God is in the Small Stuff {Learning contentment}

"I have learned in whatever situation, I am be to be content" Phillippians 4 v 11 

It's a massive challenge to me to learn contentment.  I'm such a 'next stage' person, always considering what our next move should be and what we should be looking to do.

With wanting so desperately for my husband to find a new job and him not being successful despite a handful of opportunities, we're feeling the strain of our existing situation tenfold.  Every late night, stressful scenario, cancelled days leave, is just another load to bear.

How can you learn contentment when your situation seems so rubbish?

I believe the following steps can help (I am writing these from a place of reflection and as a challenge to myself!)

Learning and remembering to give thanks for the small things.  
Sometimes, we're so preoccupied with looking up, asking God to move in and change our circumstances, that we don't pay attention to God working in the small stuff.  Take, for example, the fact that in the past month we have had around 5 car break-ins on our street and yet (quite by accident) my car sat unlocked for three days and was totally untouched.  God is working in the small things!

I think sometimes it can feel like we're looking for God in every day scenarios but the truth is that God is interested in the everyday.  If he knows the number of hairs on our head you can be sure he knows all the minute details of our lives and cares about them!

It's important as well to give thanks for those small details.  I have recently joined in with a linky on Catch A Single Thought called 'Reasons to be cheerful' which is all about finding the joy in the small every day things.  Never take things for granted.  I know several families who are dealing with sickness at the moment and that makes me so thankful to God for my own, healthy family.

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus" Thessalonians 5 v 16-18

Remember that God is in control of our lives.

If we truly believe that, and can have faith that God has a perfect plan for us, then we don't need to sweat over what the next stage of our lives will look like.  We just need to listen to what God is saying right now and be obedient.

This also means giving our expectations up and surrendering them to God.  What I want my life to look like; how I think things should work out; in my ideal world what would our lives be...this can be tricky as I believe that God does place dreams and desires on our hearts.  But the key here is that if it truly is a God given dream, then by moving when God says move, and being obedient to him, then the dreams and desires God has given us will come to fruition.

Don't compare your lives and situations with other peoples.

We have no idea of what goes on behind closed doors and whilst people may seem to have it all sorted out and to be in the right place, we really can't know the personal struggles they are going through.

Does anyone else have any tips for learning how to be content?  I'd love to hear them!

Feeling Cornered

Why is it that things always seem to go belly up all at once?  We're only on the second day of the month, a month which is going to be extremely time precious for me and everything has started to unravel at the seams.  No, not unravel as that indicates a slow process; burst wide open would be more apt!

Firstly, it is Eli's birthday party this Saturday and Meg's the week after.  I had hoped that I would have lots of space this week to finalise details and get everything ready.  So naturally Meg was up most of the night on Sunday being sick, meaning I had to take the day off work on Monday.  Eli then followed suit and has become increasingly unwell throughout the week meaning someone was going to have to take the day off today with him.  This is always a point of contention in our house as my husband will never take days off and would rather cart the children off to nursery regardless of their health and wellbeing (ok, I may be exaggerating a teensy bit...) so it has caused the house to be full of tension which I hate.

On top of that we booked a holiday with our savings and paid in full and then our washing machine broke, so now we are living with no washing machine.  Trust me when I say that a husband who works on building sites, two small children and a dog don't mix well with no washing machine.  I never thought I would be craving the day I could do a load of washing but there you go, I am!

The job that we were so hopeful about for my husband has gone totally silent, after being head-hunted and told the company were so keen to meet him, he hasn't yet made it to interview stage yet so we just don't think it's going to happen.

It's easy, with hindsight, to comment on how you knew God always had a plan, was always walking alongside you as evidenced by the small things that you perhaps didn't see at the time but what about when you're living in it?

In my heart I know that God has a plan but when I'm living out my day to day life and it's one negative thing after the next I feel like I've lost control and I just want to climb into bed and pretend that everything around me doesn't exist.

It's learning to walk through the negatives with your head up, trusting in God that he will guide us through.  I can vouch for the fact that it is not easy.  At all.

A few weeks ago, I came across this song and instantly fell in love with it.  I initially related to it in terms of stepping out into all that God has for us but as I was singing it yesterday in the desperate hope that it would help Eli to go to sleep, I considered that it actually applies to all situations in our lives.



"I will call upon your name, keep my eyes above the waves.
When oceans rise, my soul will rest in your embrace.
I am yours, and you are mine."

Right now it feels like I am being completely belted by my waves and more like I'm drowning than walking but I guess that's where reliance on God comes into it.

The knowledge that he works all things for our good, not just some of them, or the amount that our behaviour merits.  All things.

I'm sorry this is something of a mournful post today.  It would be so easy to write this down and then not click on 'publish', to vent my thoughts and feel better in myself but never get further than that but I don't think that's right.  I started this blog to share all aspects of my walk of faith and that means the positive and the negative.  

So, bear with me on this one please.  I hope to bring you some cheerier news next time!!