How I Found a Deeper Connection with my Father in Heaven

I am a spiritual person. I am strongly rooted in the gospel in my life. I haven't always been this way. I went for years without the gospel in my life. I went years without praying, without hope, without real joy. Was I having fun... absolutely but I usually end up lonely without a real destination. I know I can't be the only one who has had those days/months/years. Those dark days of not really knowing your path.  The worst part was I knew my path but I was scared to get back on track. 

I want to tell you how I have become closer to my Father in Heaven than I ever have been. I want to share what I have finally done to feel like I have begun to know my Savior and feel my Heavenly Father's love. I know that it is just the tip of the iceberg of what I will know but I can't be the only one. I can't be the only one who promises at the beginning of the year to read my scriptures everyday and then forgets repeatedly. I can't be the only one that starts to say mundane prayers and doesn't fully know how to connect and feel close to my Father in Heaven. I just can't be the only one who struggles to get answers or who just moves ahead because they don't really know what an answer feels like. 

I wrote a blog post a couple weeks ago about how my mornings have changed my life. How I Changed My Life in a Week.  I wanted to recap and expand on that. I've now gone three weeks of consistently reading my scriptures and writing my letters to God. I can still strongly say this had dramatically changed my life. Am I challenged in life still, I would say even more than ever because I am bettering myself. I can say however I have the ability to overcome things and handle stress with only the power of angels. I am by no means perfect but I can feel a dramatic change in my self. 

My last blog goes into details about how I conduct my morning time. I wanted to talk about why and how it has affected me. 

This morning I woke up to my husband telling me about a few things and then heading out the door. It's 6:30 and all I really wanted to do was go back to sleep. Porter hadn't woken up last night and I had a great night's rest. I couldn't fall back to sleep... I've come to learn that if I can't sleep it's usually the Lord wanting to talk to me. So I started my morning routine. This time however I took the advice from Kim Duncan a very successful, spiritual woman. I am attending her online class right now called My Destiny. She talked about how important it is to make your bed first thing in the morning. So I made my bed and dropped to my knees. Usually I just sit in bed and pray because I am still waking up but this time I prayed on my knees. Was I still tired.. oh yes, but I did it. In fact I was still tired as I read my scriptures. I also was still tired as I wrote my letter to God. Then I got to his letter back to me. 

I was floored. Before the letter back I read my patriarchal blessing, I even the started the letter as I felt he normally would prompt me back. All of a sudden I just felt the spirit so strongly and knew I was writing what the lord wanted for me. He answered my questions, he prompted more questions for me, and he talked about my path. I love writing these letters because I can reread them. I can sometimes get promptings but not like when I write a letter. This has deepened my relationship with my Heavenly Father so dramatically. In fact, if there was only one thing I had time to do in the mornings, I would do this. I love that I finally have a way where I feel like I can connect to my Father. 

I share these things not to boast of where I am but to encourage others to build their relationship with their Father. He is waiting and badly wanting to tell us things. It has changed my mornings, my days, my relationship with my husband and son, my home, and most of all-it has changed me. I feel so much happier about who I am and what I was sent here to do. I feel beyond blessed that I can finally read my scriptures daily and feel the spirit so strongly. I truly am blessed beyond any of my doubting. I would suggest you try. Just try to make a connection through your Father by writing to him. No matter your faith or your thoughts about where you stand. He will talk back to you. He loves you and I know this because he loves me. I know it with all my heart. As my lovely friend Kathy Stoddard has said, "Our souls long to be with him again." Writing fulfills our soul's longing and desires. I am so grateful just in the past few weeks to have started this connection. I am grateful I made time in my everyday to make sure I talk to the Lord. It has made all the difference in my life. 

Creating Space Only for Things I Love

What a week! I can't tell you how wonderfully, exhausting this past week was. I went through my entire house and decluttered! I also went back through and reorganized. It's not perfect yet but it feels so great to finally have a start. I wanted to post for you my before and afters. Maybe you can get a feel for how much this changed me. 

First, I want to start with the 'Why?' Some of you might be questioning why would I do this for myself. Another part of you might be asking 'How?!' Luckily you are getting the answer to both those questions. Why I started... So I became a stay at home mom a couple months ago. I was not loving it because I couldn't keep my house clean. Isn't that my whole identity now? Aren't I supposed to have a beautiful home? What else would I do all day if it's not clean? Yet not matter the rotations (Monday-Bedrooms, Tuesday-Kitchen, etc.) I could not seem to manage to make that big of a dent. All I did was clean all day... I felt like I never had time to play with my son because I had to clean. I knew that I had to make a change. 

I read the book The Art of Tidying Up . It really helped me to see how to let go of things I don't need and live life to the fullest. You need to touch everything and decide, "Does it spark joy?" I was amazed at how many things I thought I loved but I really didn't. It is an amazing concept. I am so grateful my friend offered to let me borrow it. I read it in a couple days and was ready to go. I am the type of person that when I find something that would make my life easier I want to do it right away. Unfortunately I had to wait about a week until I had a day free. I sent my child to grandma's and had a couple of great friends come over and I was ready to start. The whole house in one day. No big deal... 

