Are you content with your surroundings?

This was originally posted early 2007


I was on vacation with my dh (dear husband) this past January when we saw a show about a family. Not just any family~a LARGE and very special one. The Arndt family. They live in MO and even have their own ball team. They have 14 children, one of them being a girl and all the rest boys! how fun.
After vacation I began thinking about that show I watched and decided to look up their website, boy am I glad that I did. If you would like to see the website for yourself you may do so at http://www.famteam.com/
One of their eldest boys, Mark, wrote some very sweet articles about "Waiting for God's Best." Mark's approach is more about waiting on the Lord to bring him a wife--about being content to be single. But for me to read those articles it went so much deeper than that.
Below are quotes from those articles and a few notes from me:
"Roughly a year ago, I was in shambles inwardly. Outwardly, I would say that I trusted God in everything and to a degree I did, but I refused to completely hand over the reins of my life."
The underlined above has been so true for me, unfortunately, on several occasions.
Mark goes on to say that all this was over the Lord not bringing him the right woman yet. He was becomming very lonely and longing the female companionship that a man can find in a wife.
"These were all great motives, but I let posative longings interfere with my trust in God"

O, how many times I have not been on guard when my flesh rose up and tried to take over with posative and negative things alike! Reflecting back on my own life I can certainly see how many times in the last 10 or so years I have not trusted in God. And now I have brought all types of "baggage" into my dh's life that otherwise would have never even been there.
Mark goes on, saying he would give God deadlines for this wife, and how he later realized how arrogant that was, "I was willing to surrender almost all of it (trust)...but not all of it. Its almost as if I was holding onto part of it just in case God turned my future into something I didn't want."
"Finally I gave up. God got through to me. At long last, I told God--and I meant it from the heart--that--"whenever, or if never, you lead me to her, I will happily accept it...it really boils down to a change in priorities. As long as I remain in God's will until I die, I will have a successful life."
Previously I would essentially say, "God, I'll only follow you if it means getting married.: But after that day I said, "God I'll only get married if it means following you."
How wonderful to be able to say that. To have that right place in our hearts. It is worth repeating, "God, I'll only get married if it means following you."
Just that one sentance can bring forth all kinds of good. Now lets all say it outloud, but this time insert your own struggles,
"GOD, I'LL ONLY______________________IF IT MEANS FOLLOWING YOU."
As an example of some of the things that I have been "holding the reins" about are:
1. Not submitting to my husband ot trusting in him and his abilaties to lead our home. I try to take matters into my own hands at innapropriate times when I ought to be trusting the Lord that my dh is making family decisions that he believes are best.
2. I have been getting impatient about having more children. Our daughter just turned 3 this past week and as each year *(and sometimes month) goes by I get more and more antsy. And sometimes when I fully allow myself to wallow in the flesh I think about how we could have had at least 3 children by now if not more had there been twins! I really desire to be quiverful and its hard for me to just have one child to take care of.
More on Mark's articles:
"Patience is never exciting. Especially patience with no end in sight. Sometimes it can feel like riding in a car with no windows. You're told that your moving, but you don't feel any different. You don't see the scenery moving, you don't see your progress. You see nothing to reassure you that you're not just holding still and wasting your time."
"If God were to tell me, for example that I would meet the right girl in exactly 714 days, I think it would be a lot easier to wait for it. That way I could plan for it and keep my eyes on the days, watching then tick downward. But I don't think thats the kind of trust and obedience God wants from us. He wants is to be willing to do as he says even if it looks like we'll get nothing in return. He wants us to follow him anyway...If God said wait, we should wait even without a reason. But--God loves us so much that he gives us good reasons and great results. Waiting will be so worth it."
AMEN!
"You are not missing one single good thing by waiting. In fact, the longer you wait, the more it will be worth it one day."
I think this is a good point, but its not good for me to dwell on the rewards of something I am waiting for, but I do agree and look forward to recieving those rewards for my good acts. For example, if I am content to wait for my husband to buy me the tulip bulbs that I asked him for and then not get bitter because fall has come and gone, then when he DOES get around to giving them to me, I could truely apperciate them and him for blessing me with something as small as that. And really appreciate it!
" ...finding the right girl is no longer my duty. Its not up to me. It never was up to me. That's not in my job description. Like salvation, she is not something I can earn...She will be a gift from God--and what a gift!"
This was such a great read for me because I have a hard time being content in most situations. Lately, the more I look at myself, my life, I can see where I went wrong. Where I wasn't content, and where I should have....whatever.
But instead of dwelling on the past I am trying to look to the here and now, and the future. IO am looking to learn to be content to give God those "reins" and not get worked up over silly little things--and even the big things and to just be content looking to God and my husband for guidance.
If you would like to read the full articles that I have mentioned from Mark and other members of the Arndt family, go to http://www.famteam.com/ I highly recommend you do.
Are you content with the lot the Lord has given you? Are you content with your surroundings?