Contentment Isn't About Content

If they obey and serve Him they will spend their years in contentment.

Job 36:11

"Mommy, when I grow up I want to have four daughters. I want them to be named Hannah, Hayleigh, Clara and Carynne just like us."


Carynne has the gift of contentment. She rarely asks for material possessions and when she does make a request it's for something she wants when "she's grown up like a mom." She can't envision a life better than the one she is living right now.


Can I say I feel the same way with total sincerity? Some days but many times not. I let my heart wander and consider what I have not instead of praising God for what I have.


In Job 39:11, God reveals the formula for contentment is to serve and obey God. Contentment isn't about the content of my life but my response to that content. Obedience and service are two things Carynne knows well. She is the first child to cry when caught in wrongdoing. Punishment is rarely necessary because she has a naturally repentant heart. She wants desperately to obey.


She also serves from a heart filled with kindness. Just last night she rubbed my hand with the intensity of a professional masseuse. This is quite a feat for fingers just four years old. She chose to serve her mommy and give a gift uniquely hers - an act of service.


Because I want to experience true contentment, I want 2012 to be packed with ordinary day filled with opportunities for obedience and service. Today, I say, "God, when I grow up I want to marry Scott Milholland and have daughters named Hannah, Hayleigh, Clara and Carynne. I want to come home to messy stairs and dirty dishes. I want to be overscheduled and overloved. I want to spend too many hours in the carpool line and too few hours at the salon. I want exactly what I have right now. I am content."


Won't you join me today and celebrate the ordinary life you're living? The gift of contentment is sure to follow.

Stolen Moments

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, 

Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, 

where he prayed.

Mark 1:35

There are some gifts that touch your heart in the hidden, deep places. I received one of those this year for Christmas - time with my husband. We held hands over Asian cuisine. We jogged the lazy path of a scenic river. We soaked in stolen moments one touch, kiss and sentence at a time.


As these stolen moments reside in my heart, my mouth is less grumpy, my spirit less critical, my soul more grateful.


In these first few days of the new year, I haven't been thinking about a new health regimen. I don't long to reorganize my house. I want to stuff my heart full of stolen moments with God.


Yes I still want to read my Bible each day.
Yes I want to maintain a prayer list.
Yes I desire to continue to commit God's word to memory.


But what I most want is to capture stolen moments with Him - spontaneous words of prayer, gentle brushes of His presence in the ordinary of life and unexpected glimpses of His work.


In 2012 let's steal away with God together.

Passing the Hat

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

How could I be so attached to a hat? My yoke was one prong materialism and the other sentimentality. I treasured my turquoise blue running cap because my family had given it to me for Christmas. I loved it because it had “Under Armour” stamped on the front and so few of my earthly goods have such a prestigious label.

The second reason sounds superficial even to my own ear but yet I know it’s honest.

I was jogging along the Austin riverfront with my sweetie beside me. We chatted easily as married couples do when dialogue is unfettered by interruptions of children and cell phones. Midstride I heard the words of a passerby.

“I wish I’d worn a hat.”

The nudge in my heart was immediate, “Give her yours, Shannon.”

The idea was preposterous. The words passed my lips almost as a surprise even to me, “We have to turn around, Scott. I know it’s crazy but I’m giving a lady my hat.”

We jogged faster. The distance closed. What do you say to a complete stranger who didn’t even ask you for a hat?

“Excuse me, ma’am, I overheard you say you wished you’d worn a hat. I’d like you to have mine.”

No I didn’t change her life today. She was a well-dressed woman who had absolutely no need for my hat. The life altered in the exchange wasn’t hers; it was mine.

I muttered, “God bless you,” as we turned back the way we’d came. I loosened the grip on an earthly treasure and let God decide the fate of my hat. Indeed a life was blessed today but it wasn’t hers; it was mine.

I wonder about you. Is there a treasure you’re holding – time, routine or even money that would bless you more if unloosed? God passes the hat. The question is will we be willing to pass ours?

Hidden Treasure

She sat sideways in the leather chair while snowflakes danced down her legs over the armrest. Hurricane Christmas has littered her with presents big and small. One gift remained under the tree which bore the same name as her new Nike iD shoes - Hannah.

As the wrapping floated to the floor, another wrapped box appeared inside. Nested one inside the other, there was four boxes in all. The final package fit inside her hands. Somehow this made its' paper more difficult to tear.

Trembling hands opened the velvet case inside and out tumbled her James Avery charm bracelet, a treasure from her thirteenth birthday, misplaced in 2010.

The best gift was the one she'd had all along.

I wonder about us. Did we unwrap the very best gift this Christmas - the one we've had all along?

Hannah's bracelet had been close all these months - in the middle compartment of my car. We had opened that space hundreds of times but kept overlooking the treasure within.

I do that sometimes. I look at the outside things like circumstances, annoyances and inconvenience and overlook the treasure within.

The hidden joy is pressing closer to Christ in the midst of my difficulty. It's the gift I've had all along. Sometimes I just forget to take it out of the package.

Waiting on Jesus

At that time in Jerusalem there was a man Simeon. He was waiting for the Messiah.

Luke 2:25

Oh Lord how many years will you tarry? My longing heart is aged beyond my body. My shoulders drag as the decades melt one into the next.

I want to see you, Lord.

You have shown yourself faithful to my people. You promised our father, Abraham. You delivered our leader, Moses. You favored our king, David. But will you be faithful to me?

I want to see you, Lord.

As if snatching the words from my lips, You appear. You come into the temple not on the back of a stallion but in the arms of a peasant girl.

I see you, Lord.

And I know. You are Jehovah El Roi, the God who Sees. You. See. Me.

Can This Be?

