← Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer
Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer
Resolution for Women // Surprisingly Satisfied
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Resolution for Women // A resolution to be content.
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Everyone always seems to be in such a hurry to get somewhere or to get something, to be somewhere or even to be someone or something other than what they are. Everyone just seems to be in this big race all the time, Goodness gracious. Not even with each other, just sometimes with themselves, to finish something and to move on to the next thing. I've got to admit to you, my life certainly has been marked by that kind of hurriedness. I'm a bit ashamed about it, and the Lord has really brought it to my attention. It all began a couple of years ago. My mom called me and my three siblings, so there are four of us, and she told us we needed to get over there to the same house that my parents raised me. And they've been there all these years. We needed to come and clean out our things. She said, listen, none of you live here anymore, and yet your stuff is still all over the place. Get over here and clean it out by December 10th of that year. I remember she was real specific about that date because she said, Listen, on December 11th, I already have somebody scheduled. They are coming to clear out anything that is left in the attic upstairs. And so if it's important to you, you better come get it. Well, being the kind of kid that I have always been, it was December 9th that I went over to that very familiar house and walked up those very familiar ladder stairs into the attic. And I got to tell you, I wasn't excited about it. I sat down and began to dig into boxes. And I really believed that this was going to be a chore, a duty, something. Something that really wasn't going to be that much fun. It actually turned out to be amazing. As you can imagine, it was an adventure because I was looking through my life in boxes. So I opened one box, and there were uniforms in there from my elementary years or playing basketball in junior high or being on the pep squad in those years. One box had old addresses and phone numbers and notes and letters and journals from when I was in elementary school and junior high and high school. It was great. And those journals are what caught my attention. In fact, there was a small box that was filled with little journals, journals that I had kept from when I was pretty young. There was a journal from when I was nine, and then another when I was 13 and 14 years old. And then my older teenage years and young single years in college. And then as a newly married woman in my early 20s, I could not believe that I had all of this, these records of seasons of my life. And I began to look through them, as you can imagine, I was sitting like a little schoolgirl. My chin was in my hands. I was leaned in because I wanted to remind myself of those seasons of my life. Well, there's an event that I want to tell you about that took place when I was 14 years old. I had completely forgotten about this until I read my journal on that particular day. And there was a theme when I really leaned into this particular event. There was theme in that event that began to mark whole seasons of my life. So let me share that event with you. When I was 14, one night, really, it was the wee hours of the morning. There was a home in the very quiet wooded cul de sac of my parents neighborhood that caught fire. Now there were no less than five or six fire engines and police cars and ambulances. They all rushed into our neighborhoods with their lights flashing, their sirens blaring. They made a whole lot of noise. And people all over the neighborhood were awakened by the noise. I mean, people everywhere got out of their beds, they put on their housecoats, they were peering outside of their windows. They walked outside into the cold night air and were standing in the middle of the street or on the sidewalk, leaning up against their cars. Everybody was awakened. In fact, my sister, who I shared a room with, we had a small room with two twin sized beds. And mine was underneath the window where we could see all this happening. But hers was across the room. And man, that noise even woke her up. And she got out of bed and came and stood on one side of my bed and leaned over me and was just looking out at all the activity that was happening. My mom, she even was awakened in her room. She walked all the way down the hall, came into the bedroom. She stood on one side of my bed and was hanging over me on the other side. And she was just looking out of the window along with my sister Crystal. They were hanging over me like two great big willow trees looking out the window at all the excitement that was unfolding. And I slept through the whole thing. You heard me right? I missed it all. It wasn't until breakfast the next morning when I was sitting down with my sister and my mom, that they explained to me everything that had taken place in the middle of the night or the wee hours of the morning that I had missed. And I couldn't believe that I had been right there. And that the window that was just above me gave me an opportunity to really partake in everything that was happening. And I'd been sleeping through the entire thing. It occurred to me As I read that and reminded myself of that incident those many years ago, that I had not only been sleeping through that one incident on that one fateful night in my neighborhood, but I had been sleepwalking through whole seasons of my life, hurrying and racing through whole seasons of my life and missing out on the excitement that was unfolding or right in the window of my life. When I was a preteen, I read in my journal about how I could not wait until these preteen years were over so that I could finally be a real live teenager. And then I could be in the real live youth group at the church, and then maybe my parents would let me date a real live boy. And then when I was a teenager, I was reading through my journal entries and I was writing about how I was rushing through that season. I could not wait to hurry up and get finished with that season of being a teenager, stuck underneath what I thought were the terrible, wonderfully restrictive rules of my parents and get out from under there and finally be on my own and be a young single woman at university. And then as a young single woman at university, I read through some of my journals, and I couldn't wait to finish with that season of my life and get on with the business of having a guy ride in no doubt, on a white horse and sweep me off my feet and save me from what I thought was the barbarianism of living as a single woman. Well, then I got married. And Lord have mercy, any of you that are married, you know that marriage is a lot of work, too. And as a young