He Will Be My Refuge

I've been reading The Gentle Ways of the Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund which is a compilation of three of her bestselling books: Disciplines of the Beautiful Woman, Disciplines of the Heart, and Disciplines of the Home. I am only a few chapters into it, but I am already finding it so inspiring!

I love this passage:

If you have made God your highest priority of all, he is
there. You are learning to abide in him, and he in you. there is
calm, there is peace. He is your refuge, to which you continually run. He
is organization, and living in him you sense control and plan. He is
spirit--your living and breathing, your laughter and tears--and all of it becomes holy because his spirit is
holy. Wonderful! Alleluia!

If this is true, your mental and emotional life should
reflect his presence, whether there's nobody around but you, or kids everywhere:
"Whatever is true,...honorable,...right,...pure,...lovely,...of good repute (or
attractive),...let your mind dwell on these things" (Phil. 4:8). (Yes, God says this even to
mothers, and he never asks anything of you that he doesn't also give all the
ability necessary to carry out.)

And also, if this is true (that God is at your life's center)
then your immediate surroundings ought also to reflect him. Your immediate
surroundings--your drawers and closets, your bedside table, your desk--are the
filmiest clothing of your most personal, private life. Even if you have
ten children, those areas should be yours alone, and they should reflect the
order and peace of your inner life with God.

This is so convicting to me. If my immediate surroundings are the clothing of my most personal, private life, then my personal, private life is chaotic! I obviously have not been abiding in God like I should. But I can take heart because when I abide in Him, He will give me the ability to carry it out. He will replace the chaos in my heart with calm and with peace. He will be my refuge. And then my surroundings will be calm and peaceful as a reflection of what (and Who) is in my heart!