"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Psalm 23:1
"Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11-13
I am not a content person. It seems that no matter what happens or what comes my way, soon enough I find myself wanting something new, different, "better". I remember when I got pregnant with my first child we were living in a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment and we found ourselves needing a larger place. After a month of searching we found the perfect place for us, a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom cedar sided rancher with a large enough yard for our children to play in. At the time it was perfect for us and I wanted it with all my heart. What seemed impossible God made possible and we closed on it in 30 days. For a little while I was seemingly content and completely happy with our new residence. Then we got pregnant with our second child and had collected quite a few more belongings over those 2 years and suddenly our perfect home felt cramped and too small. I found myself longing to move into a larger house that would accommodate our growing family. (At the present time we are still in our 3 bedroom 2 bathroom rancher and I am waiting on God to show us when, where and how to move!) I found myself at one point very unhappy with my home that I had been so thankful for at one time. This discontentment lasted for almost a solid year. I developed a real hatred of my home because I was allowing myself to be discontent with my current place in life to the point it was zapping me of all my joy and thankfulness. God got a hold of me and lovingly showed me that my attitude was not pleasing to Him at all and that I needed to learn to be content wherever I was in life. That's such a hard thing to learn. True contentment isn't giving up your hopes and dreams and accepting whatever life throws at you. It's learning how to be joyful and thankful no matter where you are in life. It's good to have goals and hopes, but to let them take over and make you dissatisfied and ungrateful for what you already have is wrong. Learning to "enjoy the ride" as you strive to reach those goals and make those dreams reality is key. You don't want to miss out on the blessings God has for you each day along the way of this journey called life. Cultivating an attitude of gratitude changes your whole way of thinking and living. Like Psalm 23 starts out, God gives you all you need. Trust him to take care of all aspects of your life and remember to thank Him along the way. Remember..."The Lord is your shepherd, you shall not want...
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I struggle with the same things. My biggest wish is to have all my furnishings match and to have curtains on our windows. We have a lot of mismatch things throughout the house. I keep feeling God tell us that this is not where we need to spend our money right now. And thankfully I have listened because now we have Madison and another one on the way! A friend of mine wrote about this same topic on her blog and her thoughts were so good that I wrote it down and I would like to share it with you. She states, "Contendedness seems to be this illusive idea that there is always something out there, just beyond our grasp, that you can't have but believe will make you more happy and fulfilled if you had it. In realizing you can't have it leaves you feeling anxious, empty and depleted. Not just material things, but even expectations of how our lives should be and could be." It is so true! That discontentment leaves me feeling anxious and I miss out on what I do have.
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