No Souvenir From Africa | Encouragement Caf?

Caf? Menu?for Thursday, October 11, 2012

Today?s Special is:? ?Missing the Blessings of Contentment

Carefully prepared just for you by your friend, Brenda Rodgers

Main Ingredient: ??Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.? 1 Timothy 6:6 (NLT).

Entr?e:

The backseat piled high with a pack-and-play, little baby onesies, diapers, and even a pink piggy bank, I struggled to see out the rear-view mirror to back out of the parking place. I was leaving the second baby shower before our first baby was due to arrive. We were having one more baby shower in a few weeks.

As I drove down the highway, my mind raced of all the things we still needed before the baby?s arrival. Even after two showers my list was long.?Quickly the joy I felt only a few hours earlier as I celebrated the new life growing inside of me turned to burden.

Unfortunately, these moments of discontentment come often for me. Even memories of the poverty I saw firsthand on a mission trip to Africa last year do not deter my mind from dwelling on all that I don?t have.

The night I returned from Africa it was already dark outside. I had been traveling for about 24 hours, and along with battling common travel sickness, I was exhausted.

As I walked into our house I saw the glow. It was the beginning of December, and I had been sure to put up the Christmas tree before I left. I turned my head towards the lights on the tree, and the emotion almost brought me to my knees. I started to sob?uncontrollably. The living room where I stood was as big as the whole hut where my Compassion child, who I met in Africa, lived. And there, standing tall on one side, was a Christmas tree with gifts adorning its trunk.

As I continued driving home that day after the baby shower, I remembered this scene from my not-too-distant past. I also remembered the children I met in Africa who didn?t wear shoes, but walked through a cotton field. And the four-year old little girl who draped a towel around her body to protect herself from the hundred-plus degree sun because she did not have a dress. I remembered peaking in a hut and learning that the family sleeps on a mat atop the hard, red clay.

Godliness plus contentment is what brings great wealth. Not wealth of the monetary-kind, but wealth in experiencing the joy of being full in my present circumstance of blessing.

Even the ?godliness? I showed by going to Africa on a mission trip did not change my heart. I did not bring back a souvenir of contentment. As a result, I was not reaping the joy available to me in one of the most blessed times in my life. Only by relying, as Paul did, on the strength that God gives (Philippians 4:11-13) can we be content and experience the wealth of joy and peace that He promises us. Today pray that God helps you to not only be godly but to also be content.

Take Out:? Has there been a time in your life where you missed the blessing of contentment?? Take a few minutes to filter through your memory banks and record your story in your journal.? Then have a conversation? with God and ask Him to help you to find a new sense of contentment in every situation.

Visit Compassion International?s Sponsor a Child page. Pray over which child speaks to your heart. Perhaps they share a birthday with your child? Maybe they live in a country where AIDS is rampant? Or perhaps they are in an area you?ve always wanted to learn more about? Ask God to help you make a commitment as a family to change this child?s life.

Dessert: Dear Jesus, even in the most joyful times in our lives we can find ways to be discontent. And even the noblest acts of godliness do not cure that in us. The secret, as Paul describes in Philippians 4:11-13, is a change of heart that only comes from your strength. Today, please change my heart. Help me to see clearly when I am missing the joy of a blessing by focusing on what I don?t have instead of what I do have. I know that this joy is the wealth that You promise. Thank You, Jesus, for giving me this kind of wealth. Amen.

For more encouragement, visit Brenda at her blog,?Triple Braided, where women seek peace in a life surrendered to Jesus through every season.

? 2012 by Brenda Rodgers. All rights reserved.

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Source: http://www.encouragementcafe.com/2012/10/11/no-souvenir-from-africa/

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