VERY WELL CONTENT

Do you ever feel like God is trying to tell you something?

Wednesday evening, I finished reading Rosaria Butterfield's book The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World. HIGHLY recommend, not because we should all be and live just like the Butterfields, but because Rosaria challenges readers to think outside our comfort zones. We all need that kind of challenge occasionally, to expose our blind spots and shake us from our complacency.

On my Author Facebook page, I shared this quote from Rosaria's book:

"Grace does not make the hard thing go away; grace illumines the hard thing with eternal meaning and purpose. Grace gives you company in your affliction, in Christ himself and in the family of God."

(Amen, and amen! After a difficult week, my body and heart weary, I wonder again how on earth people negotiate the grit of this life without Jesus. I cannot imagine. And can I say right here HOW MUCH I LOVE MY SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN CHRIST, those faithful friends who pray for me and with me when I am afflicted and distressed, and how thankful I am for a sweet Christian counselor who shares my burdens every week?! Thank you, Jesus, that you do not save us to do this life alone. Thank you that you saved us into a family of faith!)

So, as I was saying, Wednesday, I finished Rosaria's excellent book.

Yesterday, Thursday, I sat on the front porch swing and prayed for inspiration for next week's article for the newspaper. Prayed and swayed, listened to the birds, watched the grandkids playing in the yard, sipped my tea, prayed and swayed.

God brought this verse to mind: "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," Philippians 4:13.

I thought about the week just past, its challenges, frustrations, and hurts. And I thought about how often I've tried to use Phil. 4:13 as a mantra against hardship, failure, heartbreak, and defeat. As if emphatically praying "I can do all things" guarantees me success, victory, peace, joy.

I thought about Paul, writing those great words of encouragement even as he was under house arrest, facing a trial and, if convicted, death. "I can do all things." Paul wasn't saying God would save him from persecution and an unjust death. He was saying, "With Christ, whether I live or die, I am well content."

My weekly newspaper column is not a religious column. It is a general interest column. But thinking about my own struggles this past week - and the struggle to rest well in Jesus in the midst of them - and thinking about the daunting, real-life struggles faced by so many of my readers, I wrote about Philippians 4:13, about being content in Jesus, even when life hurts.

I saved my first draft of the article, unsure if I would submit it for next week's column. Really, God? Is this what you want me to write?

And then this morning, over on her Author Facebook page, Emily Akin shared this blog post by Lynn Dove: Most Misinterpreted Scripture Verses - Philippians 4:13. Given that I had just written an article about the same passage the day before, I clicked on the link. I was curious to read Lynn's perspective on this often misused verse.

Do you ever feel like God is trying to tell you something?

Rosaria Butterfield's book -
An article composed on a porch swing -
A blog post shared by a friend -

Sometimes, when I am particularly weary and sore, I am tempted to wonder if God really loves me. But when He speaks with such precision into the details of my life - and does so over and over again - I cannot long entertain such foolish thoughts.

Yes, He loves me.

And with that, I am very well content.

* * *

"...I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned to secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." Philippians 4:11b-13