"what made her everyday focus so different…?"

 

Her eyes were fixed on eternity.

…..she was free to live today.

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awesome night of fellowship last night discussing chapter one of Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow. A BIG THANK YOU to all who sacrificed their time and were able to be with us..

If YOU weren’t there, YOU were MISSED!

Here’s a recap and a few thoughts shared…heart-to-heart

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meet Meredith:

“As Meredith slumped into a chair in my kitchen, I prepared myself for yet another litany of her tragic life.  She had asked to meet with me to talk about how she could become more content. Without a doubt, Meredith was the most negative person I’d ever met-she even looked negative!”  She fussed about her husband, two children and even the new furniture her husband had recently purchased to make her happy.

meet Ella:

Along with her husband and children, Ella worked as a missionary in Africa for 52 years.  “Primitive doesn’t begin to describe her living conditions in the scorching heat and humidity….Some days it was so unbearably hot that she had to bring her thermometer inside because it couldn’t register past 120 degrees without breaking…her daughter often wondered how her mother was able to do it–live a life of contentment when her circumstances would have caused the hardiest to complain.”

two, real women

two completely different perspectives

can you relate? are you a “Meredith”?? or are you an “Ella”??

an old diary entry revealed Ella’s secret to contentment:

• Never allow yourself to complain about anything-not even the weather.
• Never picture yourself in any other circumstances or someplace else.
• Never compare your lot with another’s
• Never allow yourself to wish this or that had been otherwise
• Never dwell on tomorrow-remember that (tomorrow) is God’s not ours.

wow, huh?!

I agree with Linda “her words overwhelm me; they shame me”

never complain about the weather?!?!

have you been to Alabama the last, oh I don’t know, say ALL SUMMER!

rain, sun, nope., rain again, HOT, rain, HUMID, hot, rain, rain, HOT, cold, rain, HOT

oh yea, did I mention it has rained A LOT this summer?

seriously.?

what if we only took that ONE challenge and NEVER COMPLAINED ABOUT ANYTHING?

what would your Facebook timeline or your tweets look like if complaints were absent?

something to ponder.

Linda encourages us with Paul’s words from Phil. 4:11-13

¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and 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. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Contentment can be learned.

It is rare, but it is possible.

I loved this….

“At all times, in all circumstances, CHRIST IS ABLE and willing to provide the strength we need to be content.”

isn’t that comforting??

Linda shares how she struggled with CONTROL.

do you? are you a type-A? control freak? OCD to the max? your way or the highway?

I’m just asking.

I was. and still battle it from time-to-time

“J.I. Packer-‘Contentment is essentially a matter of accepting from God’s hand what He sends because we know that He is good and therefore it is good.'”

here’s a question someone ask me once:

“do you trust God?”

“of course I do.”

“then trust Him.”

so how about you? do you trust Him? I mean really trust Him? whatever. wherever. whenever. or do you have trust issues?

do you believe Psalm 16:5 “Lord you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”

“Ella, ..knew that someone had to be in “control” of her life in this out-of-control world.  Because she chose to let God be in charge instead of herself, she was a woman of contentment.”

do you want that to be said of you?

let it be said, let it be so:

I sure do.

I believe “God….is the blessed controller of all things, the king over all kings and the master of all masters.” 1 Tim 6:15

I believe the He is sovereign.

I BELIEVE

“that God fills our cup with our portion, what He determines best.  Our portion is our physical& emotional being, our abilities, circumstances, roles and relationships.”

we may not always like our cup. you may wish you had a dainty, gold trimmed cup or a useful but chipped around the edges cup or maybe a rugged, heavy-duty mug?

we may not like our portion.

Think back to the Garden of Gethsemane?  when the Lord said

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done” Luke:22:42

I believe with all my might that we are here to glorify the Father, to draw others to him by His grace.

and if He, the KING of KINGS was willing to accept His cup, His portion for me….who am I to do any differently?

finally

my FAVORITE, favorite story is that of two monks:

“I need oil”, said the ancient monk, so he planted an olive sapling..it needs rain, it needs sun, it needs frost…he prayed accordingly..and “behold, the little tree stood sparkling with frost, but at evening it died.”

he sought the wisdom of a fellow monk…”I, too, planted a little tree.. it thrives well.  I entrust my tree to its God.  He who made it knows better what it needs than a man like me.  I laid no condition.  I fixed not ways or means. ‘Lord, send what it needs, ‘ I prayed, ‘storm or shine, wind, rain or frost.  Thou hast made it and Thou dost know.”

so where are you on our journey to contentment?

are you walking with Meredith and her “unholy habits”

or Ella? content. quiet at heart?

do you share more of the first monk’s character qualities? or the second?

be encouraged,

the Blessed Controller of ALL THINGS loves you and has a plan just. for. you.

won’t you join us? as we walk together

as we fix our eyes on eternity

praying for grace

to be content

love & blessings,

:O) k