What would it take for you to be content? Would it take thinner thighs, a great job, a believing spouse or children? How about lots of money?
Hello! Thanks for stopping by today. If you haven’t read my devotion today, The Secret of Contentment, I invite you to check it out. If you’ve stopped by to enter to win my CD Message, Cultivating a Heart of Contentment, leave a comment below. If you stopped by for some extra encouragement because you’re about to blow from the pressures of life, you’ve come to the right place. I know what pressure and stress feels like.
In fact, there are days when it feels like the whole world needs me all at once. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt like the whole world is knocking at your door? Maybe you’re a mom with young children and you long for five minutes alone in the bathroom, but someone is knocking at the door. Perhaps you work in an office and you can barely see over the paperwork on your desk, but someone holding another pile of work is standing at your door. Or maybe you have a stack of bills to pay, a car that needs fixing and kids who have outgrown their clothes. You just long for 3 seconds of peace, but the phone is ringing, the buzzer on the stove is going off and someone is calling your name!
Before you blow your stack, remember Paul. He found the secret to contentment in all circumstances. He says, “contentment is learned.
“For I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” Phil 4: 11-12.
Contentment is learned. When you and I can say, “God I don’t like this situation. I didn’t plan it and I don’t like, but I trust you” we’ve learned to be content. Contentment isn’t found in a new house, lots of money or thinner thighs. It’s found in placing our trust in God.
When we trust the Lord, does that mean God will eventually remove us from our situation? He may or He may not. But being content frees us from the snare of wanting what we don’t have at the moment.
Let’s be clear, just because I don’t have what I want at the moment doesn’t mean God is saying “no” to my request. Sometimes He is simply saying, “Wait. Not now.” Being content is what gets us through the “wait.”
What are you waiting on—the restoration of a relationship, healing, understanding, guidance? Whatever it is, leave it in a comment below and I’ll be happy to pray for you.
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Peace!
I have yet to “learn” how to be content. This is something I need desperately. I currently am waiting on just being content with who I am. Not needing to be who others say or need me to be. But allowing myself to be who God created me to be. I really enjoyed both of your blogs today. Thank you!!! <3
Sometimes just being content in the said of circumstances is not easy. We have to believe that this day may or may not pass but we have to believe it is our attitude that makes all the difference in how we handle the situations we are in.
Great devotional that spoke to my heart this morning. I am stressed because of too much work (at work) and I’m my family’s source of income (my husband stays home with our son, which he is good at, and I have the degree so can make more than he can/I enjoy working) but that is stressful. I honestly thought I was trusting God so not sure why I am getting overwhelmed by this situation. Usually my work load is manageable (and a little slow recently) but right now it is crazy and no overtime allowed so I feel pressure to get it all done, worry about making a mistake since I’m rushing, etc. At times like this, I need the message to be content. I don’t have to like being overworked but I need to just do the work to my best ability while thanking God that I have work to do. I have been praying something like this every morning before work but the stress still creeps up on me and I get overcome by fears and can’t concentrate on the work at hand.
Sorry for the long post, thank for listening!
What spoke to me most was:
In wanting more, I place undo pressure on myself in an attempt to get what God hasn’t provided
I never thought of it that way. Putting all my energy toward something that God hasn’t provided, seems foolish. No wonder my heart is not at peace
Thank you so much for your message on contentment. I have been struggling with this quite a bit as of late. As I approached 48 this past Monday I found myself saying “This is not where I thought I would be at this age!” I jumped in the pity parade and found all kinds of things to be discontented with. Again, thank you for the message I needed!
In the past few weeks I’ve come across this verse a number of times. And, the other day, as I was feeling stressed out, I found myself praying this same verse. I think it’s been God’s reminder to me that everything will be OK. It made me smile today to see this verse, yet again, telling me to wait, be patient, and be content. I know that whatever happens, good things will come from it.
Please pray for a partnership business with a family member. We need healing and wisdom. It has been a 3 year journey of this separation . Please pray for restoration and intervention from God to help us.
