Yesterday we went for a lovely drive to the country. We are currently renting a home on the edge of a large town, and it takes less than 5 minutes to get into green fields and farmland. I just love driving through the countryside and enjoying the never ending landscape

Although I grew up in cities all around the world, I have always dreamed of having a country lifestyle. I have read the Little House on the Prairie series every year since I was a child

The last house we owned owed money to the bank for, had two acres. We had chickens, sheep, two dogs, a cat, fruit trees and a huge veggie garden. It was lovely, of course But the debt was really getting us down, so before we went overseas for the past two years, we sold it and made it our goal to get out of debt. We are nearly there!

However, there is still the longing deep down to live in the country and have a large block of land (you know, like acres and acres - lol). And yesterday, at the end of our lovely afternoon I let some wrong thoughts enter my head:

“We will never be able to afford some land.”

“We will always be stuck in the suburbs.”

“Poor, poor, me. I can’t have what I want!”

I guess it was just an accumulation of a lot of changes over the past months and I got fixated on this one thing that I couldn’t have. Instead of looking at what I had, I set my eyes on a goal that I thought we would never be able to achieve and started to feel very discontent. I moped around, plonked some dinner on the table when we got home, and just wanted to go and hide. Then of course I hated myself for acting in this way and got even more crabby

As I went to bed last night I asked the Lord for forgiveness, and of course woke up this morning with everything looking a lot brighter.

Paul says:

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.” Phil 4:12

We have been in many different situations as Paul writes about above. I am usually quite content whether we have plenty or whether we have little. Sometimes I go off the rails, like yesterday! But it truly is my desire to be content in ANY and EVERY situation.

It is so easy to look at others and wish we were more like them, because they “seem” to have it “all”. But God has blessed us all with different things. Some may have large houses, some small. Some may have lots of money, some none. God has given us what we have or do not have for a reason. And He wants us to be content in all situations.

I truly thought I was content, but obviously I had some trouble yesterday! But thinking about it, contentment is probably not a place you arrive at, but something that you need to keep working on. The world is constantly bombarding us with information and trying to make us discontent with the way we are living. You can see it with the ads on tv and the junk mail that comes in your letter box. I can say - oh, I don’t want a fancy house in that new estate, I am “content” with a small, old house somewhere. I can say - oh, I don’t need all those new appliances, or that new furniture. I am “content” with my old stuff. But if I am wanting something that is not mine and that I can’t have right now, even if it is not brand new (like an old farmhouse on a few acres of land ), then I am still being discontent.

We used to sing the song:

“Count your blessings, name them one by one,

Count your blessings see what God has done,…”

I can’t remember the last time we sang that song. It is too old fashioned in the modern churches we have been going to. But there is such a good principle there. We shouldn’t just be thankful, but let’s COUNT the many blessings that we have. We should take some time to look around us and make a list! Let me count them! Let me name them! And by doing so, my heart will overflow with joy and contentment, because God has truly blessed me in every situation He has put me in.