Life Lessons: Contentment

I posted a few months back about a journey we were/are on of accepting what God's will was for us.  I felt like it was time for a follow up.  This last year, as I've posted before had been a challenging one for us, but we really sought God during the struggles and that has changed ever aspect of our lives for the better. But that doesn't mean time still goes on without challenge or disappointments.

My last post on this topic was us trying to resolve our disappointments in a healthy way. That our desires and goals may not be God's desires and goals for us.  Peter and I are both extremely goal driven individuals and always seeking our next big goal or dream. Life has really calmed down to a bit of a boring standstill and that's not how we typically thrive. We enjoy chaos and change. Being content in the still moments has been challenging, but I also see purpose in it. We've had really hard things to work through this year. But not seeing our goals and dreams met at the pace we may hope to see them has still been hard.

I know from research that the early 30's can be a tough phase of life. We currently have a lot of young kids pulling us in all the directions young children pull us in. I am also attempting to school 3.5 early education learners in 4 different grades and that alone feels like it has become a full time job.  We have children in different developmental phases with the attitudes and behaviors associated with that! We have financial strains as we try and save for the future, renovate areas of the home, go on vacations while the kids are still young, and just in general meet these kids needs and activities on one income all while cost of living increases at a far faster rate than wages. We have distractions and busyness trying to pull our marriage and family apart. We are busy and active and this phase of life will stay this way for quite some time. We want to push ahead and meet our dreams and aspirations for our lives and oftentimes feel the pressure. I am not complaining because there are so many wonderful things about this phase of life. I love having active, busy, healthy children. I love that I am able to stay at home and school my children.  We live a very wonderful life!

But we still have a lot to learn on this balancing act of life. Life is good, life is challenging. We goal oriented folks want to check off those goals and fulfill our dreams!  But something we have learned as we first last year sought God's will and now through the summer as we strive towards a content life, we have some how found genuine and real happiness. This is where it is at!  And I want to shout it from the rooftops sometimes. In general, our lives have always been good, but this is different and better, like we've found the holy grail! There is real joy and happiness to be found when you seek God first and accept what He has for you even if it is different than what we want!  Our lives aren't perfect, we still suffer disappointments. Life is always challenging and stressful. But we are still choosing to always be thankful, count our blessings and be content. God has us in this place for His purpose