Even with two wonderful extra hands we were not finished. I felt kinda of frustrated. Did I really have that much stuff that it took that long? My living space looked like a mess even though my closets and upstairs were beautiful. The next day I decided to just tackle my kitchen. I HIGHLY suggest you do not attempt to declutter with children around. My child was not helping my stress or the mess. So that day I finished a majority of the kitchen but my living space still looked like a bomb went off. The next day I got a babysitter and cleaned my living space so I felt accomplished. Then I worked on my pantry/laundry room and basement. I am not finished with the basement since it will be a preschool and I am figuring out the set up still. However I would say a majority of it was finished. So it took me a total of three days. I bet it could have been taken down to two if you still had help and sitters.

It has been completely worth it. Every thing now has a home. It's not crammed with other things and I don't have to store clutter anymore! I actually feel a huge weight lifted off me. I will talk a little about each space in the links below. I can't wait to show you my space! It's super vulnerable but here its goes! That includes all the "hiding spaces!"

My Bedroom Makeover

Porter's Bedroom 

Bathrooms 

Pantry & Laundry  

Kitchen


Here's the pile of things I was able to give up and let go. I can't believe how freeing it is! A lot of these things I really liked but they didn't spark joy. I would love to see who else decides to take this challenge. Let go and finally live! 

Kitchen

The kitchen had an extreme makeover. I swear all my cabinets were shoved full of stuff. No wonder I hated cooking (are you sensing a theme here). 

I'll be trying to put the before and afters together. I got rid of so much!

This is where all our tupperware and large bowl storage went. Now I can find everything so much easier. 

This is my cooking cabinet. It's right below were I put my mixer. I was in the middle of cleaning it when I remembered to take a picture. It looks so much better now. The boxes have all the cooking supplies in them; brown sugar, flour, chocolate chips, etc. The basket has mixing cups and tablespoons. Now I have all my lids together on the bottom shelf in a container. The large bowls have a space. Now I can actually find my blender. 

Under the sink didn't change too much. It's the only place that will fit my tall mixer and my baking and cutting boards. 

This was an odd cabinet that I never really used. I actually forgot about it since we moved here and hadn't touched it again. All the tupperware went to DI if I couldn't remember it. Now it stores extra plates and our quail egg containers. We use it everyday now. 

The cup cabinet became a mess when we started buying baby cups. Now it's all organized and doesn't have more than what we use. 

Our food cabinet always became a mess. I moved a bunch to the pantry and have a drawer of snacks. 

My oven mitt drawer was way too full. Now it's nice and clean with only the amount I actually use. 

This was the really messy junk drawer. I changed it to the large spoons and such. It makes sense since it is by the oven.

















My silverware drawer got moved to where everyone thinks it should be. You know when you go to someone's house and open the drawer where the silverware should go. Well I moved it to that spot. I also moved the kids silverware in with ours because it makes a lot more sense. 

 













I cleaned a bit out from the random drawer and added all of the knives to one drawer. Much easier to get to it all. 

The snack drawer. Man I am sure you are all thinking I am such a messy person. I don't think I am but somehow pictures speak louder than words... Now it is my beautiful towel and wrap drawer. 

My old spatula and wrap drawer now has hardly anything in it. Some of Porter's favorite plates go here. 

The spice drawer didn't get much of a make over. It's so easy to find everything because I labeled all the tops. I do need to go through it and cut down a bit. I loved putting spices in such a easy way to store. Usually they are hidden in a cabinet and you can never find them. 

The baking drawer actually has containers in it to sort things. There is certainly not a ton to sort when you decide you never use it. 

Our computer is on the kitchen counter perfect for watching favorite shows while cooking and looking up recipes. We put the keyboard in a drawer so a little boy I know isn't tempted to climb up the counter. So it's kinda like a junk drawer but not anymore. 

I like having things in drawers. It is much easier to see. Porter got into this drawer one too many times. Now I have two drawers for snacks and breads.

I hate putting plastic cups in the cabinet. They are too easy to knock over and they just end up getting crammed in. My drawer didn't change much. It's so easy to find which bottle I want. Plus I don't really care if Porter goes through this drawer. 

This cabinet above the sink was a disaster too. I moved a bunch of it to storage and gave all my tea things away. I loved it but never used it. Now it's nice to have everything fit. I also narrowed down my thirty cook books I never read to my seven favorites. They are also in an easy place to get to them. 

I hope you enjoyed my kitchen. I should have taken pictures during the disaster of cleaning. Here's the after. I cleaned the top of the fridge off, got rid of extra magnets and papers on the fridge, got better bar stools that don't scratch our floors (Target clearance) and have everything tucked away where it should go with room to spare. 

I also have Porter's toy room in our kitchen but went down from three shelves to one. Talk about less clean up!

Pantry and Laundry

My pantry was all the left overs when we moved in. I had no idea where to put all of it so it just got shoved in. It was a disaster. I could never find anything and it's no wonder it's a clutter fest! 

I was able to put things right where they belong. Now I have tons of space in my kitchen because I moved things to the storage room. I at least left this room with four boxes to give away. I love walking in here and just goggle now.  

On the opposite wall is the laundry. It was a mess. No wonder I put off laundry all the time. I hated it... 

I was able to find places for everything. I even made it pretty. Moving the laundry divider downstairs made a huge difference. Now I just carry laundry down every other day and sort it. I also just have two laundry bins (the coral ones) that are small. So I can't pile up laundry for days. Now that it's organized I love to sort laundry and put it away because I don't have to deal with extra clutter or extra clothes. This picture is also three days later. This kinda ugly space became one of my favorites.