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Building Your House | An Interview with Shannon Upton

3/27/2018

Clear out your spiritual clutter as you organize your home!

Christian speaker, blogger, and author Shannon Upton is back to help you build your house with Jesus as the perfect cornerstone. Through her conversational style, fun anecdotes, and step-by-step guides, you'll learn how to establish the perfect amount of structure for you and your family. You'll find concrete ideas with a strong foundation in scripture, giving you the tools you need to joyfully tackle your belongings, routines, and family.

Available wherever Christian books are sold.

Will you tell us about your book series, Organizing You?

The Organizing You books aren’t your typical organizing books! Instead, they’re deeply meaningful looks at the clutter than matters most- the clutter in your spirit. My first book, Organizing You, is about time, chore, and project management, helping you really relax and enjoy the work God’s given you. My second book, Building Your House, is about clearing out the distractions and frustrations that come from your actual home, and the people in it! I’m also releasing a series of handbooks based on my four most popular talks. My sincere prayer is that by the end of each book, you'll be filled with peace, enjoying your family, and growing closer to Jesus each day!

How did you come up with ideas for this book?

When my second child was born, I developed a postpartum anxiety disorder and lived with it for four years before the Lord in His mercy healed me. During that time I recognized how much a calm, orderly household helped me to cope with that kind of stress. And as I opened up to other women, they would tell me about their own struggles with anxiety- worries that they weren't the moms and wives and daughters of God that they should be. The Lord used that time to teach me how to take my thoughts and feelings captive for Jesus Christ, and that's something I want to share with other Christian women!

What is spiritual clutter and how do we discover if we have any?

It’s those anxieties, worries, and fears that clutter up your mind and heart. The things that make you think “I’ve got to remember to…” or worse, “Whoops, I should have…” or “That’s driving me crazy!” These things distract you from your family and distance you from God—but they don’t have to! Just a little organization—getting just organized enough for you—can really help!

If you spend just a few days really listening, you’ll hear it loud and clear. It will be those thoughts that tell you to procrastinate or avoid something distasteful. The worry that a certain area of your life is getting out of control. Those things you really want to remember but keep forgetting to do. A part of your house that’s just driving you bonkers. Or a part of your day that’s in a bad routine! And those negative, getting-down-on-yourself thoughts.

Once we discover our spiritual clutter, how can we begin to clear it out?

The first thing to do is to start writing it down, all of it, every negative thought! Then take a look at it and decide: is this really something you want to do something about? If it is, get it into your organizational systems and set project time to get it done! That’s what 90% of the Organizing You books are all about. If it’s not something that requires action, if it’s useless or hurtful thinking, then surrender it to God. That’s what I really learned to do during that time of deep anxiety.

How can our belongings give us spiritual clutter?

Physical clutter in our homes can really clutter up our spirits! Every pile, every overcrowded space is another item on our mental to-do list. It can affect your relationships with your family members if different people in your home have different tolerance to messes. It can even affect our relationships with our friends, because when our stuff gets out of control, we start to worry about what other people might think of us and stop having people over to our homes. Even if your house isn’t that bad, the clutter and mess, the drawers and cupboards and closets hiding chaos, and the stuff that’s hard to find and harder to put away can just bug you!

What do you want your readers to learn?

I'd love for my sisters in Christ to learn that you don't have to be a "super-organized" mom to be a great one- that they have to find a level of organization that's right for their family. I want them to experience the peaceful feeling that comes with knowing that they've prayerfully chosen what to do with their time, and that God will direct their steps from there. I want them to enjoy their husbands and kids and households, and do their "mommy" work for the Lord with grateful hearts! Most of all, I want them to know how much God loves them, values the work they do, and wants them to grow closer to Him every day.