Living Contentment - Give it up

Hi Reader,

Welcome to Living Contentment Weekly. Here are your three contentment-related thoughts for today. Something for you to: read | do | pray

READ THIS

One of the great things about being here at Rift Valley Academy, is there are lots of opportunities to speak in chapel, Sunday mornings, devotions, etc. All that time just forces me to spend time in the word - and come up with something that seems like it would be helpful and beneficial to those listening.

One thing that keeps hitting home is how much of what I say sometimes feels like it's more for me than others.

Yesterday we did devotions with our 7th-grade girls, and since final exams are coming up next week, there is a lot of anxiety.

We looked at Philippians 4:6

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God

Do not be anxious....about ANYTHING.

That's a lot easier to tell some jr. high kids to do, than it is to live in my own heart.

Like so much of true, deep contentment, we know how it works....it's just SO HARD.

So that's all I have..

Stick with the basics. We'll never get them down perfectly, so we can always return to them.

DO THIS

Read over Phil 4:6-67

Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. - The Message

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. -ESV

What do you need to give up? What things are your anxious about, that you need to let go of? Not just giving it up to a void - not ignoring it - but giving it TO GOD.

If it helps - write it out on a scrap of paper - then crumple it up / burn it / throw it away.

Try to find that peace that is promised

PRAY THIS

God of Peace,
you know all, see all.
You know these things
that linger in my heart.
Frothing up anxiety
Take them from me.
I'm tired of them
Amen

Talk to you next Thursday!

~George