"I have learned the secret of contentment in every situation."
It's odd. With everything going on right now it would seem that knowing me I would be frazzled. It would seem I would be worried or anxious about being 10 weeks away from giving birth, moving next week, leaving a job I love, figuring out how to be my husband's assistant, living 45 minute away from my job, and so much more, but I'm not. For some reason, if I were to describe the last few months, I would use the words "content, at peace, satisfied."
So why is this? How can I go from a situation with less change and less turmoil to one with more and yet feel so much more at peace now? I've been thinking about that lately.
I think it has a lot to do with my mental state. I feel like mentally I have been taking deep breathes. When I start to worry or think about my situation or the problems that might come up, I mentally take a step back and examine it from a variety of lenses. How will this impact me a year from now? How else could I look at this situation? How is this situation being viewed from the lens of the person I'm struggling with right now? Does this really matter?
Oftentimes, I find that the things that cause me so much mental anguish, shouldn't.
Lay your burdens at the cross. Such a darn, difficult thing to accomplish. I've been working on living out this verse for the past 24 years. I hope that maybe, possibly I've taken one small step toward understanding what God wants in regards to worry... don't. ;-)
I heard one time that worry and stress are indicators of our lack of faith in God. That really bothered me at the time because I worried and stressed a lot, but it makes sense to me now. When our mind is free from worry and stress, it is able to dwell on the more important, like making the most of the precious thirty minutes you have to spend with your husband or best friend or new baby. I hope that once I have Eli I will continue in this frame of mind. ;-)
