Finding Contentment

I want to start this lesson off considering this excerpt from the Priscilla Shirer book The Resolution for Women.

Today we hear a philosophy of happiness that's actually been training us for a long time not to be happy.  It says there's always something else, something more, some additional requirement we need before we can really enjoy life the way it was meant to be enjoyed... Advertisements bombard us and encourage us to get rid of the old and acquire the new, to be dissatisfied with what we already have.
If you're single, you should have the security of marriage.
If you're married, you should have the freedom of singleness.
If you live in an apartment, you should own a home by now.
If you own a home, it should be bigger than the one you've got.
Your clothes should be from this vendor.
Your appearance should look like this. (You should be this size.)
Your kids should be more like those kids.
Your stand of success should be measured by these standards.
...Fed by such a steady diet of unclaimed desires, we can hardly help but develop a level of disdain for our current circumstances.  Caught in this vicious cycle, we consequently feel incomplete and substandard.  Unhappy.  Uncontrolled.  Unfulfilled.  Dissatisfied. 

In the first lesson, I realized that I needed to learn to live in contentment and that contentment was something I was definitely struggling with.  But since becoming aware of my discontent, there has been no real change other than continuing to realize it's ugly little head in several areas of my life.  I have found myself several times asking, "Ok, how do I be content with this or in this?"  Or perhaps more often asking, "How can I ever be content with this or in this?" So I am aware now, but I guess I need to know more and understand more.  What does contentment look like?  Where is the truth?  How do I unlock the secret and become that woman that Shirer describes as one carrying peace and serenity, solace and restfulness, and a mysterious sense of ease.  A woman that her presence alone delivers an air of refreshment to any setting she enters, to anyone she's around.  WHAT IS THE SECRET????


Let's try and understand more about what contentment really is.  What is it?


We will start by looking at what it is not...

• It is not pretending or denial. 
• It has nothing to do with your personality or just how you are.  
• It is not a unique gift for only the chosen.

So what is it?  First of all it is an acquired skill, a discipline.  It can be taught.  It is something that the Holy Spirit wants to teach you.


Look again at Philippians 4:11-13.
Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 

Verse 11, the original Greek word we translate as content refers to an inner sufficiency, a satisfaction found through the depth of one's own life with God, independent of our surroundings.  When put to use, this "secret" sufficiency is able to bring a full measure of enjoyment and emotional stability to any kind of life experience, no matter how dull or distressing. (Shirer)

Learning that life and our current season of life is not about us is one of keys to unlock the secret of contentment.  When we can catch hold that this is God's Big Story and that we are not the star of the show, we can begin to see that the "Kingdom of God is at hand" and we are part of something so much bigger that us.  God's Kingdom is now, it is not just a future thing.  So then, all things we are experiencing or have experienced good, bad, difficult, tragic, challenging... are all working toward bringing glory to the King of this Kingdom.  In all seasons of life God is drawing us to Himself and wants to draw us into a closer relationship, which will bring Him glory.  In all the circumstances we find ourselves in, God wants to lead us and teach us and mold us and just show us who He is, which will bring Him glory.  Our life is not about us, it is about our created purposed...to bring Him glory.  So for us to consider all things in light of His Kingdom (not ours) is our first step toward learning to be content.


Next, Shirer states that, "a woman of contentment is aware of her needs and what God as already supplied to meet them."  Wow, I think this is a big one.  So often we are so overwhelmed by what is before us and just don't feel that we have an adequate supply of anything to handle what we are facing.  We feel that we are at the end of our "rope", have been pushed to the limit, we are definitely standing on our "last nerve" and it all just more than we can endure.  But God's word is truth and is reliable and He promises...


1 Corinthians 10:13...No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Daniel 3:17a...our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace,

2 Corinthians 9:8...And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency[all contentment] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.


2 Corinthians 3:5...Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,



I love the following selections from The Resolution book, they are so right on...

When you've concluded that what you already have on hand is enough, that it's adequate -- that it's been deemed by God as sufficient -- then you're equipped and empowered to participate fully in the tasks set before you during this season of life.

