Craving Contentment

Recently my pastor was teaching on the Sermon on the Mount in the book of Matthew. The verses which have always spoken to my heart are in Matthew 6:25-27,“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

God is urging us to be content. And we crave it. We crave it because the only place true contentment comes from is God. We need to trust Him with the big and the small stuff in our lives. I believe, deep down, what we are all searching for is contentment. That feeling of being satisfied with what we have and our lot in life. This is the exact opposite of what the world wants us to believe. The accusing voice in my shouts, I need more, more, more to be happy, to fill that empty spot in my heart.

News flash, maybe you already know this, but things do not make me happy. While I’m not comparing myself to what the apostle Paul went through by being in a Roman jail, but I do know what it’s like to have plenty and to have little. There was a time in my life, as a single mom, even though I had a great paying job, I relied on others to help feed my family, but my new little family of three was happy. There have also been times where I’ve lived in a six bedroom house in a swanky neighborhood in Colorado, with what felt like money to burn and been miserable.

I’m not advocating that if we’re poor, we’re automatically happier. Far from it. There were many a nights when I couldn’t sleep because I didn’t know how I was going to pay my bills. Not exactly the example of trusting God, but the overwhelm I felt of dealing with my recent divorce, paying my attorney’s fees, court fees, and putting food on the table felt like I was drowning in debt both emotionally and physically.

During this time, I drew closer to God and sometimes not by choice. There were days where I worked to figure things out on my own and all it did was lead to exhaustion. As a last resort, I’d beg God for a solution because I didn’t know where the money would come from to pay my bills. Then checks, a gift card to Costco or a gas card would unexpectedly arrive in the mail so I could buy the things I needed for my family.

Even in my lack of contentment, trust and faith, God showed up over and over again. Not always monetarily, but one day I was moved to tears because a random check from someone I didn’t know arrived at the perfect time so I could cover my rent. God took care of my little family and I began to record all the little miracles taking place in my life. My prayer journal became more than a place to vent my frustrations and pour out my sorrow, it became a place to build my faith and grow my contentment because I looked back at all that God had done for me and continues to do for me.

God isn’t a genie, where we rub the lamp and out comes the answers to our problems. Occasionally, we need to mine for the answers. There is something God wants me to learn in my struggle. He sees my struggle. And He sees your struggle too.

I look at my youngest kiddo still learning to tie his shoes. If I constantly do it for him, he’ll never learn to grow in that skill. God may not answer my prayers the way I want, but He will answer it the way I need to grow and mature in my faith and grow the contentment I’m craving.

Are you craving contentment? Where do you find your contentment? Share it in the comments below.