My Circumstances...His Truths

        Hearing and believing God's truths are not reliant on my circumstances.

This is the lesson He has recently been teaching me. Attempting to search for contentment anywhere outside of Him is useless. 

I recently entered a season of jealousy and discontentment. These feelings are unlike anything I've ever known - and I deeply dislike them.

I would see and hear people casually planning their days, weeks, even years - giving no thought as to whether or not they will see those plans fulfilled. I watched the lives of others from the sidelines and found myself overwhelmed with emotions. I viewed seemingly picture perfect lives and longed for a time when planning a life and a future were a real possibility. Planning our next travel adventure; building our dream cabin in the mountains; retirement options; growing old together and enjoying our lives long into our golden years. 

Now, we are simply attempting to capture as much life and living as possible in a very short amount of time and within a very limited space. The envy and discontent would rear their ugly heads when I viewed the lives of others through the lenses of my grief and sadness. Deep down, I understood that everyone has struggles and that no life is perfect.  Real life, daily life is usually messy and completely filter-free. It looks nothing like Facebook and Instagram photos. It's so easy to put all of the beautiful, filtered images out there for people to see. I am definitely guilty of this. The challenge is allowing others to see real life - the un-perfect, messy, beautiful lives that we all live. 

Once I opened my heart to God and honestly shared with Him, I realized that I was choosing to believe a Chrome-filtered lie. Ashamed, I stepped back. I had allowed my peace and contentment to become dependent not only on my circumstances, but on the outward surface of life. I realized that I was wasting precious time and energy - that's what the enemy wants. Waste all of the time I have left on things that take my heart far away from God. The more I focus on the outward surface, the harder it becomes to see the glory of God that surrounds me in so many ways. Looking beyond this life and into the next life - our REAL, TRUE life, is what will keep me connected to the heart of my Abba Father and only then will I understand and obtain true contentment and peace. 



Blessings,
Mandy