to focus on what is unseen.
I think that is the key here. Focusing on what is unseen (Jesus, eternal life, freedom from sin) is how our hearts are renewed.

It is definitely not easy to focus on what is unseen when my trials seem everything but "light and momentary." But this proves it is possible. That God promises to provide us with hope if we choose to focus on Him. Thank you Lord!!

far beyond our ability to endure

I came across this passage this morning. I am so thankful for God's Word and how it is always so applicable. I just have to be patient and know that He will fulfill His promises and reveal His truth at the perfect time. 2 Corinthians 1:8-11 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia.  We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.   But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.  He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.  Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.   I find it so encouraging to know that maybe the reason that these trials are so far beyond my ability to endure, is so that I might not rely on myself but on God. Oh, and by the way he has the power to raise the dead!  Now, it definitely doesn't make hardships any easier, but it sure is encouraging to know that God is working. Maybe this situation is so impossible so that Jesus can once again so how he is strong and making all things work for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28).

One down, 10 million to go!

I have officially completed my first week at a full time job.

Whew!

It is true . . . you are exhausted and want to go to bed at 9:30 on a Friday night.

This week was hard. Getting adjusted to waking up at 5:40 in the morning and working for eleven hours a day is challenging all on its own, not to mention being thrown into a branch in an area that I am unfamiliar with, but also that I have no idea what I am doing. Our branch is short staffed, there are only 3 of us there, so after about Wednesday morning, I had to do a lot on my own, without feeling confident about what I was even supposed to be doing.

Praise the Lord for his grace! He truly blessed me this first week and gave me success. He allowed me to start off well, and he granted me success. I still have no idea what I am doing though!

Next week I have new hire training. I'm just praying that that will give me some greater insight and confidence into my job.  And I will get paid at the end of the week, that will be a very good thing!

Thinking about how this week is over just makes me think of that line Mr. Sir says in Holes after Stanley digs his first shovel of dirt, "One down, ten million to go!" Welcome to the "real world."

Marathon Update

Since the main reason I started blogging was to blog about training for races, I want to make sure I am being consistent with that!

I am currently training for the Music City Marathon. This will be my first full marathon!! The training plan I am using is partly a program I found online and partly my own based on how I have trained in the past.

Something I have found in training for different races is that I need a good balance of structure and flexibility in my training schedule.  If I have too much structure, I become too much of a perfectionist about training and don't allow myself any room for life.  Something that I remind myself of constantly during training is that "you have to let life happen." If I get caught in a cycle of perfection with my workouts I lose sight of the real reason I am running - because I love it! 


I also have to make sure that I do have a good amount of structure in my training schedule. I like to have a plan so I can track my progress and see just how far I have come.

For this marathon I have a 25 week plan, running just 3 days a week. The other four days are cross training, rest, and strength and stretching.  I also have been working on consistently doing a core workout on the shorter run days.

Basically my week looks like this:
Sunday: Recovery from Saturday's long run with cross training, usually swimming or walking
Monday: Strength - sometimes a circuit, sometimes a strength focused workout video like Jillian or Taebo
Tuesday: Mileage combined with speed work--I incorporate my speed work into my total mileage on this day. For example, if I need to do 30 minutes of fartleks and run 5 miles, I will do those 30 minutes in the middle of those 5 miles.
Wednesday: Cross-training
Thursday: Tempo run. Typically my Tuesday and Thursday runs equal the distance of my Saturday long run
Friday: Abs
Saturday: Long Run

I have a workout scheduled each day, which doesn't look like I allow for much flexibility. However, I usually combine a shorter run with abs or strength, or leave out a cross training day, etc. It just depends on the week and what I have going on.

This week I reached the 10 mile mark. It has been 10 weeks of training and have run 131 miles total.  It definitely takes a lot of time, but it is totally worth it!

Adult Adventure #1

Today I had my first big adventure of adulthood.

I woke up at 6:40 am, left the house by 8 (which is hours earlier than I have left in a very long time), and headed off to my first day at my full time job!!


