Hebrews 13:5b-6

be content with what you have. He himself has said, after all, “I will never, ever, leave you or forsake you.”

You have everything you need to be happy right now.

Contentment is ultimately a choice.

You have everything you need because you have God’s presence and love available to you forever.

We are all born with an innate desire to be loved for who we are without condition, and to be loved this way forever. There’s no getting around this. We may repress it, but it’s there for sure. And we are loved this way, some of us just haven’t recognized it yet.

This summer, we are doing our “State Parks Tour” with our girls, visiting all 25 Indiana State Parks. With each park, we have a truth (Gaby calls it “The Truth of the Hike”) that we go over all day to help sink in. Yesterday’s was “You have value and worth because of who you are, not because of what you do or don’t do.” This is what I told all of my Outreach kids. Most have never heard this. This is a basic, foundational, God-given truth of His universe.

You have everything you need to be happy right now.

By happy, we don’t necessarily mean bouncing off the walls, though you certainly could be. Satisfied, with a settled peace. Joy, really. I think you can be down or even depressed for a time, yet simultaneously joyful deep inside, resting in the contentment of God’s never ending presence and care. We have emotions, we feel the range of them, that is human, that is OK. Contentment can be the soundtrack of your life playing in the background while experiencing all of them.

You have everything you need right now.

Focus on what you have.

Not on what you can’t have or don’t have.

This is the difference between discontentment and joy.

Matthew 6:33 has been The Ripple Effect verse from day one: Seek first the kingdom of God and His way of life, and all the other things in life you need will be given to you.

I believe this with all my heart.

In Jesus’ name