Life is FULL of challenges! They are not our enemies but our friends! They bring about character and perseverance! At the same time we have our desires. Assuming our desires are Godly and aligned with His will, God wants us to ask for our hearts desire. We have the story of the persistent widow who wore out a Judge to get her way. I often wonder if God wants us to "wear Him out" to test us to see if we are serious about our desires. But...these desires must not become an obesession/idol. Paul said that he had found contentment in every circumstance. I have some things to learn in this regard.
I got some news today that crushed a huge desire of my heart. I prayed and lived out all the things I could that I truly thought right about this. I am not sure I have prayed harder for something. And I must admit, I had let the desire take over my thoughts this past week. Not Good! I had a strong sense about the situation taking a turn I didn't want, and fought hard in the battlefield of my mind. My sense of intuition/spirit prompting is pretty accurate and what I sensed turned out to be true. I deeply want to be content in all situations. I must be a slow learner when it comes to this so God is granting me another test to conquer! I so need the workings of the Blessed Counselor on this one and to saturate my mind with His word and make sure I am alert and aware of the enemies (my flesh, the world and the devil). How are you at contentment? I could use some advice!
3 comments:
I have a hard time with contentment too. It's hard to know when to perservere and when to be content. I have been in my career for about 12 years now, and I've become increasingly disenchanted with it. It used to be that whenever I thought about making a change, I'd go to church and the pastor would preach a message that basically said "stay where you are." I made a change to a free lance position from a corporate position about six months ago, and now the pastor's talking about taking more risk. I don't know if it's a sign, but I've become increasingly sure that being content with what I'm doing in this case would be the wrong move. Let me know if you figure out a 100% correct strategy for knowing for sure in advance.
kiki, as I said in my introduction, I am a journeyman. I write to express what I think, feel and believe. I do have a helpful tip. I have a "counsel" of people who know me best, love me most and are willing to speak the truth in love to me. When I am facing a huge decision I contact them, ask them to pray and get back to me with their thoughts, comments. I look for consensus from them. If I get it I go with it, if it's a mixed result I wait. Hope this helps!
Transparency is just the beginning of contentment. Somewhere between having nothing to lose and nothing to hide you will find your answer.
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