Prescription for Contentment

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; His love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:33-35

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!!!

I pray that each one of you experience God's goodness, grace, and presence this season. A friend of mine shared about what she learned from the book: Calm My Anxious Heart.



Contentment Begins with an Eternal Perspective
Ella worked as a missionary, along with her husband and children, in Africa for fifty-two years. She had left her country, her family, and all that was familiar. Primitive doesn’t begin to describe her living conditions in the scorching heat and humidity of the African bush. But Ella found no relief because electricity, air conditioning, and other modern conveniences were only a dream. Some days it was so unbearably hot that she had to bring the thermometer inside because it couldn’t register past 120 degrees without breaking.

Ella’s daughter, Mimi, is my friend. Mimi wondered how her mother had done it — how she had lived a life of contentment when her circumstances would have caused the hardiest to complain. Recently Mimi unearthed a treasure, a much more significant find than gold or silver. In an old diary of her mother’s, she discovered Ella’s prescription for 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.
"Godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6

May this be a blessing to you as it has been for me

DESIGNED BY ECLAIR DESIGNS