Micca,
Thanks so much for the post. I have spent much of my life seeking that contentment that you write about. In today’s post the word, “learned” smacked me right between my eyes. Sometimes, I just expect God to wave contentment over me and I do not have to do “anything” at all, it will just be there for me. I am going to look at it different starting today, and see what how I can LEARN to be more content today during my chaotic, messy, busy, crazy, fun, happy, sometimes sad, life!
Your devotion today really spoke to my heart. I have a wonderful family and job, but I sometimes feel lonely. Praying for contentment and peace.
Sally T
Same here. I loved this blog post. I really needed it, especially th is:
A true friend is a loyal defense before others, one who won’t talk about you when you’re not around. True friends stick up for each other
Just this morning while having coffee and before reading today’s devotion, I prayed aloud and said, “Lord, help me to not acquire more things, but to be content and happy with what I already have.” It seems like each payday, I spend the money I allot for personal pleasures in just a few days after I get my paycheck. Then I have to wait 2 more weeks to spend any more. I find myself searching and planning for what I’m going to buy the next time I get a check. I need to stop scouting out what I think will make my heart content and my soul happy, because it certainly isn’t in things. It is in God and God alone. Thank you for this devotional on contentment, Micca. It was very timely for me.
Thank you for your words. I am visiting from Encouragement for Today. I just this morning, had a rare quiet time, sitting , reflecting, praying. Although I was so very thankful for the blessings God has given me, I prayed for another blessing to be sent my way. I am struggling with infertility and am really trying to find a place of contentment right now. Thank you for reminding me of the place I would like to be in.
Micca, I so enjoyed your devotional today. While reading it, I noticed a spelling error that actually made more sense than the correct spelling! (At least I think it’s an error!) You wrote: “In wanting more, I place undo pressure on myself.” You probably meant “undue” (without justification), but pressure to “undo” is even more meaningful! Thanks so much for sharing!
God has been giving me a message that is hard to hear, “Be patient and wait”. My husband, although he is a Bible college graduate, has left God. My calling is to be the hands and feet of Jesus for him and to spiritually nurture our children.
Thanks for your devotional Micca. I’m trying to understand this God thing. I’ve been a Christian for years – I know without a doubt that Jesus died for me, loves me etc. Here’s my story. I was in an auto accident almost 3 years ago. I have injuries to my legs that have prevented me from working. I am applying for disability but that takes awhile. In the meantime, we are so struggling financially and can hardly afford to make our rent payment. My husband would be more than willing to work an extra job or work overtime. Doors don’t seem to open. God doesn’t seem to like us or answer our prayers. After 3 years we are starting to get pretty discouraged. We don’t have anything much. We aren’t asking for anything much. Just enough money to cover our bills. I so need to see a miracle in our lives. My husband and children need to see a miracle even more. I stay in the Word, see all of God’s promises but yet…? Yes, I could use some prayers like big time. Thanks. Nanci
Praying for your family!
oh, Nanci, You are in a hard place. But God indeed loves you beyond measure. He may seem far away, but He’s not. Often his miracle is working behinds the circumstances. Hold on to hope. Keep praying. Keep pressing forward. Keep trusting. God is faithful. I’m sure many today will join me in praying for you!
The world teaches us to always want more. Better stuff, newer car, thinner body! God just wants us to to depend on Him and allow Him to meet our needs. It seems my world is always changing these days! Kids are growing up, Mom moves in, changes in jobs, always changing. Lots of stress. But our God never changes and for that I am so thankful. Learning to be content in whatever circumstance I’m in is hard but He is my strength and my portion!
Thanks Micca for a great thought provoking devotional today. My family has been through huge life changing turmoil in the last few years but as much as I didn’t like it as much as I was devastated and broken those situations brought me to my knees to a deeper relationship and dependence on my savior. The song out by Laura Story right now puts it so well: Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise
Some of Gods greatest blessings are in the storms. Do I want the storm No! But I do want His will. So in that I find contentment.
Thanks again, Micca.
Beautiful. Praying for you!
Micca, your devotional is exactly what I needed today. Please pray for my personal intention. Thank you!
