Thy Will Be Done:
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By Amber S. True contentment in Christ is a beautiful thing to see in a person! You see true joy and peace radiating from one who has put their trust in God and embraced the life Christ has for them. The more I learn about contentment, the more I see how our problems all stem from our chief sin—pride. Pride takes us places we don’t want to go and gets in the way so much more than we realize. As Christians, our greatest desire in life should be to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That is a two-fold desire, which really comes down to one thing for us: surrender. Surrender of all our earthly desires, surrender of what we think is important, surrender of the control we think we have over our life. We all have hopes and dreams for our lives, and some of them are very good, but God doesn’t always give us what we think is good for us. We want something and feel like we are being deprived of a good thing. “But God, marriage is a good thing, and I want to be married!” “But God, going on the mission field is a good thing, I want to go now!” “But God, I want children, so please send them!” We have to be so careful that our hearts are truly wanting God’s will or we will be saying, “God, I think I know what is best for my life so, please make it happen.” We have to remember that He alone knows what is best for us and to tell Him our desires while knowing and wanting His will done for us. We need to trust Him and let that trust give us peace because we know what we have now is exactly what we need right now. His will might change for us in the future but we must trust Him with today, placing our desires, hopes and dreams for the future in His hands. We can happily give Him all because He is a faithful God who never changes. I’m constantly in awe of how many promises of His faithfulness He makes to us in His Word. He is good! For so many years I thought I was content, and I really was to some degree, but I didn’t have the peace in my heart that would bring me joy, which should come from real contentment. It wasn’t until after a successful courtship, that didn’t end in marriage, that I began an intense journey to find true contentment. What kept popping up was my lack of trust. I wasn’t trusting God to lead my every step. By not being truly content, I was telling God He didn’t know what He was doing, and that really scared me. I was holding onto my hopes and dreams so hard that I didn’t even realize how much of a burden the weight of an unfulfilled desire was! Once I gave my burden to Christ, asking Him to carry it for me, He set me free and what joy filled my heart. I was at the end of my rope and I had to cling to Him since He was all I had. He showed me He is all I have because He is all I need! God often brings us so low to show us that we can’t do anything on our own, by showing us He is all we need. With this revelation, a whole new world opened up to me! I had peace. I can totally, completely and happily trust this God who tells me to cast my burdens on Him because He cares for me (1 Peter 5:7). I’m not sure what can be more glorious than to have the Creator of this beautiful earth and the vast universe say He loves me and wants what is best for me. Yes, I can truly say, “Thy will be done, O Lord!” You know, desiring marriage is a good and lovely thing. I used to pray and ask God to take away my desire if He didn’t plan for me to marry. It just hurt so much to want something so badly and not be able to have it. Then we see our friends getting married and we have the twinge of jealously that stabs our heart. We smile and are happy for our friends and family when they get married, but we are still feeling left out and left behind inside. That turmoil is awful and painful, and so, so selfish! I knew it was selfish for a long time but I had such a hard time trying to figure out how to change that. I couldn’t force the change. I had to surrender my desire to God before I could really be at peace with the life God had me living. I owe all to Christ, Who’s sacrifice set me free, so how could I be discontent with the life He has given me? My lack showed me how selfish I was and how much He deserves my all. All! That is a big word when it comes down to things that I want and think would be best for me! All my dreams, desires, hopes, and plans. He didn’t take away my desire to be married, because I now know He had far better things for me, He is showing me His love and faithfulness in an amazing way! You know ladies, when we surrender our desires to God, it even helps keep away those stabbing pains of jealousy when your friend is getting married or has a fellow in their life. I’m so thankful to see such a miracle worked in my life and I know He will give you the same freedom when you surrender what you’re holding on to. Remember, sometimes God uses marriage to sanctify people and sometimes He uses singleness to sanctify others, but we know that no matter what life He has for us to live, He is good and will only bring what is best for our growth in Christ. It’s exciting when we stop living to get married and start living to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. It’s so freeing! Is there something you are holding onto? Some hope, dream or desire weighing you down that needs to be given to God? You need not fear to let it go, because He will give you peace and His will for your life is perfect. Learn from the things He brings your way and from the things you think you lack. God has everything happen to you for a reason and you need to trust Him. The lessons I’ve learned through the trials He has brought my way, have been amazing and I can honestly say I’m thankful for them and pray God will send me what I need in the future. I’m so thankful for the years of singleness He has given me because He has used them to show me His goodness and love and to shape me into the person He wants me to be. Trials are hard and they hurt! My flesh shrinks from these loving acts of providence, but I know what I have now is what He thinks is best for me. We have a promise from God Himself that He will strengthen us, help us, and uphold us and that He is our God! We know from other Scriptures that He is always faithful, so we know He will fulfill these promises. Trust Him my friends, trust Him. Amber is happy to be home serving God, her family, and others. She is the eldest of eight children and enjoys photography, her nieces and nephew, and spending time with her family and friends. She is part of her family’s small business and enjoys the photography and marketing side of it. Her greatest desire is to encourage young woman in their unmarried years to keep their eyes on Christ and to trust Him in all things. |
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