Contentment Where God Has You

I can worry about anything and everything, a self-professed worrier.  I learned it from my dad and then amped it up to the next level.  I'll worry about how much money I have, how to get to the next stage in life, how much happier I'd be if I this changed, what happens if I lose my job, what if my fiancee and I aren't meant to be, blah blah blah.  In fact, it became such a struggle that it turned into full blown anxiety, and God led me to counseling for a time.  Even after God put my anxiety to rest, I still had a lesson to learn.

One day as I was driving into work I recognized that I felt tense around my chest and realized I had been thinking about future finances with my fiancee again.  I took a moment, breathed, and started to pray.  It was in praying that I God showed that I wasn't appreciating where He had me now, that I was trying to rush through to the next chapter in my story.  I was forgetting that only God knows what my future looks like and how everything works out, it is not mine to plan.  

In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul writes, "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength (NIV)".  We like to live through dreams of the future, but the funny thing is that it can stress us out when we try to control situations so that our dreams become reality.  When we give our life to Christ, we forfeit the life we planned for ourselves, we give up control.  If we let go and start appreciating where God has placed us for now, and trust Him wherever he may take us, we begin feeling peace.  Thank God for where He has you now, and trust that He will give you strength to complete whatever task He currently has in front of you, and soon (like Paul) you will find yourself content and at peace no matter what the circumstance.  It's easier said than done (something I'm continuing to learn), but the first step is to release your grip on whatever you think you have planned, and give your future to Christ.  I know you won't regret it.