Contentment
Embracing Contentment in Our Circumstances
I remember being so overwhelmed with anxiety and so desperate for peace in my circumstances, that I looked up every verse I could find about peace. There is a plethora of verses. Peace is definitely something God wants us to have in our life. But no matter how many verses I read about peace, I just wasn't experiencing it. I stumbled across Calm My Anxious Heart by Linda Dillow , a book I HIGHLY recommend. Every chapter had tidbits that I underlined and treasured, but there was one chapter that transformed my view of peace. It was an entire chapter about being content in your circumstances, and that contentment brings about peace. In this chapter, she describes a woman named Ella, a missionary in Africa for 52 years, who raised her family in Africa despite the extreme heat and no modern conveniences we enjoy, such as electricity and indoor plumbing and of course, air conditioning. Here's what Linda Dillow says, "Ella's daughter, Mimi is my friend.
FaithHow Comparison Keeps Us From God's Best
Eleanor Roosevelt once said: "Comparison is the thief of joy." Whether you've heard that expression or not, I'm sure you've experienced before just how comparison can rob you of joy. We all do it. We compare ourselves to others. We view something someone has or does as better than us. And we feel jealous and insecure. But then we compare ourselves to someone else and we find we're better at something than them, and so we judge them and feel better about ourselves. We're continually trying to keep the scale of comparison balanced at the expense of others and ourselves. But the scale only keeps tipping back and forth. It's exhausting. But God does not want us to compare ourselves to others. Everyone in the Bible who compared themselves to someone else missed out on what God had for them.
Faith