There's nothing like totally removing yourself from your normal, daily life to reevaluate your view of contentment.
This morning I was reading a post on my brother's blog. He is with a team of young people from his school on a 3+ week missions trip to Africa. One of his students wrote, "God has touched my heart through these little kids, and filled me with such a joy and gratefulness. Going back to Canada might be the hardest thing to do, since I'll want to yell at everyone because they don't know how lucky they are."
We had other friends who went to Mexico during the spring break and also got to experience first hand how different life can be depending on where you're born! Babies are just abandoned on the doorstep of the orphanage.
In my devotional reading this morning there was a story of a man who wanted to sell his farm. The realtor called him to read him the listing she had composed before she listed it in the paper. After reading to him about the quiet and peaceful, lovely farm, surrounded by rolling hills and nourished by a fresh lake, the man declared that he'd changed his mind and wouldn't be selling, as he had been looking for a place like that all his life. Nothing like a different perspective to clear your head!
I've noticed that about being here too. I knew that we lived in an amazingly beautiful part of the world, living in Peachland and the Okanagan for the past 18 years. Coming here has confirmed that. Everyone has said how beautiful New Zealand is....which it truly is. But you know what, Peachland is every bit as beautiful. And to be honest, so is Northern Alberta. God has placed unique beauty in every part of the world. We need to view where we live through His eyes and see the unique beauty He has created in the area we live and embrace it and enjoy it!
That's just the natural surroundings part of contentment. There is also the life style part of contentment. I am learning to be content wherever I am and whatever God has placed in my life to do. Every day is different for me here. I don't have the routine of a full-time job, and all of the other routines we'd put into our lives having lived in Peachland for so long. But that is good. I am enjoying the new found freedom and variety of my life. It's good for me to relax and not be so intense about everything. It is also good for me to learn to be content and trust God without the beautiful house we had in Peachland, or the close proximity of friends and family, or the security of income, pension, medical insurance, home-ownership, and the familiarity and comfort of the 'known'.
So those are my thoughts for today. These are the scriptures that accompanied the devotional thought, "Be relaxed with what you have." Hebrews 13:5 and "Godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6
God is good. 
This morning I was reading a post on my brother's blog. He is with a team of young people from his school on a 3+ week missions trip to Africa. One of his students wrote, "God has touched my heart through these little kids, and filled me with such a joy and gratefulness. Going back to Canada might be the hardest thing to do, since I'll want to yell at everyone because they don't know how lucky they are."
We had other friends who went to Mexico during the spring break and also got to experience first hand how different life can be depending on where you're born! Babies are just abandoned on the doorstep of the orphanage.
In my devotional reading this morning there was a story of a man who wanted to sell his farm. The realtor called him to read him the listing she had composed before she listed it in the paper. After reading to him about the quiet and peaceful, lovely farm, surrounded by rolling hills and nourished by a fresh lake, the man declared that he'd changed his mind and wouldn't be selling, as he had been looking for a place like that all his life. Nothing like a different perspective to clear your head!
I've noticed that about being here too. I knew that we lived in an amazingly beautiful part of the world, living in Peachland and the Okanagan for the past 18 years. Coming here has confirmed that. Everyone has said how beautiful New Zealand is....which it truly is. But you know what, Peachland is every bit as beautiful. And to be honest, so is Northern Alberta. God has placed unique beauty in every part of the world. We need to view where we live through His eyes and see the unique beauty He has created in the area we live and embrace it and enjoy it!
That's just the natural surroundings part of contentment. There is also the life style part of contentment. I am learning to be content wherever I am and whatever God has placed in my life to do. Every day is different for me here. I don't have the routine of a full-time job, and all of the other routines we'd put into our lives having lived in Peachland for so long. But that is good. I am enjoying the new found freedom and variety of my life. It's good for me to relax and not be so intense about everything. It is also good for me to learn to be content and trust God without the beautiful house we had in Peachland, or the close proximity of friends and family, or the security of income, pension, medical insurance, home-ownership, and the familiarity and comfort of the 'known'.
So those are my thoughts for today. These are the scriptures that accompanied the devotional thought, "Be relaxed with what you have." Hebrews 13:5 and "Godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6
God is good.
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