Happy to pray for you Catalina.
I love this.. Read about it today as well in my devotional before work. The Israelittes wondered around whining and complaining and it took them 40 years to get to the promised land .. mostly because they didn’t get it. It’s not easy .. It is very difficult to offer praise and thanksgiving in the storms of life. But I’m learning too that if I continue to focus on Christ and praise him when he is silent, eventually I see that he has something far better planned for me than I was even asking for! My Husband and I have been awaiting a new job for him for a year now. It has been a nerve-wracking time with 4 kids in grad school and college, but GOD HAS BEEN faithful!! He begins a new job Monday, however it is out of town so he will leave on Monday morning and be coming home on Fridays. We have a great living situation and he is only an hour and 1/2 away if I really need him. But this is “yet another new chapter in our lives” and it is taking everything in both of us to rejoice with the job, and embrace what God has laid out. We are asking for God’s strength and patience and trusting that God wants him in that job for a reason we can’t see. Please pray that God gives us all we need while we are apart .. and that our relationship is strengthened with this new way of life. I know my husband will be a rock star in the job, but please pray for God confidence and for him to trust God like he never has. Thanks Micca! Your notes are amazing and so encouraging!!! Mandy
Asking the Provider to provide for all your needs!
Micca, This is a great devotion and reminder. I know lots of people that think if they get “this one last thing” they will be happy. But that is not the case.
I also saw you speak in Clovis, CA last month. You were wonderful!! I really enjoyed your talk – it made me laugh, cry, and take stock!
Currently I am praying for God’s Will in my husband’s career. He is military and due for new orders. We are waiting to see where we will go next and what possibilities that brings for advancement or not. It is really hard for my husband to wait and hope.
Blessings to you!!
Linda
Praying for God to place you in the right time at the right place. Thanks to your husband for all he does for our country. May God provide peace and protection.
Micca, what a wonderful devotional on Encouragement for Today and your blog! Thanks also for the humor too (singing in the cage singing “nobody knows my sorrow…”)! I think if we’re honest, we can all admit to singing that song in our own special cages :o) God bless us all spiritually so the physical ones can begin. Matthew 6:33 applies ESPECIALLY when we’re having troubles. So sorry to hear Nanci’s story. Will be praying for her and her family today. ~blessings~ Judi
Micca, thank you for your devotional. They were words I needed to hear today. Exactly what I needed to hear. It is easy to feel lost and distraught thinking of what we want and do not have when what we wish for is absent from our primary relationships. I wrote down all the things which God has provided in my life, and I will focus on those instead of the longing for more of what I feel is missing in my life. Thank you for the “food for thought” today. I will be contemplating this all day. I would love to listen to your CD message. I know I will only find peace and contentment through God, and I need to stop searching in the world for these things.
Micca, what a wonderful devotional on Encouragement for Today and your blog! Thanks also for the humor too (singing in the cage singing “nobody knows my sorrow…”)! I think if we’re honest, we can all admit to singing that song in our own special cages. God bless us all spiritually so the physical ones can begin. Matthew 6:33 applies ESPECIALLY when we’re having troubles. So sorry to hear Nanci’s story. Will be praying for her and her family today. ~blessings~ Judi
Thanks for this devotion, I really needed it today!
I would love to win your cd.
Thanks,
Janet
OI MIca, essa frase é uma grande realidade: Vamos ser claros, só porque eu não tenho o que eu quero no momento não significa que Deus está dizendo “não” ao meu pedido. Às vezes, Ele está simplesmente dizendo: “Espere. Agora não. “Ser o conteúdo é o que nos leva através do” esperar “. Sempre somos tentados a condicionar o amor de Deus por nós de acordo com as suas resposta!!
Conheci seu blog hoje e amei,que o Senhor continue te fortalecendo para prosseguir, avante!!!
Um bom dia
Loved this devotional today. The part about possibly living somewhere that is too small for your family rang true for me! I sometimes repeat to myself, “I love living here… I love living here… I love living here…” I suppose as a way of reverting my frustrations with it. But you helped me realize that perhaps I should repeat instead, “Thank you for providing a home for us, Lord.” I realize I don’t have to love it, but I should appreciate what the Lord has provided for my family.
