Contentment Archives - Sharla Fritz
March 22, 2022

When The Desires Of My Heart Are Out of Reach

When I’m longing for something, I’m comforted that God knows every want, every wish lodged deep in my soul When the desires of my heart remain out of reach, I pray the words of the psalmist.

Lord, you have heard the desire of the humble; you will strengthen their hearts. You will listen carefully. Psalm 10:17

Thank You, Lord, that You hear my prayers, that You know the longings of my heart. You not only listen to my words–You see the yearnings that I can’t quite put into sentences. You see past formal prayers and fancy phrases and look deeper into my messy heart where godly desires are jumbled together with hungers for things that won’t satisfy. I get them all mixed up and think I want one thing when I’m really craving something else entirely. My heart contains many disordered loves.

Help me to remember that You listen to the humble. I confess that I often come to You, demanding my way. But I want to enter Your presence simply grateful for the fact that I always have Someone who will listen to my anxieties and doubts, my heartaches and fears. Help me to put them all into Your hands. Deep inside my soul, I know that Your way is always better than I can even imagine. Yet, I often get impatient pushing my timeline on You. I become proud, thinking that my plan is an improvement over Yours.

Strengthen my heart to remember Your power and strength, Your wisdom and knowledge. Give me the tenacity I need to wait for Your timing. Grant me the grace to trust You completely. Pour out Your peace on my cluttered soul.

Thank You, Lord, that You listen carefully. My prayers are not like background noise that you casually overhear. You purposely tune Your attention to the frequency of my heart. Like someone who clears his desk and turns off his cellphone to listen to the person who comes into the room, You devote Your attention to me.

Lord, You listen to my pleas, You see the desires of my heart. Some seem just out of reach. I give all my longings and yearning to You, trusting that You will know what is best.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Filed Under: Contentment, Waiting on God
June 22, 2021

When the Weeds of “More” Choke Out Contentment

gratitude

The intersection of a biblical story and the some unruly weeds taught me a lesson about contentment.

The weeds in my garden are staging a coup. They are threatening to take over the flowers that are trying to bloom. I need to spend a little time pulling the unwanted plants out and fertilizing the flowers I want to enjoy.

Sometimes my attitudes also need a little weeding. I keep watering the weeds of “more” and allowing them to choke out my contentment.

I already have a rich life and yet I always seem to be wanting more and more.

Rachel and Leah

A while back I reread the story of Leah and Rachel and noticed the two sisters’ constant desire for more. From the time they got married to Jacob, they each wanted what the other had. Leah wanted the adoring love of her husband that Rachel obviously had and Rachel wanted children. Especially when Leah gave birth multiple times and Rachel’s own cradle was still empty.

When I read the story again in Genesis 29 I saw that the sisters’ discontent was especially evident in the names they gave their children.

Leah named her first three boys:

  • Reuben which sounds like the Hebrew for “God has seen my misery.”
  • Simeon, which means “one who hears,” and said, “Because the Lord has heard that I am hated, He has given me this son also” (Genesis 29:33).
  • Levi, which sounds like a Hebrew term that means “attached.” Leah said, “Now this time my husband will be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons” (Gen. 29:34).

Rachel was no better. She was miserable when she was waiting for a baby while Leah gave birth to six sons, Leah’s servant had two sons, and Rachel’s servant had two baby boys. But when God gave her a child she didn’t give him a name that meant, “Thank you, God.”

Rachel named her first son, the son she had waited years and years for, Joseph–which means–“may he add.” Her first words weren’t, “I praise you God for this wonderful gift of life. They were, “May the Lord add to me another son.”

I was dumbfounded. How could she not even thank God before she asked for more?

Gratitude Tames the Weeds of “More”

Then I realized that I do the same thing. Often when a prayer has been answered, I forget to say, “Thank you.” I don’t pause in gratitude.

Instead, I ask for more. I see the next thing I want and once again am discontent until I get it.

Maybe if Rachel would have taken the time to fully enjoy the blessing of Joseph, she would have been content. Maybe if I would remember to say, “Thank you Lord” the weeds of “more” would be tamed.

Thankfulness yanks at the weeds of discontent. It pulls at the attitude of dissatisfaction and gives peace room to grow.

Gratitude allows contentment to bloom.

Next step: Pay attention to your words today. Did words of discontent outnumber words of gratitude? Find three simple things you can be grateful for and thank God for them.

Filed Under: Contentment Tagged With: ,
October 6, 2020

3 Positive Side-Effects of Giving Up Grumbling

Grumbling seems to be a national pastime. We moan when the weather is lousy. We complain about traffic. We gripe about disappointments.

