Recently I was talking with my pastor when he told me that he was focusing on one word for this year—a word he wanted to have written on his heart. He then encouraged me to do the same.

I took on this challenge but have been struggling with what word to choose. I’m stuck on two that I want to dwell on this year: Contentment and trust.

This year I want to be content both with who I am in Christ and with who God is. I desire to see God as the gracious, loving God He really is and experience, more deeply, the peace He offers.

For a long time, contentment eluded me. Over the past six years I’ve been learning that contentment is not an elusive, impossible thing to experience. Believing, trusting in the One who has given me new life and even though I can’t fully comprehend Him, embracing who He is and the amazing gift He has given, deepens my trust with each new day!  And as that trust deepens I am more content.

“I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” –Philippians 4:11-13 (The Message)

I trust in who He says I am!

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” —1 John 3:1

Contentment and trust go hand in hand. Maybe that’s why I can’t choose one or the other to focus on!  Do I trust that I am who God says I am? That I am a child of God, made brand new? Do I trust that it’s no longer I who lives but Christ who lives in me? I have to remind myself every day that the answer to these questions is an emphatic YES! Yes I do trust that I am His child. Yes I do trust that I’ve been made brand new! YES I do trust Christ lives in me therefore the Holy Spirit lives in me! But I also know this doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a lifetime of maturing.

I trust that the Holy Spirit will guide me to act according to God’s way and not mine. When I live out of that trust it’s amazing to see how content I can be. The more I trust, the more content I can be because I won’t get worked up about the things I can’t control—He is in control of everything, and that I can trust.

There are days when I have a much harder time trusting God and as a result, I feel less content.  I may say, “Yes, I trust you, but…” I still wrestle with my human-ness. It’s in these moments that I need to lean into God even more.

Yes, contentment and trust. I think these will be my two words this year. It’s not too late, how about you?

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.”   —Proverbs 3:5-6  (The Message)

—Dave Dravecky

Dave Dravecky is a regular contributor to The Increase and will be providing monthly articles and opinions.

Check out Dave’s Increase profile here: http://theincrease.com/author/davedravecky/     

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