Challenge of the day...sort of

So the challenge of the day for the last week and a half (again, sorry for the absence) has been be content.  I've decided that I'm going to leave it there for one more day because this seems to be one of the hardest goals for us to reach, and I believe dissatisfaction is a catalyst that launches us into many more problems.

I am content.  I have a husband who knows what love is and chooses to love me.  I am financially stable.  I am talented and I get to use those talents for the Kingdom.  I have a puppy who loves affection and who was potty trained in two weeks.  I am healthy and I have great friends and family. 

Many people would look at that list and say, "Well she should be content," and I am, but it's not due to the things listed above, it's because of the God who makes all those things possible.  Contentment only comes when we learn to love the Creator above the created.  I have peace now because I have learned to be content with where God has placed me in life.  I confess, 5 months ago I had all the same things, but I wasn't happy.  In fact, I was facing profound depression.

It took me strengthening my relationship with God before I could even begin to enjoy the blessings He had given me. I had to realize that God was in control, that He knew exactly where I was and that He had a divine plan for my life.  As I spent more time with God, I started to realize that depression in and of itself was actually selfish.  We were created to praise God and make disciples.  Laying around depressed wasn't going to help me achieve either one.

Now your story may not be my story, but the same prinicple applies.  Sometimes we are so focused on creating our own life paths that we don't give God any room to move on our behalf.  The bible says, "And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind.  For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.  But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you (Luke 12:29-31)."

I can tell you from experience that things will only make you smile for a minute, and even friends and family are only there for a little while, but a relationship with God brings contentment (joy and peace) that is complete and everlasting (Isaish 51:11, Ezekiel 37:26).