He can be trusted to grant you grace to you overflowing and that because of that you will always have everything you need, to excel at His purposes.  Every decision you need to make, every task you need to accomplish, every relationship you need to navigate, every element of daily life you need to traverse, God has already perfectly matched up with an equivalent-to-overflowing supply of His grace.  

If you are a child of God, a daughter of the King, then you already have this overflowing grace within you provided by the Holy Spirit.  We already have what we need.  How comforting.  Now we just need to claim it and use it for His purposes.


Final thoughts what contentment is from The Resolution book...

Contentment is the the equilibrium (the "holy equilibrium") between the enjoyment of life now and the anticipation of what is to come.  It is the key to unlock you from the bondage of unrestrained longing that wells up within your heart and inevitably begins to control your life, making you a slave to what you don't have instead of a fully engaged participant with what you do.  It is the faith-filled belief that what God has bestowed now is worthy of gratitude and appreciation, not merely because it is enough but because it is good.  

So the businessperson gets to relish today's accomplishments while at the same time having high expectations for tomorrow.  The homemaker learns to thrive on the joyful chaos of today's tasks while calmly, patiently looking forward to the slower pace her future may hold.  (LOL, Yes Please!!)  The single woman is actually able to enjoy her independence -- not just  pretend she does -- and yet be equally excited about what sharing life with a future mate may be like.  

Instead of being manipulated by unrestrained discontent, instead of allowing restlessness to hustle you into decisions, relationships, and opportunities that you're unable to recognize as being faulty from the outset, contentment keeps your mind clear.  Peaceful.  Settled.  Undisturbed.  Happy to be here, and when God determines the time is right, happy to be there.  

So in review, some key points on unlocking the SECRET "to unleashing a flood of joy into our hearts, the kind that rages within no matter what is raging without":

• Surrender each day to focus on Him, His Grand Story and His Kingdom.  Instead of being blinded by our own worlds and chaos that revolve around us.  We do not make good gods and neither do our spouses/significant others, families, children, jobs, friends...  Worshiping other gods will quickly lead to discontentment.
• Pray 2 Corinthians 9:8...Ask God to teach you to recognize and use the grace He has supplied.  
• Pray Philippians 4:4-7...Rejoice always, thank Him for what He has done, ask Him to guard you hearts and minds from discontentment.
• Pray John 15:5 & Galatians 5:16...Abide in Him and His word.  Pray to know Him deeply and to learn to continually walk in His Spirit.

Studying this has been such a good thing for me, I hope God is using it in your life as well.  I would love to hear any thought or comments.  Can't wait till next week, when we begin to look deeper into the meaning of womanhood.

Let's get started ladies!

Excited to begin this...


As I prepared and narrowed things done to figure out where we would begin, I have to say I was a little surprised as to where I have landed.  I have never really put it together before, but contentment is a huge issue that we, as women, deal with.  If asked what I thought would be one of the top issues for women I wouldn't have chosen the word contentment.  I would have just listed things like self-image, comparing ourselves to others, managing our schedules, busyness, gossip, potty training (the thing I loathe the most) (just had to throw that in there), wanting our children to mind (yes please!), controlling everything around us...I could go on and on...never choosing the word contentment.  But...if we think about it, we will see that contentment is at the root of a lot of things that we deal with.  Issues with contentment can be followed all the way back to the beginning...Genesis and Eve's decision to take the fruit... deceived by Satan into discontentment with perfection...she wanted more.


The book, The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shrirer, is one of the sources I am using for this study.  While we will be using God's word as the absolute authority as we find out what God has for us as women, this book has great topical content related to womanhood.  So we are going to be using it as an outline, if you will, for our weekly discussions.  There are several other books that relate the topic of womanhood as well that I will probably refer to, so at some point soon I will post a book list.  However, no book is required for this study, except The Book, the Bible.


What season of life are you in?  Is it a good season, a bad season, a season of struggle, a season of waiting, confusion, anger, hurt, doubt, trial, dealing with the unknown...?  Consider this excerpt from the Resolution book...

I'm the type of person, you see, who rushes ahead, who often just goes through the motions of any current activity on my way to the next one.  My heart and my body haven't always been good about sharing the same space.  Instead of relishing each moment, each year, each opportunity, each step on the journey, I'm constantly overeager to get to the next thing, which always looks more enticing than what's currently before me.  I'm rarely satisfied in full with my present station.  