married woman, I read through some of my journals. And while I was enjoying those wonderful first blissful years of marriage, I was writing about how I could not wait until I got to hold that first baby in my arms. And then I had kids. Lord have mercy. They're a lot of work, too. And it occurs to me that as much as I am enjoying motherhood, if I look back on the journals that I have kept over the past nine years that my husband and I have been parenting the three sons that the Lord has given to us, it occurs to me that if I'm not careful, I'm going to miss out on this season, too. Because when I look back at my writings in those journals, I'm saying things like, I cannot wait until I'm no longer changing dirty diapers every single day, until I'm no longer having to figure out a way to cook chicken for dinner, until I actually wash a load of clothes, dry a load of clothes, and then there's no more clothes to wash and dry for at least 24 hours. Yes, we're always trying to rush through one season of life and move on to the next. We're sleepwalking through the season that we are in and not really leaning into all of the excitement that God has for us that is unfolding right before our eyes. You know, as I sat there in the attic that day, the Holy Spirit began to do a number on me. I mean, I really began to think about how much of God's presence, his power, his activity I must be missing because I'm always racing from one season and racing to the next one. And as I sat there that day, the Lord began to bring to my mind the many places in scripture where people were actually with Jesus. I mean, he was right outside the window. He was right in the midst of their story. And for one reason or another, they didn't even realize he was there. They were with God, in the presence of God himself, and they did not know it. God forbid you and I get to the end of a particular season of our life, a good one, a bad one, a frustrating one, a disappointing one, only to get to the end and look back and, and realize God was there and we missed it. I mean, think about the men on the road to Emmaus in Luke chapter 24. These guys were so disappointed because Jesus had been crucified and that's just not what they were planning for Jesus to do. They were hanging their hopes on this guy who was claiming to be the Messiah, but now he's been crucified. And yeah, there have been rumors of resurrection, but they're not sure they believe all of that. And here they are traveling the seven miles from Jerusalem where Passover had been held, and they're traveling and explaining and talking and sharing their opinions and their disappointment about everything that has unfolded. And it says that in that seven mile journey, that walk from Jerusalem to their home in Emmaus, it says that a third passenger joined them, walked with them, talked with them. And it wasn't until a long time later that they realized the guy they'd been talking to and walking with was Jesus the Christ. Then there was Mary Magdalene. You remember, she went to the tomb looking for the body of her Lord, was terribly disappointed when she found out he wasn't there. She was crying a river of tears. And the blur in her vision kept her from realizing that the man that was behind her, saying her name, tapping her on the shoulder, having conversation with her, that was the Christ that she'd been looking for. How about Jacob in Genesis 28, it says that he woke up after sleeping all night long and having a vision that the Lord had given him of a ladder descending from the heavens to the earth, with angels ascending and descending upon it. And he says he woke up and says, surely the Lord was here and I did not know it. What happens when you and I are in particular seasons of our life and we're there, but we're not really there? Well, I'll tell you what happens. We miss out on seeing God. There is a reason why you are in the season you're in right now. I know it's frustrating and disappointing. Maybe that's not the job of your dreams. Or your marriage is going through a tough valley year right now. Or, man, this is the hardest year of parenting you have had thus far. Or maybe singleness is getting a little too long and drawn out for you. You are ready for this particular season to be over. Or maybe it's not just that you want a season to be over. Maybe you really have just experienced something that's fairly tragic, something that really has rocked your world, and this is not what you signed up for. And you want either to undo what has happened or you want to at least hurry through the recovery process so that you can move on with life. And I just wonder if we're missing out on the beauty that God has for us right where we are. Because we're sleepwalking, trying to race from one thing into the next thing. And that's why we have to make a resolution by the spirit's power within us. We have to make a resolution to live with a spirit of contentment. Here's the resolution that I want you to consider. I do solemnly resolve to embrace my current season of life. And I will maximize my time in it. I will resist the urge to hurry through or circumvent any portion of my journey, but I will live with a spirit of contentment. Now, that's chocked full of a lot of good stuff. So I want to make sure and make sure you hear that. So listen to it again. I do solemnly resolve to embrace my current season of life. And I'm going to maximize my time in it. I will resist the urge to hurry through or circumvent any portion of my journey, but I will live with a spirit of contentment. Now, I gotta tell you, it's shocking, really, to cross paths with an individual like this, someone who is settled and satisfied, content with what they have, with who they are, and with the season of life that they're in at that particular moment. I mean, when you find somebody like this who's just at peace with what they have and who they are and where they live and what their life entails, aren't you a little bit shocked? A little bit Put at ease yourself. Just because their temperament is so calm, they're not striving constantly for something. Someone who lives with this kind of ease and peace, man, the only way they can have that is if they have contentment. There's the word contentment. This type of woman is a shock to the culture because she's so different from most others. When you meet somebody like this, it's almost like they've got this secret tucked deep down inside that keeps them from feeling pressured by what pressures? Everybody else? Well, according to the Apostle Paul, they do have a secret. It's the secret called contentment. Contentment is a self sufficiency that arises out of our relationship with God, the sufficiency we find in him. So that no matter what's happening around us, no matter how chaotic or crazy or different or weird or strange, that things might be on the outside than what we had planned, we are still find a sufficiency welling