Today wasn't that big of a deal, just a lot of paperwork and "this is what you'll be doing," "you should do this in this situation," "this is what you say here," "go get that paper so I can show you what to do." But it was great. I got to come home early, work out with my dad and eat a wonderful dinner that my mom had prepared (yes, living at home, and totally okay with it).

Tomorrow, unfortunately, will be much different.  I have to actually do the things they told me I would have to do.  I am fully expecting to be in tears at some point during the day.

I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed me with this. I am clinging to him, confident that this is exactly where he wants me and that he has an incredible plan for this season of my life.  I know there will be days and weeks and months I will cling to Him like I have never clung to him before. And I am looking forward to those moments more than anything else!

I can't believe that this stage of my life is actually beginning. I just am absolutely shocked at how fast college went.  There were days, months even, that I thought it would never end.  But it has. And yes, I miss college, I miss my friends like no other, I miss the nights of flag football, and I miss the endless nights filled with drama. Yes, I do.  But here life goes, on to the next stage, and as far as I can tell, I think it is going to be great!

So there you have it, my first day as a full time tax payer. I think I'm going to go to bed at 9:30.

New Season

A month a go I finally graduated from college. Yes, it is true! I have stepped into adulthood and am officially a college grad.  It was surreal walking across that stage. I told my family they needed to absolutely cheer for me louder than anyone else would be cheered for. I couldn't really tell if they were loudest, but as I shook the chancellor's hand he said, "Wow, you've got quite a fan club!"Yes I do Mr. Jimmy Cheek, and what a fan club they are.  I am so thankful to have such a wonderful extended family that has supported me throughout my life, for wonderful parents who helped me finish four and a half years of college debt free, and a sister and brother who also chose to attend UT so that we could all be together.

We celebrated the afternoon at Calhoun's on the river, my absolute favorite place to eat in Knoxville, with some of my extended family and a few great friends.  It was wonderful. Unfortunately that night it started to snow so I had to pack up my apartment in a matter of about 2 hours and leave the next morning. It was a little crazy.

The last month of my life, fortunately, has been absolutely not crazy.
I've done a whole lot of staying up late, sleeping in, and laying in my bed for hours in the morning because I simply had nothing to get up for.
I could not tell you how many movies I have streamed from Netflix.
I have been going to the gym more consistently then any other time in my life, thanks to my dad who has been getting me out the door almost every day.
I've completed nine out of twenty-five weeks of my marathon training.
I spent some quality time with my sister, my brother, my mom, and my dad.
I experienced the most traumatic babysitting experience of my life.
I went to my first Alumni football game.

Another big deal this month was that God provided me with a full time job!!
I had interviews the week after I graduated and was offered a job with Enterprise the day before Christmas Eve.  I start this week!
It has been such a blessing to have this time in between finishing college and starting a job. It has also been a blessing that I have known that I have a job and haven't had to look!
I have to wear a suit. Every single day. I've also done a lot of shopping this month. :)

I am more than excited about this new adventure that God has me on. It is going to be . . . actually, I have no idea what it is going to be like. For the first time I feel as if I have no bearing on what I am about to experience. And I'm really excited!!


As I've been making big decisions about jobs this month I have been clinging to these verses:
Psalm 21:2 & 6
You have granted him the desire of his heart--you have not withheld the request of his lips.
Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.

I've had to realize that God promises to grant me the desires of my heart. And I can be confident that he will do this because they are desires that he puts in my heart. I'm praying that if my desires are not of the Lord that he would remove them from my heart.  He also promises to give us eternal blessings. I know that these definitely mean blessings in heaven with him, but I am also thankful for the ways he is blessing me here on earth.

My favorite part of that is that he is making me glad with the joy of his presence. I have totally seen Him do this recently. And it is nothing I am doing! Jesus is filling my heart with His presence, and allowing me to be glad and satisfied in Him. There is nothing like it!

Thanks for still reading my crazy blog even when I'm not consistent with it! I hope to be more consistent in my new "adult" life and share all of my "adult adventures".