Why do we do this?

Maybe it’s because complaining garners sympathy. Maybe it’s because it feels good to get something off your chest. Maybe it’s because it’s easy conversation–usually everyone else joins in with their own gripes.

Maybe it’s because you’re like me and you think: If I don’t complain, what will I talk about?

We Know We Should Give Up Grumbling

But even though it’s easy to grumble, we all know we should give it up.

The apostle Paul wrote:

Do everything without complaining or arguing.

Philippians 2:14

That pretty much covers it, doesn’t it? God commands us to do everything without grumbling.

Gulp.

Fortunately, for those of us who need a little extra incentive, Paul tells us there are positive side-effects to ending our griping sessions. Look at the next verse in Philippians:

“So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe” Philippians 2:15

Three Positive Side-Effects to Giving Up Grumbling

Paul told the Philippians that there are three positive side-effects to giving up griping:

  1. We will become blameless and pure. Blameless means without fault. When we give up complaining, our lives will not be open to criticism. Pure means our lives will not be a mixture of good and evil. When I use my imagination to see myself through God’s eyes when I’m complaining, I see someone given who has been given the greatest gifts of salvation and life forever in heaven and still complains about the weather. A mixture of good and evil. Without my constant griping, my life is a better reflection of Christ’s purity.
  2. We will be children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation. When we’re complaining we look just like everyone else. If give up our griping we will stand out in a society without faith, without hope. People will recognize we have something special. A friend of mine who became a Christian as an adult said that before she knew Jesus, she didn’t see any benefits to becoming a Christian. She thought Christianity was just following a bunch of rules. She saw that Christians still had problems. She couldn’t figure out why someone would subject themselves to all those rules if they didn’t get any benefits. When things don’t go our way, we have an opportunity to show non-Christians the benefits of being a child of God. Even though we have problems, we also have a Father who goes through them with us. Do our lives demonstrate that truth when we are complaining?
  3. We will shine like stars in the universe. Without complaining, our light will shine brighter, we will be more able to point people to the Light of the world. Complaining will only dim our brightness.

Give Up Grumbling, Exhibit Trust

When we abandon the habit of complaining every time something irritates us or someone disappoints us, we can shine a light on the One who is more than willing to give us the grace to face every trial. When we give up grumbling, we exhibit trust in the God who will hold our hand through every rainy day, every bump in the road, every painful disappointment.

Filed Under: Contentment, Taming Your Tongue Tagged With: ,
September 29, 2020

When You’re Feeling Unsettled, Dissastified

I often live unsettled, dissatisfied. But sometimes this can be a good thing.

This month I’m reading through the gospel of Mark. I’m slowly digesting one chapter a day. I’m allowing God’s words to unsettle my soul enough to draw me closer to Him and receive His grace.

It didn’t take long for the unsettling to happen. On the second day of my journey through this short book, I read a story that made me uncomfortable. Mark gives the account of four strong men who come to Jesus bringing along a friend who couldn’t walk–a paralytic.

The very first words Jesus said to the man lying helplessly on the stretcher were, “Your sins are forgiven” (Mark 2:5).

Now put yourself in the position of the man on the mat. Were those the words you were hoping to hear? Probably not. Most likely the words you wanted to hear were, “You are healed.”

But Jesus knew what the man needed most. What the paralytic needed more than healing was grace. What he needed more than the ability to walk was the ability to proceed on God’s path of life. What he needed most was forgiveness.

Like the man on the mat I come to Jesus with many pressing needs. I am convinced that if God would just grant this one request I would be happy. Okay, maybe two things. Or three.

But Jesus knows what I need most:

Forgiveness

And because He died an awful death in my place, because He defeated our most terrible foe, because He rose triumphant, forgiveness is available. Because the Holy Spirit worked faith in my heart and drew me closer to the cross, forgiveness is mine.

If you know the story of the paralytic, you know that Jesus didn’t make the man wait long before He also told him, “Get up and take your mat and go home” (Mark 2:11). The man received what he needed the most and what he probably wanted the most.

But what if Jesus had not healed the lifeless limbs? Would the man have been content? Would he been disappointed but then realize that peace in his soul was worth far more than strength in his legs?

The reason this story unsettled my soul is that I fear I would not have been satisfied with just the gift of forgiveness. I fear this because I often go to Jesus with what some perceived need and forget He has already given me what I require most. The desperate longings in my soul can seem more important than my most desperate need for forgiveness. And so I am not content.

