True Contentment

Content with what I have!

It is such a powerful statement. Can I claim true contentment in my current circumstances?

I desire to say yes wholeheartedly, but something is holding me back. I can't quite define it. I know as I search deeper into true contentment. The contentment that Christ gives when we lay all our dreams and desires at His feet and honestly say to him "God you are more than enough for me". I know then I will find complete contentment in everything.

So to begin this journey, I first need to determine what it is that I am holding on to. What dreams and desires, even though they may be good, am I clinging onto tighter than my desire for a personal and fulfilling relationship with my Lord and Saviour. A relationship that says "I will abandon my desire for anything other than my love for You. For your grace and mercy. For your gift of salvation."

I sit here waiting impatietly for our baby girl to arrive, not long now as as she is due this month and I can't help but wonder how I am going to cope with two little babies to look after. I know I need to find contentment it in, knowing that I am meant to be a mother and that this is the current season of my life. However it is so easy at times to look at my friends carefree lives (the ones without children), who don't have to think about a little persons needs and how I am going to meet them. I love staying at home with Theodore and can't wait for our princess to add to the bundle, however I do have to stop myself at times from thinking the negative things.

Life, finanically would be so much easier if I was still working, we wouldn't be scraping the bottom of the barrel each month to make ends meet, and some months not even manage that. I would still be dreaming of holidays that I could plan or the house we would be saving for. Even the luxury of eating out doesn't really happen for us at the moment. I am not complaining. I love my husband and know that the career he is pursuing is the right one for him and us as a family. I love my Theodore and the joy that being at home with him, being able to nuture him, spiritually, physically and emotionally. I don't overly miss the working world. I do love being able to get up of a morning and plan what we will do for the day.

I just wish I could have it all.

I am well aware that this is a complete contradiction from being content with what I have. Obviously I am not there yet but I am working on it daily. It's moments like this that I stop and look around to find the things I can be thankful for. Surprisingly there are quite a lot of things I can be thankful for when I really stop and think about it.

God Is Excellent

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. Psalm 8:1

Do we really appreciate how excellent our heavenly father is? Do we comprehend all that he does for us as his children? Does the glory of God intimidate you? 

God doesn't want his children to have an earthly fear of his excellence. He does however want us to live our lives with a holy reverence for his majestic greatness.

Even as Christians we can be caught out complaining about circumstances that haven't gone the way we would like them to. How often in times of despair do we stop to praise God in all his glory knowing that he knows what's best for us and will work all things to His glory. 

Let us come to God with a heart of praise and thanksgiving at all times! 

God Is Great

For you are great and do wondrous things; you alone are God. Psalm 86:10

God's greatness is uncontainable. He is so very powerful and amazing. His love for his children is incredible.

God is capable of doing so many wondrous deeds. He alone created heaven and earth. He doesn't need our help to be great or to do wondrous things.

God loves us so very much that he gave mankind dominion over all other creatures.

Thankyou Lord Jesus that you are great and do wondrous things.

God Is Powerful

But to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1 Corinthians 1:24

God Is Powerful, what does it mean to be powerful? Most of the time when we think of power we think of corruption.

God's power however is not a corrupt power. His power is pure.

To be united with Christ, is to be united with the power and wisdom of God. We all need God's power and wisdom working through our lives each and every day. Without the power of Christ we are nothing and unable to accomplish anything.

God's power is also a power of love. God loves his children dearly and he chooses to impart his wisdom to those he has called his beloved.

God Is Good

Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples!
1 Chronicles 16:24

God is amazingly good. In all that we do, he is always there right beside us guiding us. Often His goodness is easily overlooked as we continue with the busyness of our days.

God loves us so very much and desires for us to share his goodness with the world around us in all that we do.

I know I want God's goodness to radiate out of me more and more. God help us to become a beacon of your unfailing goodness.

How marvelous are his works. He created not only you and me, but all that we can see and even the things we cannot see.

It only takes a moment to look around and find something God created to be grateful for and to marvel at.

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ALL DOCTRINE, NO HEART...

Have you ever stopped to wonder why people often assume that because someone is passionate about a certain doctrine that they have no heart? I have experienced this where someone’s passion for scripture can be misunderstood as being focused only on doctrine and not looking at the heart of Christ.

All doctrine, no heart...

So, what is doctrine, I think too often it is not explained properly and therefore completely misunderstood as a lack of emotion and spiritual feelings.

Doctrine can be defined as a principle of faith. It is the teaching of God’s Word. We all have faith. Often I think that at times we judge the way others express their faith as it does not fit in the box we have labelled “faith” and what we believe it should look like.

I believe that God created us all equally, yet uniquely as well. As long as the faith we are professing lines up with the Holy Scriptures, does it really matter if they way one person expresses themselves is a little different to the way we would.

In life we will come across the quiet of faith, who are reserved, don’t speak all that much, however spend a lot of time listening, and when these people speak it is often an incredible insight. Then there are the noisier of faith, who like to let everyone know their view on scripture and can often, seem over bearing. These people mean well and are often very full of knowledge and worth listening to. Just because they are full of knowledge and speak their mind doesn’t mean that they somehow lack emotion and heart, they are often very passionate people who are misunderstood because they have such a heart for the gospel that they just want to share it with everyone they see and everywhere they go.

In closing I would like to leave you with some scriptures.

2 Timothy 3:16
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

Titus 1:9
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

The Perfect Life

Far to often I try to live the perfect life, not exactly holy and blameless, but more than that I try to make it look like I have it all together. As Christians aren't we called to have it all together, to live the perfect sin free life with all of life's luxuries included.


I am sure that is what I signed up for when I became a Christian, didn't you?


Ok, so that couldn't be further from the truth. But it sure sounds good.


I think that the world often expects that standard of perfect, as we claim to be different from the world, yet we still suffer a lot of the same things as the world. We are affected by tragedies, we have financial losses and heartache, we still experience relationship breakdowns, etc..


The difference is that we have Jesus our Lord and Saviour to turn to in every circumstance. Thank you God for your gift of Salvation as it literally brings me life. I thank you that even though I often make mistakes and fall short, that you are always there to guide and correct me. 


Create in me a clean heart Lord, one that does not boast in evil. A heart that will rejoice in suffering as I know it is bringing me closer to you and your Glory.