Trying to move on from your past? It’s not so easy. The memories are there in your mind and you can easily go back to them if you let yourself do so. How do you move on from people, a job, a comfort zone that you were so used to? Well, look at where you are now. What is around you that you can appreciate and pay more attention to? Because your mind is always thinking about something, why not dwell on the current blessings that you have right now. Yes you can appreciate the past since it is what brought you to your present but don’t be so wrapped up in your past that you don’t let yourself enjoy your present.

Yes you had to cut loose the things that weren’t right for your life. Whether it was people who said they loved you but treated you more like someone they knew they had to tolerate, or a friend who’s true colors were exposed. None of those people are worth your self-esteem being lowered to the ground because you weren’t appreciated by them. You recognized your worth and know that God made you great and you deserve to have your closest friends encourage that greatness within you and not diminish it. It could be that you left a job that you poured your heart and soul into. You noticed yourself being in a position where you knew you just didn’t belong there anymore and if God said ‘leave’ then it was time to go but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t heartbreaking to leave. Or it might be that you left something good behind. Maybe you were a part of something that brought you joy and made you excited to be a part of it but you needed to let that go also.

Everything in life has an expiration date even or own lives. “Three things last forever faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love”(1 Corinthians 13:13). It doesn’t say your job will last forever, or your friendship will last forever or the ministry you were a part of will last forever. God has a time and place for every circumstance we go through in life and the sooner we realize that everything has it’s season, the quicker we can learn to appreciate every minute of every day. We don’t know how long we will live in the city we’re in or how long that co-worker is going to work with us or if we’ll see our high school friends again. So my friend, lose yourself in the moments of your life. Wherever you are is an opportunity to learn something. Even if you don’t fully like what your doing at the moment or haven’t reached that certain goal yet, just know that if God is there with you and if you’re in His will, you are exactly where you need to be. Let your past prepare you for your future. Let yourself become better not bitter because of the lessons you’ve learned. It’s easier said then done but get ready because God is going to take you higher. Higher than your past has taken you, further than your past has taken you. You’re on an incredible journey and this is just the beginning of God’s story. He’s still writing with his permanent marker. No pencil, because the are no mistakes to erase.

“Prayer is never an acceptable substitute for obedience. The sovereign Lord accepts no offering from His creatures that is not accompanied by obedience”.- A. W. Tozer

I just realized that I can ask God to change the situation I’m in as much as I want but as long as I keep wanting to run away from what he has said to do, I am being disobedient. Walking in obedience means trusting that God will make change occur in my life in his timing .Obedience will bring me to the reality of not trying to control every aspect of my life. God will makes things happen when we choose to obey him. Why hide from God or choose to ignore him because he hasn’t done what you want yet? He has you right where you are for a purpose so walk in obedience and see God move.

Have you read or heard a scripture over and over and thought you understood the meaning of it but then somehow the meaning of it becomes so different when you hear it spoken a different way or when the Holy Spirit teaches you the true meaning of the scripture.

The bible is filled with words. Obviously because it is a book but these words aren’t just something we should read and admire and never truly live these words out in our lives. 1 Timothy 6:6 says “But godliness with contentment is great gain”. I always read this and agreed and understood that being content is being happy with what you have and that causes you to be at peace. The text goes on to say that we brought nothing in to this world and can’t take anything with us when we leave so if we have food and clothing, let us be content.The apostle Paul also writes about contentment in Philippians and talks a bit more in depth. He says “Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ,who gives me strength” (ch 4:11-13).

Paul describes contentment as being the ‘secret’ of living in ‘every’ situation. The SECRET.  A secret is something that you know that others don’t know. It is something that can be hidden or hard to figure out. It may be something that you keep between two good friends or family members but a secret is not something that everybody knows. Have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror and remember who you used to be? You want to go back to the good ol’ days when you didn’t have so many problems or worries or responsibilities. The times that you think were better than where you are right now. There’s something in you that isn’t satisfied.

I came to a place in my life where I found myself constantly talking about my problems. I was in a place where I wasn’t happy and it was hard to be myself around the people I spent majority of my time with. I didn’t like the environment I was in and I didn’t like who I was becoming. It was incredibly hard for me to be content. I didn’t want to be where I was! I was always looking for a way out or for something to come along that I thought was going to make me feel better. I was never content with what God had given me. Thus this created me to not be fully fulfilled. I didn’t really understand the secret. My heart cried out for God to give me what I thought was going to make my situation better. He hasn’t given that to me yet. Why? Does God know that I’m ready for that blessing to come my way? Doesn’t he believe that I would be so caring and responsible with the blessing that I want him to give me? Instead he tells me, ‘daughter, you want this thing more than you want to be in my presence yet I am enough for you’. I can sing all I want about how God is all I need but am I truly believing in my heart that he is? I thought I was. Until the word godliness was explained to me.

The word godliness means devotion to God. The word devotion is ultimately being in love with God. I understood godliness to mean being like God but its true meaning is being devoted to him. Then the verse 1 Timothy 6:6 came to me in a new light. Godliness, meaning being in love with God, is great gain. Being in love with God is great gain! It is contentment! I realized that the whole time in my season of unhappiness, I wasn’t happy because I wasn’t content and didn’t realize that contentment would have brought me great gain and other translations of the bible say ‘great wealth’. Now I am so rich in my spirit because I am devoted to God. I am glad to be where I am now because it is where he has placed me for such a time as this.

That’s it. That was the secret! Contentment! No matter if you have a little or a lot, you have everything when you are devoted to God. Peace isn’t easy to achieve when you’re heart isn’t settled. I’m not asking God to bring a certain blessing to me and believing that it will be the savior of my soul. Instead I’m looking around at the blessings before me and investing more time in to them and enjoying them more. When God reveals things to you, he literally saves your life. He says you from going down a path of not being aware of who you are and what you’re doing to yourself with the thoughts and actions you allow to keep occurring. He says ‘my child, listen to me, I know what’s best for you’. We can say ‘yes God I know you have what’s best but can your best come to me right now’. What do you do when he says wait? Do you sit around moping and missing out on being present in your every day life because you don’t have what you want yet, or do you get up and start your day with Jesus and step outside and embrace the day because he has blessed you abundantly and you don’t know who or what you’re going to encounter. At any given moment God can bring that blessing to you. But you gotta believe that He is in control of your life and you gotta release your hands and keep them open for what God is going to give you. It may not come how you want it or on your timetable but when it comes you’ll quickly forget the many nights you spent praying for it. You’ll take that blessing and you’ll praise God. You will remember the struggle to get it but you’ll spend more time enjoying the miracle.

Right now my friend, choose to be content. Choose to be devoted to God. Choose to stop looking at your situation and look to God. Walk with your faith and not with your sight. Pray and ask God for happiness. Ask God for contentment. Seek first his kingdom, seek first his righteous, seek first being so lost and in love with his presence and he will add things to your life. He will not withhold a good thing from you who walk uprightly but you gotta first love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. God is your priority. Being in love with God is contentment and that contentment is the secret to great gain, to great wealth, to peace that surpasses all understanding. Draw near to God and he’ll draw near to you.

Devote yourself to God 🙂