Contentment Challenge:  The beginning

This morning I received an encouraging, congratulations email from Nancy Ray declaring I’d made it!  I completed the contentment challenge!  As we wrapped up the contentment challenge I wanted to go back to the beginning.  Then I realized maybe what I’ve thought of as the beginning, is really the ultimate destination….  I”ll let you decide.

A little Contentment Challenge recap

Scrolling Instagram over Christmas break I stumbled across Nancy’s page.  I was immediately intrigued by her book club and the contentment challenge she was about to begin.  In her prep guide for the beginning the contentment challenge Nancy suggests taking a couple weeks to prepare your heart, home and wardrobe for the upcoming challenge.  Well, I didn’t have two weeks, I only had a few days before the challenge would begin.

It helped that my one of my favorites, the Gap Factory, is closing their store near my home.  Another favorite, has been changing their styles and don’t quite match mine as well as they once did.  And, the local boutique in our small town is designed for ladies much taller and proportioned differently than me.  I learned long ago, I can’t really plan on shopping there.

Lesson #1

That’s really contentment lesson number one isn’t it?  The journey of every teen as they go through adolescence and it continues into adulthood.  Being content with who God created you to be.  If this was an easy task, there would be no need for hair straighteners, curling irons, perms, push-up bras or spanx.  And that’s just the surface level stuff.

God created us just as He knew He needed us to be to fulfill the purpose He has for us.  We are each Fearfully and wonderfully made Psalm 139:14  Not as we wanted to be made, but as formed by our living creator.  I certainly wouldn’t have chosen a body with a serious congenital heart condition, a mind that struggles with anxiety, and I probably wouldn’t have chosen curly hair either.  It’s hard knowing God created in us the things we struggle with.  For me, those struggles have also been some of the things that have drawn me closest to Him.

So if you’re alive right now on this planet.  Know that God created you just as you should be, and He has a purpose for you.  I don’t know what that purpose is.  Honestly, I’m not even sure I know what my purpose is.  But as we each seek Him, may we find a beautiful contentment in building a relationship with our Creator and in turn more contentment with who He created us to be.

 

blessings!

Julie

 

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