This past week my friend shared with me an excerpt from a book she is reading called The Fruitful Wife, by Hayley DiMarco. It was so good that I wanted to pass it on to you...
"For many years my discontentment stressed me out. I was driven to success, but never quite attained the level I desired. And so I was never content, always wanting more-more money more stuff, more love. And this discontentment with life led me to busyness, worry, and joylessness. After all, how could I be joyful when I had so much that still needed to be done? But once I took my eyes off of my lack and put them onto His abundance, I found the joy I was lacking. Discontentment no longer robs me of my joy because, through the power of the Spirit, my definition of success has changed. It is now a great success to me to only abide in Him, to rest and to trust that where I am is just where He wants me, and in that there is nothing but pure joy."
How good was that? I have struggled lately with exactly what that woman was experiencing. Our church did a sermon series a while back called Death of the American Dream. It touched on the fact that the American dream can never truly be attained, because we always want more. We are trying to get a better job so that we can have a bigger house, or a nicer car in hopes that we will feel satisfied and fulfilled. Reality is, once we get that nicer car or bigger house, we are rarely satisfied. Instead we want more and still find ourselves filled with discontentment. Now, I am not saying that it is bad to work hard and achieve great things, but what are your motives behind it? I often find that my motives are self-centered.
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| via Lara Casey |
This is a daily struggle for me, and I know that my discontentment is directly rooted in where my focus is. No matter how many items I check off my to-do list it, will never be enough. Only His abundance and grace is enough and like the print above says, all I need is Jesus.
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