...I hadn't really been in attendance for large portions of my life.  As a teenager, I'd impatiently rushed toward young adulthood full throttle.  As a single university student, I couldn't wait to be in a committed relationship and out of college so that life could "really begin."  Then...I enjoyed our first years of marriage, but during some of them I secretly harbored discontentment with our childlessness.  And when the kids started coming, the nights were long and the days even longer, and I prayed through each of them that bedtime would come more quickly.  I was present for all of those years of my life as a student, a wife, a mom -- a woman -- and yet there was so little I could really remember, few emotions I could recall that accompanied some of the events of life.  Why? Because I'd been there, but I hadn't really been there.  

...That's been me.  Always looking toward the next moment, the next month, the next event, rarely allowing myself the privileges of fully participating and embracing the happenings that were right before me for that day.  ...Then before you know it, you've missed out on the joys in the journey, the growth that comes from battling throught the difficulties, the sweet and savory experience of creating the memories.

In learning to find contentment we must learn to consider each moment as a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience...

...Only for the coming year would my husband be exactly like this.  Only for these fleeting moments would my children talk, look, and act exactly like this.  And if I chose to hurry through them in an attempt to avoid the parts I didn't like, I'd simultaneously miss all the things I did like about this season.

And if you are not a wife or mom yet, only for this season will your life be just like this.  Right now the friends you hang with, the job you have or don't have, if you are in college...the people you are in contact with daily in your classes, your professors...all of these things are just like this, only for this season, this moment.


God is sovereign, in control of all things...ALWAYS.  So if this is true, you are in this season of life because that is where God has placed you, and He has something for you to do (for HIS Kingdom) and something for you to learn (about HIS Nature and Character so you can know Him more).

Shirer explains that by rushing through life, we are subtly devaluing those around us and the experience we are involved in, we are not able to appreciate the importance or significance they bring to our lives at this very moment, and not grasping our responsibility for holding dear and treating well the gifts God has entrusted us with.  For example she says..

Instead of embracing the privilege of being a blessing to my husband, my children, my friends, and others, I'd been quietly communicating to them I wanted them to change and speed up, to get busy being somebody else, someone who's more in line with what I want and need, to hurry along to a place when they could make me happier than they currently do.

Ouch, I don't know about you, but that has really been a wake up call from the Holy Spirit, and has really made me examine myself.  I don't want to miss out on the "joys of the journey" or "the growth that comes from battling through the difficulties" or miss out any longer making memories so that I can reflect on what God has done.  I don't want to miss what God is asking me to do for His kingdom.  In my current season of life maybe He wants me to be a light so that those around me may be drawn to Him, maybe He is calling me to be strong in my faith so that others can see His faithfulness, maybe I need to offer forgiveness to someone so that he can begin healing me and so that others will see a picture of what Christ did for me.  I don't want to miss out on learning more about the nature and character of God, how he loves, saves, sustains,...how he equips us to handle our current circumstance, even though we often doubt we can endure it, and how He provides for our every need and works all things for good.  Oh how our faith is increased as we begin recognize how big God really is and that He can be trusted with EVERYTHING.  And that He cares about all that we are going through and will provide the enduring strength needed even for something like potty train two more children.  


Let's look at what the bible says about contentment...
Paul writes that, "I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am". Philippians 4:11 
Spend sometime reading Philippians 4, especially 4:11-13. e-sword online bible
This is a great passage to just read over and over and really begin to meditate on what God's word is saying.


Here are a few other references to look up regarding contentment (certainly not an exhaustive list)...
1 Timothy 6:6
1 Timothy 6:8
Hebrews 13:5
Phil 3:8
Matthew 6:31-34


So, again, what season are you in?  What have you been hurrying through or to get to?  What can you do differently to start living in the moment and savoring what God has for you right NOW?


Learning to be content in whatever circumstance is not to say you can never look forward to something.  There is a balance or as the Resolution book calls it a "holy equilibrium" (which I think is so clever).  We will discuss that more next time.


Would love to hear your thoughts!!