Thursday, May 10, 2007

Contentment

Phillipians 4:6-7 - 6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

We have come to the decision that visiting back home for my brother's wedding is beyond our financial capabilities. We do not have the funds we originally thought we would have.
The house we are living in was formerly military housing until last week. We signed a year lease under the impression that the transition from military to civilian housing would be a smooth one.
Not so...so very much not so. We paid the first months rent out of our own pocket rather than borrow from the Army (advance housing money) and have to pay them back. Well...we won't see that money back until we complete our year lease and move on from this house. It's really screwy...I still don't quite understand how they work. I was under the impression that we would be reimbersed and we were going to use that money to purchase plane tickets. Not so. I don't want to sound ungrateful, because I know that if we were in a civilian job we would not have some of the benefits the Army offers. (i.e. housing money to offset the cost of rent, incredible health benefits, we also get a little extra money for living in a remote location.) But somehow they always seem to do just enough to benefit their military agenda. Not really inprove the soldier's quality of life and that of his family. It's always just enough. Maybe that is the object lesson here. Maybe God is telling me to be content in what I have...but I don't want a whole lot!
I don't want fancy cars, top of the line clothing, jewlery etc...I just want enough money to be able to see my family, and experience Alaska!!!
I was so overwhelmed yesterday after finding all this out. Not sure our decisions would have been different had we known all this. We arrived here mid freeze, and housing was not open...we had to find a house quick...this is where God has put us, and now I need to concentrate on what I must learn from this...
Despite not being able to see my family for what could possibly turn into close to 2 years (we last visited in July '06) I need to try and focus on all the blessings God has given us.
  • we have a roof over our head, heat included in the rent during the freezing winter.
  • we have plenty of food to eat...never lacking.
  • because we are not able to leave Alaska this summer, we can experience all this area has to offer: camping, Gwyneth may go to day camp, the local farmer's market, Pioneer Park, wild blueberry picking, fishing, a trip to Anchorage, maybe Seward. The possibilities are endless.
And because they do make everything better (albeit, temporarily... leaning on God and hashing it out with Him seems to make everything better more permanently and diving into His Word to find comfort which I did this morning-highly recommend it! )
a batch of chocolate chips cookies...


& homemade Mac'N Cheese.



2 comments:

  1. That is one of the things about you I love. You always turn to God when things are tough rather than working from your own strength or getting mad at Him. Very encouraging! Thanks!

    Happy Mother's Day!

    Love Tim

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  2. Oh! I miss your mac n cheese! That stuff was good!
    And it stinks that you don't get to go out to his wedding, but He has a reason for everthing... Even if we don't like the reason ya just gotta stay strong!
    TTYL,
    -JC

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