The contentment crisis

The contentment crisis - part I

I have heard it said that contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have.

I am mindful of this at Christmas time, but truly I have been awakened and aware, so aware, of this for the past two years, ever since I took my first trip to Africa.

Pondering this for two years now, I have come to the realization that I truly believe the major problem with most Christians today is severe discontentment. We are in a real crisis in America and the church today and what many do not realize is that at it's root is discontent and greed. It's a problem with most all Americans, Christians or not, however I believe it's worse with Christians because we should know better. Many who do know better simply don't do better in this area.

Unfortunately the lack of contentment has caused a lot of people to make very bad decisions in their personal lives ~ their relationships, home, family, church, job, you name it...the contentment crisis has damaged many lives.

I used to be one of the people who, had this issue not gotten in check in my own life, could have gone careening toward some kind of a crash.

When I came home from Africa the first time, my husband thought I needed counseling. However deep inside I realized, it wasn't me who was upside down...

I was right side up, for the first time.

More on this tomorrow... I will be preaching on this subject the next two weeks on Wednesday night and will post my notes after each message.

Comments

This Could Have Ruined Everything... (But It Didn't!)

No one would ever guess what happened to me this weekend in Jacksonville, Florida...so I'm going to tell you. :) As I was preaching at the Fearless Tour at New Hope Assembly of God this weekend, I got choked up, literally. For probably 2-3 minutes I coughed profusely and greatly struggled. Then I drank some water and kept preaching. Everyone was gracious to give me a few moments to get my bearings. If you were there, you'll remember it! What no one realized at the time was that I swallowed a bug that flew right in while I was preaching! So disgusting! I said nothing because I was at a point in the sermon where I was really connecting and I knew if I said, "I swallowed a bug," everyone would either laugh profusely or be really concerned, or start feeling sorry for me. And at that point whey wouldn't be thinking about the message anymore, but the fact that I had just swallowed a bug. They would then imagine what it would be like, and feel grossed out which

I'm Just Being Transparent...

This year at the Stronger Conference, a young minister stopped me as I was walking out of the room at the conclusion of a workshop and she said, "I want to tell you something..." (I was all ears.) She said, "Do you notice how many of the speakers this weekend are saying, "Now, I'm just being transparent when I tell you..." or "I'm just keepin' it real..." I nodded yes. In fact, I mentioned that I was one of those speakers. I think I probably said a few times in both my keynote message and my workshop that I was just "keepin' it real." After I affirmed that yes, I had noticed that -- she said, "Do you know why they have to do that? They do it...and you do it, because so many people don't keep it real. So many in leadership aren't transparent, Deanna. That's why all these people speaking here feel an urge to declare their transparency.." I let her know that usually when I say, "I'm just kee

What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director. Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year. God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started inve

Deanna Doss Shrodes

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