Today’s devotion hit home. I used the exact words of “I feel like I’m going to explode” last night to a friend. I’ve lost the peace and contentment I once had and I’m really beginning to wonder whether I’ll ever get back to that “place”. Thank you for sharing what’s in your heart and mind.
This mornings devotion was sooooo inspirational. I have messed up so much in my past. I am a mother of two incredible boys and also the daughter of a very influential methodist preacher in alabama. I will be 30 this month and have so much making up to do to my kids and family. I am going through my second divorce from their father and living at home with family and newly graduated brother. I have a past with addiction and try daily to overcome it. I love the lord so much and struggle daily with feeling worthy of His love. I want so much to be like Paul and be ok with whatever situation we are in. Im just excited to see where my life is going including being able to take my kids somewhere in a car lol….i know it sounds silly but i only feel like half a mom due to consequences. So you are an incredible inspiration to many but especially me. Please pray for acceptance and understanding of the current situation and i look forward to more of your devotions and i’m going to order your book as well. Thank you so much and love and peace in Him,
Melinda
Thank you for your decvotional today. I have felt overwhelmed alot lately – some with situations which have gone on for years and I pray will end soon. I am struggling with making quiet time a priority with being busier with work and commitments than ever. I hope I will be able to listen to your CD , too. Be blessed.
Thank you so much for this timely devotional! My husband and I have spent the past few months waiting on some money that was delayed over and over. We were behind in bills, and the car needs repairs, etc. I kept thinking that we would be ok if the money would just come – once these bills were paid, we would have so much less stress. Well, the money came yesterday and is almost gone from catching up on bills. I hardly slept last night for thinking about all the things that I “need” to spend the rest on and wishing that we just had a little more! I can’t believe that I fell into this trap again! Thank you for the reminder that I need to learn to be content in ALL situations and with whatever God gives me and whatever he doesn’t.
What an encouragement! Thank you so much. I’ve been praying for my husbands Salvation and the restoration of our marriage for what feels like far too long. And circumstances only seem to be getting worse. But Gods will always prevails! Thank you for reminding us to find content with what we have and where we are. After all, we are exactly where we’re supposed to be, even if it doesn’t feel like it sometimes. Prayers for my husband are greatly appreciated.
Love what you had to say today!!
Your devtional hit home with me today, especially your line, “The logo on our car only tells others what kind of car we drive — not who we are.” Love it. In our quest to be completely debt-free, we want to tradein our overly-expensive and unnecessary car in for something we can pay off in 2 years or less. We have hit every road block created in this endeavor, and I am beyond frustrated. We want to be sensible and not waste our money on a car that will need to be constantly repaired because it is too old, but also want to not spend a lot of money. Your devotional was a reminder to be content where we are, and when God wants us to move, He will make it obvious! Thank you!
Micca, I needed this word so much today. For the past 4 years, I have been struggling with career choices. A job for a year, then a layoff. Then another job, another consolidation of teams and layoff 9 months later. Three months later, a contract job came up for 4 months. Then another 3 months of unemployment. Next came 9 month contract at low pay, then another job that only lasted 5 months before I was laid off. Now working for the past 5 months at a company, only to find that the job I was trying out for hasn’t been approved for full time, only contract right now and is stuck in corporate power plays. They’ve moved my desk three times in 6 weeks because they’re hiring so much that space is at a premium, yet my role is not been approved for a full time job. I am thankful and grateful for God’s provision but I want to be settled and at home in my work life. I need now to learn to be content no matter if I have friends at work or not, whether I have a space to work in or not, and whether I have a long-term job or not. But it is really hard to do this. To keep telling myself that I am working hard and trying hard and yet the great recession of this decade keeps impacting me. God is providing for my family and I am grateful.