Perhaps you can relate. You are facing loss. Pain. Discouragement. Your spirit is not content.

Maybe together we can pray that we would realize that God has already met our most crucial need. That He has given us grace. Healing for our souls. Life in His love.

Pray for contentment for the greatest gift: Forgiveness.

Filed Under: Contentment Tagged With: ,
September 15, 2020

If You’re Struggling with Emptiness, Learn How to Live Filled

God wants to fill all the desperate little corners of our souls with Himself.

Do you feel empty? This old story may help you to live filled.

Once a professor went to visit an old monk famous for his wisdom. The monk graciously welcomed him in and offered him a seat.

As soon as the professor sat down, he sat down and began to tell the monk all about his own accomplishments, ideas, and opinions.

The monk quietly listened for awhile and then asked, “Would you like some tea?”

The professor nodded and smiled, but kept right on talking. The monk handed him a tea cup and began pouring from his teapot. The tea filled the cup, but the monk kept right on pouring while the professor kept right on talking. Eventually the professor noticed the tea overflowing onto the saucer and shouted, “What do you think you are doing? Can’t you see the cup is full?”

And the monk replied, “This cup is just like your mind. It can’t take in anything new, because it is already full.”

Sometimes when I come to God, I come full. I am filled to the brim with my own ideas of how my life should go. I am overflowing with opinions of how God should answer my prayers. There simply isn’t room for God to work in me because I am too full of myself.

God wants to fill all the desperate little corners of our souls with Himself. To totally satisfy our hearts by saturating them with His love and peace, but we won’t experience that if our hearts are full of something else. I have found that when my heart is full of my own expectations, saturated with my own desires and demands I have no room for what God wants to pour into my spirit.

I try to avoid emptiness, but every empty spot is a potential vessel for God’s fullness. So the more empty places I give God to fill, the more space I make for Him in my life. God wants to fulfill all our longings and He does that by giving us Himself. Psalm 16:11 says,

“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”

As we empty our hearts of our own ideas, demands, and expectations, God will fill us with His presence. He will pour in His joy until our hearts are overflowing.

Filed Under: Contentment Tagged With:
August 11, 2020

Distracted No More

Welcome to the season of distraction! Hectic schedules may make you feel overwhelmed. Pulled in too many directions. Unfocused.

I have something that may help. A few years ago, I was a guest on Marnie’s Friends–a podcast that consistently gives inspiration to Christian women. I shared some of my methods for staying focused. In this episode of the podcast, you’ll discover:

  • The most important step to living with focus
  • The secret of finding true priorities
  • How to align your to-do list with true priorities
  • 3 strategies to know your why
  • Why it’s important to kill multi-tasking3 simple but important routines that will improve your focus
  • The importance of periodically unplugging
  • How focus and Sabbath connect
  • 5 ways to craft your own personal spiritual retreat

Just click on the image below to access the audio recording.

Next step: Write down three current activities that are making you feel overwhelmed or distracted. Is there something you can do to change that? Abandon the activity? Change the time? Enlist some help?

Distracted No More

If you would like to learn more about avoiding distractions and living a focused life, check out my new book Distracted: Finding Faith-Focus Habits for a Frenzied World on Amazon.

The ebook is only $3.99!

Inside you will find 16 Faith-Focus Habits that will help you:

  • find focus by connecting to God 
  • truly pay attention to what is essential
  • prioritize your day
  • find focus in your work
  • make important choices
  • defeat the distractions of technology
  • find rest in our hectic world
Filed Under: Contentment, Spiritual Growth Tagged With:
July 14, 2020

Feeling Overwhelmed? Embrace Boring

in-repentance-and-rest-is-your-salvation-in-quietness-and-trust-is-your-strength-isaiah-30-15a

Feeling overwhelmed? Maybe you need a little boredom.

The other day I sat outside and read a book. I stared out at my garden and let my mind wander. I sat so still that a robin landed about twenty-four inches from my feet and a bunny scampered right past me.

In short, I let myself be bored.

Our Culture and Boredom

Our culture shuns boredom. Watch a group of people waiting in a doctor’s office or even in the grocery check out line and you will see most of them checking out their phones–catching up on email or playing Candy Crush. It seems we need constant stimulation.

But what if this constant stimulation is one of the causes of the constant, incessant, unrelenting sense of being overwhelmed?

What if our brains need some downtime? What if we need quiet to balance out the noise? What if we need to embrace boredom–at least sometimes?