I am absolutely thrilled to feature the work of my dear friend Patti Hazlett today. Patti is the kind of person who brings energy with her when she graces a room. Hope and vitality echo in her heart and her writing. I know you will love this post as much as I do and want to visit her blog many times to come.


by Patti Hazlett

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus

because he will save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21.

Oh God, can this really be true?

They have been gone for so long. Bethlehem is a lengthy journey and Mary was nearly ready to give birth. My heart strains to know if they are well. Even more, it yearns to know if this could really be?

Everything rational in me says it cannot be true. Yet, everything in the Scriptures points to it being real. My son. Joseph. It is certain he is of royal lineage, a direct descendant of King David himself. His father, Jacob, and I have raised him to honor God and live his life with integrity. He has grown into a God-honoring, humble man.

When he came to us, telling us of Mary’s pregnancy, we were stunned. Out of love and respect for Mary and her family, Joseph decided to quietly walk away from their engagement. Of course, we supported his decision. But then, he spoke of a dream. A dream in which he was visited by an angel of the Lord. The angel, he said, told him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. That the baby should be named Jesus, because he will save the world! Dare we believe this could be the time? What if it is!?

The Scriptures have been part of our lives for generations. We know what they predict. The prophet Isaiah foretold of a coming King. One who would be born of a virgin. Born to reign from David’s throne. Born to save the world. It does seem to fit. Oh, do I dare believe it?

Lord, please calm my anxious heart!

Peace. Yes, peace. That’s what I feel now. As if what I have prayed for really is true! My heart is calm and I have a sense that yes, the baby Mary is about to give birth to truly is the Savior we have waited for for so very long!

With everything inside me, Lord, now I do believe. You have shown me that this really is true. Oh, Father, we are unworthy and yet humbled by your grace and mercy to allow us to watch over the Savior of the world.

My son. The earthly father of the King of Kings. Our grandson. He will be the Grand Son.

Praise be to God!
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Patti Hazlett is a writer whose blog devotionals have struck a chord with her readers. Her ability to look at life through what she calls her “Jesus filter” has taught many life lessons and practical Biblical application. A later-in-life Christian, Hazlett struggled for years to connect the dots between her life and a life as someone who was saved. Her journey took a radical turn after a cancer scare and a heartfelt, honest cry out to God to use her for more than the life she was living. Today, she approaches every day with the prayer to maximize each moment for His glory.


You can connect with Patti on Twitter, Facebook and her blog. 

Barren No More

I have the incredible privilege of introducing you to one of my favorite Christian authors. Tamera Alexander will steal your heart away in the first page with her inventive and engaging writing style. Her thievery as an author is due to her heart long ago being stolen by God. After you read her post, you will definitely want to order her latest book, A Lasting Impression. Please help me welcome Tamera!

by Tamera Alexander


About a month ago, Shannon asked if I’d be interested in writing about how a certain Biblical character speaks into my own personal Christmas story this year. She gave me a brief list of names and my eye went to one.

Elizabeth.

The account about her in Luke chapter one is brief, but revealing. She was older in life, barren, unable to conceive, and bore the shame of that unwanted distinction for years and years. Yet she enjoyed the honor of giving birth to the forerunner of our Savior at so untimely a place in her life. She was called righteous, along with her husband Zachariah, and was one of the first women to be noted as being "filled with the Holy Spirit."

She was careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. So therefore, she was familiar with them. After all, in order to keep a law you first have to know and understand it. I wonder if she was familiar with the scroll of Isaiah? And if she ever lingered over this verse and prayed even more earnestly for her son, John, as he grew. “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

When I read that verse with the heart of a mother for her son, the words wilderness and desert stand out to me. And not in a good way. Because what mother wants her son to be in a wilderness? Or in a desert? Having been barren for the majority of her life, Elizabeth knew what being alone felt like. She would never have wished that for her child. Yet she was faithful to the task God called her to fulfill. To be mother to the one who would prepare the way for Immanuel––God with us.

                      

God also used Elizabeth in a mighty way to confirm His plans in Mary's life. "You are blessed," Elizabeth said to Mary, "because you believed that the Lord would do what he said." She spoke affirmation and encouragement in the face of a nearly impossible road ahead for Mary, and helped her to keep believing in God's sovereign hand. Which then Mary responds with the ever popular "Magnificat: Mary's song of praise."

In the hustle and bustle of Christmas this year, I’m holding the memory of Elizabeth close, and am reminded that God will send people into our lives who are hungry for Him, who need a word of encouragement to follow Him, or maybe need a verbal hug to keep walking through the wilderness or desert that He's intentionally leading them through. Who knows…perhaps it was Elizabeth's timely word of encouragement that led Mary to the place where she could sing her song of praise.

Hear what Elizabeth’s life and legacy says to you and me: God is trustworthy, even in the barren places. His timing is impeccable. And He always keeps His promises. Always.

Blessings this Christmas and in the coming New Year,

Tamera

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Tamera Alexander is the best-selling author of Rekindled, Revealed and Remembered, the critically acclaimed Fountain Creek Chronicles historical series with Bethany House Publishers, along withFrom a Distance, Beyond This Moment, and Within My Heart (Timber Ridge Reflections series). Her historical romances—including The Inheritance with Thomas Nelson—penned in her style with deeply drawn characters, thought-provoking plots, and poignant prose have earned her devoted readers—and multiple industry awards.

After living in Colorado for seventeen years, Tamera has returned to her Southern roots. She and her husband now make their home in Nashville with Tamera's father, Doug. They enjoy life there with Joe and Tamera's two adult children, and Jack, a precious—and precocious—silky terrier.

Connect with Tamera online at her website, blog, on Facebook and on Twitter.