Your devotional spoke so directly to my heart this morning….I can’t thank you enough for writing! I would love to know someone was praying about a certain “contentment” issue in my life. We moved a couple of years ago, planning to be here forever with our two kiddos. Well, now we have three kiddos! 🙂 And their bodies are getting bigger! It is on our heart to find something with a little bit more space that we could be in forever, but, as you know, it feels stressful and house hunting and contentment with our current house don’t feel like they can go together like peas and carrots. 🙂 So I don’t even know what specifically to ask for about this concern, but just knowing someone was praying would just bring joy to my heart!!! Thank you!
I haven’t learned how to be content in any situation. I do thoroughly enjoy reading your blogs. My husband, who is relatively young, had a stroke 2 yrs ago, I lost my job last summer, and our house is in the stages of being foreclosed on. It feels like I am running in quicksand and not getting anywhere. Please pray for us.
If this isn’t God speaking through you… Just this week I signed up to sell AVON. I already work a full-time job, I am a single mom and I am going to begin homeschooling one of my three boys this fall. It feels as though I am swimming upstream – or maybe in quicksand.
Everything you said spoke DIRECTLY to me and my present situation. Financially I am overwhelmed. We live in a two bedroom apartment (four of us) and my bed is the couch, so I have been feeling “cramped”. My teen boys are searching for what they believe in. My job seems to wear on me (the negativity and unbelievers abound). That’s some of what I am dealing with.
Thank you for your message! Thank you for your directness! Thank you for allowing God to use you to speak to me and others! God’s blessings to you!
Tina Miller
Micca Thanks for this reminder on contentment in your devotion today. I would like to hear u speak someday. Receiving this cd would be a great way to hear you. Thanks for this opportunity to win it. Blessings
Micca
Beautiful message. I believe I have all I need except one thing but for some reason God is saying “not now”. I’m trying so hard to understand this process but it has not been easy for me.
Thanks for your encouraging words!
Thank you for your insightful words. Being content is so difficult when you have bills that need to be paid, daughters who are constantly in need of something (and I really mean that-they outgrow their clothes.), and very limited time for yourself. I wish I did have the heart of Paul.
I struggle with being content. I am rarely satisfied, not only in others but in myself also. I have recently been depressed, anxious and angry. Mostly at God but also at my situation but when I really look at my situation, I have everything one could earthly want for. A loving husband, three children, a fulltime position at a company that is steady in this economy, a home and friends. But I also have debt and a fear that something is not good enough. I am constantly reassuring myself that what I have is good and what I have the Lord has provided and the Lord is good. I believe God loves me but I still have put pressure on myself to do it all. I am trying to rely on God and trust him. He is a mighty and loving God and he wants me, he really wants me.
Wow, Something I thought so strongly was Gods will because of circumstances, I pursue it, its even a desire in my heart and just like that I am devastated the door slammed shut in my face, Thankyou for your reminder of even if God doesnt work the way I think He will, I can be content and have peace and as long as I have God, nothing else matters. God is Holy, His ways are higher and as I continue I am gonna quit questioning and start living where I am at at the moment.
I have learned contentment in my life over the past four years. I had a short battle with cancer and a long battle with chemo. It put things into perspective for a while. But I have fallen out of that contentment in some areas of my life. Thats so hard to admit. Thank you for posting this. It spoke to my heart.
I am not sure what you want when it says Website but that is my work from home site.
I was told in Dec. 09 that I had colon/rectal cancer (I did not claim it). Went thru radiation and chemo and now am cancer free. They found calcium deposits in the left breast (did not claim) today I got the results No Cancer. Thank you Lord. They tried to do a colonoscopy and could not due to kink in colon and issues from raditation. So they will do it another way on the 20th of this month. Again not claiming it. Thank you Lord. I have learned so much during this time and reading your “Learning to be Content” has given me more to think about. Thank you.
Thank you for this devotion. I needed it today!
Love your posts, Micca. Thanks for the timely post and devotion of contentment. There are many issues I’m trying to be content about but its challenging. I would covet your prayers especially for my job situation and health related issues.
Thanks!
