Contentment

I have been reading a book titled “Clutter-Free Christianity: What God Really Desires for You” by Robert Jeffress. The book talks about the heart and keeping it clear of things displeasing to God such as Chapter 4, A Forgiving Heart: Clearing Away Anger, Bitterness, and Emotional Knots. Overall the book is good but one chapter has really stood out to me and I wanted to share a passage from it.


Chapter 7 is A Content Heart: Finding More in Less. It can be a struggle to be satisfied with what we have instead of wanting either something more or better. The section I want to share with you is what the author titles “Enhancing God’s Reputation”. He writes:

Imagine that a teacher overhears your child talking to a friend at school, complaining about conditions at home: “Our home is filthy with rats running everywhere. My parents leave me home alone so they can party all night. I go to bed hungry every night, because we don’t have enough to eat.” The concerned teacher immediately contacts child protective services to investigate this obvious case of neglect.

However, when the CPS representative arrives at your home, she’s surprised to find an immaculate house with no rodents in sight, a refrigerator and pantry stocked with food, and parents who give every sign of being attentive caregivers. She then relates to you what the teacher overheard your child saying to a friend. How embarrassed would you be? What would you say to your child once the CPS representative left?

I imagine God is similarly embarrassed when He hears us complaining about our living conditions to anyone who will listen. Children of God who are continually dissatisfied with their circumstances or are anxious about whether they’ll have what they need to survive reflect poorly on their heavenly Father. After all, what unbeliever wants to entrust his or her life- or, for that matter, his or her eternity- to a God who can’t provide life’s basic needs to His own children?

If you are a Christian, you’re a living advertisement for God. People read you as they would a billboard. They watch you like they do a television commercial. And they’re deciding: “Do I want some of what she has or not?”

Their answer largely depends on your level of contentment. You might claim that your relationship with Christ is a source of great fulfillment. But if you constantly pursue more (or better, larger, or different), will anyone really believe your faith satisfies? If you constantly complain about your income, your job, or your family, will a non-Christian really believe you when you claim, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”?

Becoming like Jesus Christ involves embracing Jesus’ life purpose: to glorify God. Jesus Himself declared: I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thos hast given Me to do (John 17:4).

To glorify God simply means to make God look good to other people. Contentment- satisfaction with what we have and faith for what we don’t yet have- is a primary way we enhance rather than diminish God’s image. As John Piper wrote, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

Girls Cottage

The Girls Cottage upon our arrival back home Florida
11/18/2009

Happy Birthday

November 9, 2009- Michael's 31st Birthday
Today we continued to unpack our stuff and prepare our home for the open house on Sunday.  We're going to leave for Florida tomorrow so we also had to pack some stuff back up.  Thanks to the Garretts Michael got a birthday cookie.  Michael G's plan is to fit as much writing as you can on the cookie so you get all the extra icing.  He wanted them to write out Mississippi but I think we got plenty of icing anyways.

The Girls Cottage on 11/9/09

Volunteers Rock

We are currently living in the Relief House Parent Duplex while the Girls Cottage is being built. Below is a what the yard looked like on Friday and then on Sunday, after volunteers came to landscape.

Here's the Girl's Cottage on 11/6

We finally arrive

Our stuff arrived today- packed just as neatly as when it left Baltimore. Our many thanks go to Bob, Bill, Scott, and Jennifer!

If anybody is looking for a moving company I would recommend ABF. You pack it, they drive it, and you unload it. They were priced reasonably and were very helpful and friendly.

Girls Cottage

On the day we arrived in Purvis. It's going to be a lot of fun watching the building progress.

Grandma's Rule

After stopping over night in Sevierville we traveled on down to Tellico Plains to see Grandma LaFave. We visited and had lunch with her before having to get on the road again. God is awesome in everything but it makes me really smile with the small stuff. I loved being able to have two sets up people to visit right along the route from MD to MS.


Michael and his Grandma

The horses next to Grandma's house. "Hey Mr. Horse, Say hello to your mother for me"

The long and winding road

Have you ever been to Tennessee? The roads are full of ups and downs that wind round and round. However, when you reach your destination, it's beautiful!

We left Baltimore in the morning knowing we would be stuck in some DC traffic. We were but the worst traffic came in Virginia when a 4 lane road went down to 1 lane. Thanks DOT for planning that construction during morning traffic!

The ride, for the most part, was pretty uneventful. However, Michael's car did begin to act up as it had to shift when going up hills so we tried to take it slower than we normally would. With a lot of prayers it made it to TN.

We stayed with the Adams family that night and it was so good to see them. It's awesome when you can just pick right up as if time had never passed and that was definitely the case here. We had dinner, told stories, and laughed and laughed before settling in for the night.

Time to Move

The boxes are packed, the truck has arrived, let's get this show on the road...



I like to pretend I loaded these boxes but I didn't. Packed them and brought them to the truck, but didn't actual do the stacking and tying.


Jennifer showing what she thinks of helping people move.


Me with the complimentary ramp. That's right, I said complimentary.


The real hero's of the day. Without them, the stuff would still have arrived in Mississippi but probably in more pieces.