A Post That Morphed Into A Post on Resourcefulness and Prayer

I have always struggled with the idea of nature journaling, as neither myself nor my children are particularly good drawers-- nor do we show any potential of becoming good drawers! So, whenever I pushed this (years ago when I used to push such things), I was always met with great resistance and complaining. So, I totally quit, throwing in the towel completely on nature study. Yesterday I stumbled across this post and it inspired me to revisit the idea of nature journaling-- and for those of you who remember this recent post and are keeping score, yes it's yet another thing I am inspired to attempt! Please know that I am not seriously thinking I will do it all. I am still in planning mode, after all, and just entertaining ideas and seeing what will work, and when.

Which reminds me, this post is a great one to read for those of you who are in the throes of planning! I need to remember the rich resources that are already on my shelves before I fork over money for more.

I remember one year when we were just simply broke as it came time to plan for the new year. I remember being so down because I didn't have money for "stuff." My mom came through and brought the kids goodie bags filled with back to school stuff that thrilled them and got us started with what we needed-- pencils, paper, glue sticks, etc. But I still didn't have a planner and couldn't splurge on buying one. Then I hit upon a genius idea-- totally inspired by God as I prayed for His help in being resourceful. I knew He had called us to homeschooling and I knew that He would provide a way. After all, He is THE WAY.

So, I turned to a blank page in my old planner from the previous year and made a copy of it. I ran copies that only costs a few dollars to make, three hole punched them, and put them in an old notebook. Voila! A functional planner that served me well and only cost me pennies to make! I still remember the feeling of satisfaction I got from knowing I wasn't wasteful! Now we have http://www.donnayoung.org/ and many other sites that provide forms we need so that we can create our own planning notebooks in just a matter of minutes. Heart of the Matter is even offering free prayer journal pages this month, which I plan to print off and use! (Karen and I are talking about designing our own planners while we are together this week. Does it mean I am a total and complete hopeless geek for actually being excited about such things??)

And so, I challenge you this year to not give up if you don't have talent or don't have money, or don't have whatever it is you feel you don't have. Pray for resources, inspiration, creativity... whatever it is you are lacking. We serve a God who cares about the most intimate of details and who will provide a way if we will only open our eyes to His activity and listen for His answers. I know I am grateful to those bloggers who provide me with answers, ideas and resources through sharing their own inspirations with the rest of us! You never know when God will use your blog to be someone else's answer.

ETA: This post is a great one about planning, too!