Micca, Thank you so much for your devotional this morning…I loved: “peace isn’t the absence of pressure. It’s the presence of God and our attitude to His provision in the midst of our stress”…Written out on a card for me to meditate on…God bless…
Thank you for your encouraging post. I learned a huge lesson in contentment when we moved to a larger home only to lose it and have to move back to our original home. We were extremely grateful to still have our first home (that we were once disappointed that it didn’t sell) to move back to. I am now happier and more content here than I have ever been. Contentment is tough but I now look at things from a whole different perspective. Sometimes what you think you want turns out not to really be what you thought it would be.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. They definitely relate to where I am right now. I am trying to learn the secret of being content while waiting, and waiting, and waiting to sell our house. It’s been a year and a half, and still nothing. In the meantime, it is costing us more money than we have, so it’s very frustrating going into debt while we wait. I keep thinking, “How can this be what God wants for us?”, but I know that lots of times things happen to us that don’t make sense. And what God really wants for us is to trust Him. To wait on Him. To remember that His timing is best. Why is it so hard to trust Him? I mean, He’s God after all! It should be easy, since it makes the most sense in the world. So please pray that I can learn this secret of being content, because it does seem to be a secret, for sure. So I need to seek it out. And maybe pray that I can sell my house soon, too! Thanks again.
Thank you for your message on contenment! It comes at a wonderful time for me…as I’m sure it does for others! I want so badly to fullfil my duties for God…to live out the life he has planned for me, the direction in which I am to be going…but I’m not sure what that direction is! I have so many passions and am trying so hard to live an independant, prosperious life, one that fullfils God’s plans, I just can’t get my thoughts to stop and focus on one thing! It is becoming clearer however, now that I have found Proverbs 31 ministry! I can’t tell you how I look forward to reading the devotions and individual blogs everyday…(honestly sometimes I even get caught up in reading them all, then my day is half gone!)…which goes back to…FOCUS!!! pLZ pray for me! Until tomorrow! much love in Christ!
Thank you for this devotional. I’ve been trying to live a life of contentment, reminding myself that comparison leads to discontent. This is such an important message to read over and over. Thank you again!
Just what I needed. Thank you.
Read your devotional at Proverbs 31…bookmarking it to read over and over again.
This truly spoke to me – it was as if you had been in my head these last couple of months and wrote this devotion specifically for me! Thank you so much – I needed to hear this today.
Micca, Absolutely love your post/devotion today. I have come to learn how great it feels to have “peace” in your heart and life regardless of the circumstances. God’s blessings are still all around us even during tough circumstances. Seeing this every day starting when I wake up is what has peacefully guided me through a very tough time. God hand will continue to guide me if I just let it and feel secure in the presence of it. Loved Loved Loved your words today. You were so speaking my heart. Thanks for putting in words for me!
Micca,
Thanks so much for your devotional and the way the lord spoke through you to me. Ive struggled for awhile with “being content”. You see I thought the plans I made for myself would be in accordance with god’s plan. I’ve been living in my childhood since I was 3. I’m 34 now and I’m married with two children and a great husband, but now my children are 8 and 5 and we haven’t been able to move. My home is so special to me but we’ve completely outgrown this 3/1. I thought I could plan the scavenging to sell abs but another home, but it hasn’t happened and now for the first time in 12 years of marriage my husband has had a huge paycut and it doesn’t seem likely we can make any plans to save or renovate. I loved when you mentioned a similar thought in your devotional! I wrote so many notes from your devotional in my journal. I love the lord with all my heart and I know the plans he has for me, but it’s hard at times, especially when we see that we are not where we thought we’d be. I love that you highlight the fact scripture says contentment is learned- a choice- I am content:)
I want to personally thank you for this encouragent. Its easy to say im content and im gonna trust God but its harder to do. Im currently praying for a financial break through for my family. I am currently layed off and not having any luck finding one. My husnand has been laid off 3 times in the last 6 mths. To add to this we just moved into a new home and is struggling to pay for it due to the fact that im laid off and my hubby keeps getting laid off. I also have children who need things.. Its very hard right now but I know what kind of God I serve I know he can do all things but fail!! I dont understand it but God I trust you. Please pray our strength and that we learn to be content in where God has us at this time.