The afternoon I took the time to sit in my yard came in the middle of a hectic season. In the past two months, I have been working on an online class, finishing a new book, and completing projects for an organization I work with. In the next few weeks, I am attending a writers retreat, speaking at a conference, and attending an out-of-town board meeting. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed. So I purposely took some time to be a little bored.

Boredom Can Improve Your Life

Research shows that embracing times of boredom will help you focus better when it’s time to work. Cal Newport writes in his book, Deep Work,

Efforts to deepen your focus will struggle if you don’t simultaneously wean your mind from a dependence on distraction.

In other words, embrace times of boredom if you want times of sharp focus.

God tells us something similar in Isaiah:

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength. (Isaiah 30:15a)

And then He adds:

But you would have none of it. (Isaiah 30:15b)

God sees me rushing around tries to tell me that rest is my salvation. Quietness is my strength. 

When I’m overwhelmed, I’m weak. I’m trying to do it all on my own, instead of trusting God to accomplish His will in my life.

To live an “underwhelmed” life, I have to embrace times of rest and quiet and…boredom. 

God tells me that rest is my salvation. Quietness is my strength. Click To Tweet

Because it is in those times that I am trusting God to work everything out.

Next step: If you’re feeling overwhelmed at work, overwhelmed at home, or overwhelmed with life in general, take five minutes today to embrace boredom and quiet. Look out a window and appreciate God’s creation. Or quietly meditate on a Scripture, Or sit with your eyes closed, contemplating God’s love for you.

Filed Under: Contentment, Spiritual Growth
December 30, 2019

Find Enough: A 7-Day Jump-Start to Decluttering Your Life

Does your home feel crammed with possessions? Does your life feel overstuffed with obligations? Perhaps you need to begin the process of decluttering your life.

It’s easy to accumulate stuff. The pair of jeans that hasn’t fit since before baby number two. The bridesmaid dress you hate but paid “good money” for. The bread machine you never use. The yarn you bought but didn’t have time to knit. The toys your children no longer play with.

Of course, that’s just the stuff clogging your cupboards and closets. A lot more stuff probably clutters your life. Countless meetings and appointments, oodles of kids’ baseball practices and dance recitals fill up your calendar and crowd out your peace. Even your mind and soul may seem cluttered. Disappointment, bitterness, and perfectionism can easily take up the space in our hearts that is meant for God’s grace, love, and joy.

Do you want to make a change? Do you desire to declutter your home and experience the joy of less? Do you long for a streamlined schedule that has more room for the important things of life? Do you want to empty your mind and heart of the fears and anxieties?

Perhaps that seems impossible. But we can make a start. I have a free tool for you to help you begin the process of decluttering your life. My free workbook Finding Enough: A 7-Day Jump-Start to Decluttering Your Life will guide you in getting rid of the meaningless and unimportant stuff while still keeping what is valuable and beneficial to your life.

The process is based on Ecclesiastes 3:1,6:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven . . . a time to keep, and a time to cast away.

Using this workbook, you’ll examine one area of your life each day and decide if it is time to keep or time to cast away. So it won’t become too overwhelming you will use a process I call “Keep 10 Toss 10”–you will only decide on ten things that are valuable enough to keep and ten things that need to go. I won’t tell you what to hold on to or what to toss—that’s up to you.

Over the course of seven days, you will take a journey to cast out whatever clutters your closets, schedules, and mind. Some of the days, you will tackle a practical area of life like your home or schedule. Other days, we’ll delve into the cupboards of your soul to see if anything harmful or unnecessary is stored there. Most of us have been amassing more and more for years or decades. Our culture tells us that we need more stuff, more goals, more activity to complete our happiness—and we’ve bought into this idea. But many of you have recognized this for the lie it is. And that’s why you’re here. You are ready to find enough.

Ready to start the journey to find enough–enough stuff, enough joy, enough meaning in your life? Type your email in the box below to subscribe to my Soul Rest newsletter and receive my free guide: Finding Enough: A 7-Day Jump-Start To Decluttering Your Life.

If you would like to learn more about finding enough, check out my brand new book Enough for Now: Unpacking God’s Sufficiency!

A study of the parable of the rich fool, it will help you discover:

  • enough money
  • enough stuff
  • enough food
  • enough relationships
  • enough time
  • enough of me

You can find out more about it here. And order it here and here!

Filed Under: Contentment Tagged With:
November 19, 2019

Navigating Unmet Desires

How do you deal with unmet desires? Those longings you’ve held for years? Those empty places in your heart that never seem filled?

It turns out those unmet desires can be a key to spiritual growth. It’s a lesson I learned on a shopping trip.

