"How to Be Content"

How to Be Content

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.  Philippians 4:12 (NLT)

When I was first married people didn’t buy anything on time, that option wasn’t even available then.  If you didn’t have money to pay for things, you didn’t have them.  Here is how I started.  My parents gave me 2 old wooden rocking chairs and his parents gave us a table and chairs stored in the barn.  We bought a used gas stove for $15 and a big old cupboard to hold dishes, cookware, tableware and a places for dishes.

I painted the rockers, table & chairs and the cupboard all white.  Then my mother made some pillows for the chairs.  For a stand to set between them, I got an orange crate and painted that white and made a little curtain to hang across the front.  I brought my bed from home and dresser that held all our clothes. (This is what an orange crate looked like.)

I want you to know I loved my little one and a half rooms and was very content with what we had.  It wasn’t much, but it was all we needed at that time.  Then as time went on and children came along, we obviously needed a larger place to live.  So, we moved and then we moved again when another child came along.  I learned to decorate things and before I knew it, I had 4 children and that meant a larger place to live.  By this time, I was not so content. 

Money was scarce and as the children grew up they needed more, and I didn’t have faith to believe God would provide.  Today, as I looked back, God provided for us in so many ways; I just didn’t recognize it.  I have been content with little and with much and discontent even when there was much.

All these years later I recognize God’s hand in everything.  I have come to know His provision when I could not see an answer. The Bible tells us that: “God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”  2 Corinthians 9:8 (NLT) I have surely found that to be true in my life.  I often wonder, “How was that taken care of.”  I don’t always know how He did it, but He did.

Jehovah-Jirah is one of many Hebrew names of God and means ‘The Lord will provide’. This comes from the story of Abraham when he took his son, Isaac up in the mountain and following God’s command, lay him on the altar and was going to kill him as a sacrifice, when God stopped Abrahams hand and God said to him,     “Abraham don’t harm your son for I know now that you fear me.”  And Abraham looked and there was a ram caught in a bush.  So Abraham called that place, “Jehovah-Jireh”, God Provides. Genesis 22:14 (KJV)

When I was a child in grade-school, I found a book in the library that had wonderful stories about miracles and I read it over several times.  There was one story I have never forgotten!  There was a story about a very poor family and they had no food left.  Their mother prayed and in faith believing, told her young son and daughter that God was going to send them some food.  The children were so hungry they didn’t see how God would bring them something to eat.  The mother told them to just believe and go stand out on the corner and wait.

The children stood on the corner and waited and waited.  By now they were even hungrier than before and tired from standing.  They decided to go home and were turning to leave when a bakery truck came speeding around the corner.  Suddenly, the back door flew open and out came loaves of bread and cakes.  The door swung back shut and went on down the road.  The children ran out and gathered everything that had fallen out.  When they arrived home and showed their mother what they had, she thanked God for how He had provided food for them when they were hungry.  The end.

I’ve never forgotten that story and understand that God is who He says He is.  In Philippians 4:19 we see how much He cares for us.  “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  If you believe that God supplies all your needs, you can also believe that you can be content. It is faith that causes contentment.

I love the scripture in Matthew 6:26, “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?”  Have faith and find contentment.

When I lived with little, I was happy and content, and now I have come full circle, for I find myself satisfied in Christ and know without doubt that God is my Provider.  How can I not be content when I know He will take care of my every need?  The ‘wants’ don’t always come to pass, but whatever need I have will be provided.