{"id":19630,"date":"2014-05-21T00:20:12","date_gmt":"2014-05-21T04:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=19630"},"modified":"2014-05-20T19:26:23","modified_gmt":"2014-05-20T23:26:23","slug":"contentment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/05\/21\/contentment\/","title":{"rendered":"Contentment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SeekingHimLogo\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Let them give thanks\u00a0to the\u00a0Lord<\/span>\u00a0for His unfailing love<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>and His wonderful deeds\u00a0for mankind,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>for He satisfies\u00a0the thirsty<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span>and fills the hungry with good things. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Psalms 107:8-9\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ever been lost and by yourself in a strange, unfamiliar area? That is so scary! In the old days—before maps on our cellular phones—you had to rely on a physical map or on directions from a stranger. (That is, if you trusted the person who was giving you directions.) The Bible is that way. It is a map, giving us directions for our journey or path. We have the choice to rely on the information the Bible is giving us, or we can try to take shortcuts to reach the same destination.<\/p>\n

Now, with the map applications on our phones, we can be\u00a0assured that we will\u00a0find our way to the destination. When people travelled the roads in Biblical days, they were always watchful for bandits and thieves. They never knew if they would be robbed, beaten, or even murdered along the road. It would be so scary to travel alone, and I would imagine, that would be the last thing one would want to \u00a0do. Now, in our times, we can make that choice to stay on the road or take detours.<\/p>\n

Speaking from a spiritual viewpoint, “detours” can be\u00a0dangerous if we choose to take them. They can be\u00a0dangerous if we become distracted by them and never get back on the road to fulfilling God’s purpose for us. Detours are those things that would keep us from living up to the full potential\u00a0God has designed for us. This does not mean we cannot pick up and go\u00a0to \u00a0the road to complete what we started, but we could miss opportunities along the way to bless or be blessed by others. Detours could be pursuing what we want, and not living according to His Word. \u00a0Or perhaps running away from people who want what is best for us, but somehow smothering the development along the way.<\/p>\n

Parenting is like that, moms and dads want what is best for their children, but there is the possibility of smothering their young adults for fear of them making a mistake. That is where trust should be built. We cannot protect our children forever. We have to trust that we have raised them to the best of our abilities and that the faith imparted to them will remain in them and be enough to get them through whatever they will face.<\/p>\n

Similarly, God is our parent…and we are His children. When we accept Him, profess Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we are grafted\u00a0into the Kingdom. As women, we become princesses in the King’s family. We will grow from infancy into adulthood if we are faithful to pursue after our Father. As we continue to use the manual left for us—the Holy Bible—we will know good times along with the bad.<\/p>\n

…And giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you
\nto share in the inheritance of His holy people in the kingdom of light.
\nFor He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness
\nand brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves,
\nin whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
\nColossians 1:12-14 NIV<\/p>\n

*<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0~ \u00a0 \u2665 \u00a0 ~\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u271e\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0~ \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0 ~ \u00a0 *<\/span><\/p>\n

Father, thank You for Your unending love for us. Thank You for sending Your Son, Jesus, as an example of how to live for You. Thank You for the Holy Spirit, who gave us Your Word to read, believe, and follow. Forgive us of our pride and sinful nature, which keeps us from a peaceful communion with You. Help us pursue this until the day we go home to meet You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let them give thanks\u00a0to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0for His unfailing love\u00a0and His wonderful deeds\u00a0for mankind,\u00a0for He satisfies\u00a0the thirsty\u00a0and fills the hungry with good things. \u00a0 Psalms 107:8-9\u00a0 Ever been lost and by yourself in a strange, unfamiliar area? That is so scary! In the old days—before maps on our cellular phones—you had to rely on a physical map […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":13840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3020],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-devotions","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/SeekingHimLogo.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-56C","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19630"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19793,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19630\/revisions\/19793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}