Grace and Contentment

This week, my ladies' small group started reading The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirer. I am only on page 32, but I have already marked this book UP with asterisks, underlines, exclamation points and circled passages. I am fairly certain this will not be the last time I record a passage from the book here on the blog. :-)

Two passages, specifically, hit me right between the eyes this week. First, on contentment versus desires (a la my post Sunday based on Rebekah Lyons' piece on 'fading women.')

"Contentment is the equilibrium between the enjoyment of life now and the anticipation of what is to come. Contentment serves as a guard against desires gone wild. It is the key to unlock you from the bondage of unrestrained longing that wells up within your heart and inevitably begins to control your life, making you a slave to what you don't have instead of a fully engaged participant with what you do.

By choosing contentment, you're not getting rid of your desires; you're just demanding they assume an appropriate, humble position in your life, not bossing you around like a tyrannical dictator forcing you to submit to his ever-growing and ever-changing list of demands."
-Priscilla Shirer, The Resolution for Women (pages 28-29)

It is the explanation my heart was struggling to articulate of how we can engage fully with God in the life He has for us...so we like the psalmist can proclaim with sincerity from our heart that "our boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places."

We stop patrolling our fence line looking over with a covetous longing and enjoy the space within which we have been blessed. Our Father is loving and kind. To quote Priscilla again:

"If you don't have it--whatever it is--it is because you don't need it. You may want it, but it's not necessary for you to accomplish what He knows is most important for your life today. Otherwise, He'd given in to you.

Whatever He's given or not given, He's done for a specific reason--a reason known only to Him perhaps, but one you can trust with full confidence sight unseen. Every decision you need to make, every task you need to accomplish, every relationship you need to navigate, every element of daily life you need to traverse, God has already matched up with an equivalent-to-overflowing supply of His grace. If you don't agree with that you either lack a proper appreciation for what you have or you are doing things you are not supposed to be participating in right now."

Wow! That really spoke to me. God has promised sufficient grace for today. If His grace feels insufficient, I am either 1-living outside TODAY (in worry, fear, speculation), 2-not tuned into/abiding in Him or 3-outside of His Will.

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV

I need to rest in this today.