up deep on the inside of us that comes from his spirit. This mysterious internal compass that points us in the direction of peace and satisfaction and lets us rest easy with our station in life is something that we need and cannot live peacefully without. In Philippians, chapter four, Paul has been sharing the very real possibility that there is to have peace in your life even when you're right smack dab in the middle of troublesome circumstances. And listen, this is somebody who knew some trouble, let me tell you. Paul had been beaten, wrongly accused, jailed, ridiculed, left for dead. He'd been shipwrecked. I mean, goodness, the list really could go on and on. And I know if the truth be told, your list could go on and on. Man, if you had to list out and write down all the details of the troubles or the disappointments that you're facing right now, the things that are just frustrating to you about this season of singleness or this season of marriage, or the trouble that you're facing with that kid, or the dilemma that you're having in your health or your finances, man, you'd have a long list too. It might not look exactly like Paul's, mine might not look exactly like yours, but we've all got a list. In fact, we should expect a list because Jesus himself said in John 16:33, in this world you're going to have trouble. Listen, you don't have to go looking for trouble. Jesus says, keep living and trouble will come and find you. And don't we know that that's the truth. And Paul knew what this felt like. He knew what it meant to live in a state of hardship. But as a part of his encouragement to the Philippians about what sustained him and what could sustain them and us, he told them this in verses 11 through 13 of Philippians chapter 4. I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know both how to have a little and how to have a lot in any and all circumstances. I have learned the secret of being content. Whether well fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need, I am able to do all things through him that strengthens me. Contentment strengthened him it's interesting to me that the majority of the time that contentment or this theme of self satisfaction or an inner satisfaction is presented in Scripture, it almost always directly correlates or leads to this strengthening. It gives us the idea that when we are content, when we recognize the secret, the mystery that is contentment and incorporated into our lives, we receive an inner strengthening that carries us through the different things that are happening in our daily experiences. Listen. And the thing about what Paul describes in this passage is that he says he learned contentment. Contentment wasn't a personality trait that he had been born with or some special gift he'd been given by God. Listen. This was a skill that he learned, a characteristic he had gained and then he'd honed it. And he says clearly that the training ground for this type of contentment were his own experiences. The things that God allowed in his life were the training grounds that got his contentment into tip top shape. So listen, Taking a class on contentment. It could be helpful listening to this program today. Me sharing with you on contentment. That could be helpful. Reading books on contentment. Man, I've got some really great ones that have really blessed and inspired me. They too can be helpful to us, but only by walking through experiences that God allows. Trusting in him, depending upon him and seeking to find this inner sense of satisfaction, this contentment that only the Holy Spirit can give in the current circumstances we're in. Only through those experiences will our contentment be honed and developed and become a regular part of our life. Listen. Especially the circumstances that you don't care for. Those are the ones that are going to train and discipline your level of contentment. So right now, in the midst of your current life circumstances, you're being Trained, my friend. Would you see the frustrating thing that you might even be dealing with today in the next 24 hours? Would you see that as God's training ground for you? Your contentment skills, they're being honed so that the next set of experiences that you may face again, whether good or bad, they could just be different than what you'd planned. You'll be able to rest easier than you could before because God is training you through what you're experiencing in your life now. Can I just give you, before we close our time together today, just a little bit of encouragement? Do you know all that we're talking about, about the experiences that God allows in our life, or that he doesn't allow, the training processes that we go through through those experiences? Can I just tell you that all of this points to one of the characteristics of God that really is incredible when you think about it. Astounding, actually. The characteristic is God's sovereignty. God's sovereignty means that he stood before time and sees the end all the way to the beginning. He sees the beginning all the way to the end, not only of the entire time slot of planet Earth, but also your life. He has your days numbered. He knows exactly where you would be placed in this particular generation so that this generation could be impacted by the purposes, the plans, the gifts, the talents that he has implanted into your life. He already knows all the details that you are experiencing and that you will ever experience. Because he is sovereign. You might be surprised by what you're facing in your life, but listen, God is not surprised. He has created or allowed every single one of the experiences that you are facing, even if they're frustrating. He's either created it or he's allowed it, my friend, but either way, it has had to pass through his fingers before it's gotten to be a part of your life. His sovereignty is so amazing that it even is able to incorporate the toughest seasons of your life into something that will work out for your good and his glory. This is the power of God's sovereignty that he uses everything, even your seasons of rebellion, your seasons of consequence. Listen. There is explanation and illustration after illustration of people in the scriptures were used by God even during a season of life that were as a result of their own rebellion, their own consequences. In that place, God and His sovereignty orchestrated it and used it so that his purposes and plans were served, so that would you know that God's sovereignty causes you and I to rest easy, to relax, to do what Psalms 4610 says. Cease striving, be still, chill out and see and know that he is God. And so, my friend, trust in the sovereignty of God. Choose contentment. See what you're facing right now as the training ground that God is going to use to cause you to become the woman of resolve that he has called you to be. When you and I make that decision, we'll be surprisingly satisfied.