I love to browse at the outlet mall near my house and sometimes find wonderful items within my budget. However, on one such browsing session I wandered into the Armani store. Now I knew Armani was an expensive name, but I thought this is the outlet store, right? Looking through the racks I found a beautiful blouse. “This would be perfect,” I thought–until I looked at the price tag! $221.00!

Now I should add that although I love to browse at the outlet mall, I normally buy my clothing at resale shops where I can get an Ann Taylor sweater set for $4.99, a Liz Claiborne trench coat for $5.50, and a Jones New York jacket for $4.00. I couldn’t quite fathom $221.00 for one item of clothing. 

In a resale shop I can usually buy anything I desire. But in the Armani store my desires would remain unmet.

Shortly after the trip to the Armani store, my daily quiet time led me to Deuteronomy 8:3 and as I read I felt God flip a switch in my brain.

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” Deuteronomy 8:3

I saw something in that verse I had not noticed before. Moses told the people of Israel that God humbled them, causing them to hunger. He did not immediately meet their needs. And when God did feed them, He gave them manna. This was a miraculous food to be sure and it kept them full, but it did not totally satisfy their appetites. They still longed for the taste of fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic (Numbers 11:5).

 

God purposely caused them to hunger, let their mouths water, their stomachs to growl. Why?

To teach them that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” God caused the hunger, gave them a desire that He didn’t immediately meet in order to show them that what they really wanted was not what they thought they wanted.

Let me say that again: What they really wanted was not what they thought they wanted. Their deepest need, their most intense desire and our deepest need, most intense desire is to hear God’s words to us. We need to recognize His voice and experience a real relationship with Him.

Looking back on my life, I see many times when I have had a deep longing, an intense desire, a pressing goal. I worked hard to get what I wanted and prayed with all my heart, yet what I longed for remained just beyond my reach. Now I see that it was during those times that God was withholding that desire, delaying the answer to the prayer long enough for me to see that what I really wanted was Him. To realize that Jesus is enough. The desires I had were to lead me to true satisfaction in the Lord–in His words of life to me.

What desires do you have? Does it seem that God is withholding a key ingredient to your happiness? Maybe He is trying to show you that what you really want is to hear His voice. Take time to do that today. Read His loving words to you. Be still and listen. He is the One who will give you what you really want.

And it isn’t something you can buy in the Armani outlet.

If you would like to learn more about finding enough, check out my new book Enough for Now: Unpacking God’s Sufficiency!

A study of the parable of the rich fool, it will help you discover:

  • enough money
  • enough stuff
  • enough food
  • enough relationships
  • enough time
  • enough of me

You can find out more about it here. And order it here and here!

Filed Under: Contentment
November 5, 2019

Book Review: Finding Holy in the Suburbs

Every once in a while, a book echos exactly what is rolling around in my head–Finding Holy in the Suburbs is that kind of book.

In 2018, I chose the word enough as my word of the year. I wanted to challenge myself to find enough in God–not in having enough money, shoes, or even dark chocolate. Throughout that year, I limited my shopping and practiced gratitude for what God has already given. I steeped myself in God’s Word and learned a little more about contentment.

And that is why I love Finding Holy in the Suburbs.

Author Ashley Hales tells of a similar journey. She thought she wanted to live in a big city or maybe in the country, but she ended up in the suburbs and somehow that didn’t seem like enough.

Although the suburbs appear as lands of plenty, they can become deserts of wanting more. Even though they may seem lands of excess, what they have plenty of doesn’t actually fill our hearts.

In Finding Holy in the Suburbs, author Ashley Hales challenges readers to examine their hungers–big and small–and how they are seeking to satisfy them. Her book shows that many of us try to satiate our desires through the suburban gods of consumerism, individualism, busyness, and safety. Yet we often end up unsatisfied and empty.

Instead of using these suburban gods, Hales encourages us to go the true God–the only One who can fill our empty souls. She points out the need for repentance and the truth of our position as God’s beloved. Then she asks us to risk practicing hospitality, generosity, and vulnerability.

I especially loved the Counterliturgies Hales included at the end of each chapter. These practices became ways to evaluate my current attitudes, meditate on God’s Word, and put my faith into practice. For instance, one Counterliturgy she suggests is:

Pray through your calendar. As you start a new season or new month, pray through your calendar with your family. Prayerfully consider your commitments and what furthers a life of generosity and other-centeredness versus what satisfies your whims.

I encourage you to grab a copy of Finding Holy in the Suburbs. Inside the pages, you will find hope for your thirsty soul.

Filed Under: Contentment
Next Page »