If I invited a professional organizer to come over to my house and help me with my goal of organizing all my homeschooling “stuff,” the first thing this expert would do is sit me down in my living room. She’d pull out a clipboard, and she’d start to ask me questions.

“Anne, what’s not working? If you could change anything about your homeschooling year, what would it be?”

I might tell her which subjects we just never get around to, or that I’ve misplaced one of the books we need, or that several of my kids take after me and really struggle with spelling.

Then this professional organizer would ask, “Anne, why do you think it’s not working?” and “What do you think would help most?”

We’d start to hash out some practical solutions for our homeschooling year, followed by some action, when maybe she’d call in her team of people who’d enter my house, help me sort through all the clutter and get rid of the junk we don’t need anymore, sell used books on eBay, and clean out all the rooms. Then we’d add a fresh coat of paint to the walls to help it all look fresh and new. We’d go to an organizing store and get new bins and containers, then we’d stop by a discount store for the snazziest new school supplies, markers, binders, and folders. She’d help me find a place for everything, and she’d help me put everything in its place.

I’d be amazed by how wonderful it all looked, probably cry a little and give her a big hug, then out the door she’d go.

Would it stay looking this great? Would I be able to maintain it? Would this finally be the answer I’d been looking for? Would we finally have a fabulous, glitch-free homeschooling year?

Would she come back in January to help me figure out how to teach math to a wiggly six-year-old?

No, and I probably couldn’t afford to pay her fee in the first place. However, this is why we all spend so much time online. We’re looking for help with the first steps, the part that helps our houses look great and our supplies get organized.

Then we need even more help as the school year progresses. It takes more than a snazzy organizational system to make the entire school year a success!

Three Questions

Just as the professional organizer sat in my living room and asked me three questions, I’d like to start by asking you those three questions.

1.    What’s not working?
2.    Why not?
3.    What do you think would help most?

These questions will help you figure out a solution that works for your family. I wouldn’t want to impose my household on you. I live in a relatively small home. We have seven children, but the most I’ve ever homeschooled at one time is six, plus a preschooler. We have four bedrooms, and my “office” is out in the main room. We have a small space in the basement for storage, and my living room contains a few bookshelves, although none of this storage ever seems to be enough. In the house before this one, we had a basement we could use as a catch-all, a school room, play room, and laundry room, but I have none of those things in this house. We have a nice back yard, but again, it’s covered in snow for much of the year, so we spend many months indoors.

So I just can’t bring my solutions to your house. Our homes will never be the same.

I need you to put on your “thinking cap” and figure out solutions that will work at your house. These three questions will help you do that.

In addition, it would be really tough for me to give you advice about your home school when I can’t even visit, as my professional organizer did, to see how your house is laid out, how your children behave, and how your daily routine flows.

I have some good news, though. Yeshua has given you a promise.

“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:16-18).

The promised “Spirit of truth” would love to come and live inside you, to guide you in your home school—and in every other area of your life as well.

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Yeshua the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:13-16).

He knows everything about you and is aware of the ways that you fail. In fact, He is waiting for you to admit your sins and failures to Him, to rest on Him completely for strength, and to humble yourself before Him.

He has taken care of all the sins and mistakes in your past. Yeshua’s blood paid the death-price for your sin, and now He stands as a high priest before His Father in heaven, showing evidence of His sacrifice and gaining God’s favor on your behalf.

He understands your weaknesses. He lived on this earth, and He understands the frustrations, trials, temptations, and tiredness you feel. Of course, He had no sin, but remember that He wants to live within you and give you the power not to sin as well. What a precious thought it is to know that He understands, He’s been here, yet He also has the power to change things!

Finally, He’s just waiting for you to ask Him for help . He wants you to speak to God the Father with confidence, and He promises mercy and grace “to help us in our time of need.” No professional organizer could ever promise that!

So what should you do?

1.    Obey Him.

In John 14:15-17, Yeshua said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”

It would be very frustrating to a professional organizer to have a client who had paid a lot of money for her services yet refused to do anything she advised. We also can “quench” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) or “grieve” (Ephesians 4:30) the Spirit of God by ignoring what He asks us to do.

All of His commands revolve around loving God or loving others (Matthew 22:37-40). His commands are also specific, not vague and open to interpretation by us. To know what His commands are, we first must read His Word and begin reading.

Your top priority is to open God’s Word, the Bible, each day. In God’s Word, you’ll learn what His commands are. His Spirit will “teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).

Your next priority is to listen and obey.

2.    Talk to Him.

Just as you wouldn’t hire a professional organizer, seat her in your living room, then go into another room and ignore her as you munched on popcorn and watched a movie on television, so you must not invite the Spirit of God into your life and ignore Him.

Hebrews 4:16 instructed us to “come boldly to the throne of grace.” In Isaiah 6, we see illustrated what God’s throne was like, as Isaiah the prophet approached it for the first time. Isaiah wrote,

“I saw YHVH sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said:

‘Holy, holy, holy is YHVH of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory!’

And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:1-4).

Isaiah’s response to this amazing sight was to cry out and acknowledge his sin, especially his sin of “unclean lips.”

Each morning, your job is to enter God’s throne room and allow God’s Spirit to expose the sin in your life.

Then God gave Isaiah a specific job to do, which is exactly what His Spirit will do for you.

“Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
‘This is the way, walk in it,’
Whenever you turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21).

Throughout your day—as your children wake up, as you burn breakfast, as you homeschool, as you clean, as you minister to others—throughout your day, God’s Spirit will be with you, whispering in your ears, “This is the way; walk in it.”

So talk to Him! Talk to Him first thing in the morning, and keep up that conversation all day long. Talk to Him in the summertime, as you begin to plan a new school year. Talk to Him each school day, asking for His guidance during all your activities. Talk to Him after the day quiets down, getting “grace and mercy” for the needs you have, allowing Him to whisper in your ears, “This is the way; walk in it.”

So as your school year progresses and you find areas where you need help, go first to God’s Spirit, the “Master Planner” who will abide with you always.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture in this blog post taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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