Praying for a Peaceful Home
One morning, I stooped down to pray on the kitchen floor and asked God for something I’m embarrassed to admit—to bring order to my cluttered table. I wasn't kneeling over a diagnosis or a wayward kid, but the weed whacker and its fellow lawn trappings.
Because our farmhouse has no garage, lawn supplies overflowed into every room like water from a clogged sink with the faucet left running. No matter how many times I hauled them into a pile, they spilled right back onto the kitchen table and the counters.
By contrast, my desk, nothing special in itself, but sacred to me, held only a Bible and a laptop with a compulsively empty inbox. And it stayed austerely bare, not because I'm naturally organized, but because I'm easily distracted.
Thus, when the weed whacker and its lawn entourage flowed across the stretch of office floor leading to my desk, I started complaining. As the supplies grew, so did my complaints about anyone or anything interrupting me: the supplies, the house, the dogs, and my loved ones.
A few mornings later, I flipped open my Bible to Proverbs, and as I read through a few chapters, two verses jumped out:
Every wise woman builds up her home, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands. (Proverbs 14:1, CJB)
A leak that keeps dripping on a rainy day and the nagging of a wife are the same. (Proverbs 27:15)
I felt as if my Father in heaven skipped correctional warmups and lovingly but not subtly called out my foolish behavior: attempting to bring order to my home without Him only resulted in eroding our peace—inside and out—one complaint at a time. This is when I knelt in prayer and asked the creator of order to bring it to my table. How He responded surprised me: He started the clutter communication by convicting me to stop complaining.
The next morning, my husband offered a solution I hadn't thought to consider: turn the office into storage, the workout room into an office-and-workout hybrid space.
For a few days it got worse before it got better—dishes on every counter, boxes in every doorway—but something in me had already changed because I knew that God’s hand was in it.
I felt this passage come to life:
Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6-7, NLT)
I'd spent months trying to build a peaceful home, my mouth a leaky faucet slowly eroding my household one drip at a time. Prayer guided me to the quiet, certain peace of God.
What in your home, or your heart, are you trying to fix with your own hands instead of bringing it to God? I encourage you to tell your heavenly Father what you need and let His peace permeate every room in your house and heart.
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Scripture quotations are taken from: The Complete Jewish Bible, copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
