In the last Sabbath Reflections, I share an excerpt from a book on the issue of contentment. Back in July, I wrote the following article on an experience of mine directly related to contentment. So I thought it would be fitting to share it here.
What We Can't, God Can
Each human being is unique. God has given each and every person a unique personality, certain gifts, and different abilities. Each person also has things he/she is not very good at. Everyone has at least something he/she doesn’t do well.
My personality type tends to be more that of an introvert. I enjoy being with my friends. I also enjoy getting together with others to play games. I love teaching the Bible to women. Yet, even though I like visiting with my friends, I also have a point where I just want to go home. I tend to be a “home-body.” I like to be able to rest in my safe haven I call home. I tend to feel very uncomfortable in groups where I don’t know people well. If I had to choose to go to a social function such as a shower, etc. I most often would prefer to stay at home. My personality definitely fits the mold of an introvert.
God has gifted me with administration and organization. He’s also gifted me with a voice to sing and the ability to play the piano by ear. I have the ability to read music and coordinate things. I have the qualities of a leader.
On the other hand, there are definitely areas that I don’t do well with. One of those areas is what I call space. I tend to be a person who likes plenty of space and not a lot of clutter. When there’s clutter all around me, I tend to seem more overwhelmed. I think physical clutter clutters my mind. As far as space goes, I don’t like to feel boxed in. I think space and clutter go hand in hand. Having space around me gives me the sense of order I think. The more clutter in the area, the less space there is. Since I don’t like clutter, obviously I like order. I prefer my home to be organized and ordered (well at least most of my home, which does not include my children’s rooms!). Sure, you may find things lying around here and there. But overall, I feel better when things are tidy. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not some kind of neatness sergeant walking around making sure no dust settles and all is tidy. I do allow my children to be children. I don’t always put everything up right when I’m done with it. But overall, I like things to look neat.
For a person who likes space with minimal clutter, the thought of living in cramped quarters does not sound very appealing. In fact, it would seem down right impossible. However, I was put in that exact situation. There was a time in my life where the thought of living in a camper/RV would’ve been repulsive. In fact, I had said before that it would be something I just couldn’t do. In fact, in my own strength, I probably could not have done it. Yet, about a year and a half ago, I found myself living in a camper.
Let me describe this camper to you. At first, you might be tempted to think that those RV’s can have quite a lot of space in them. That’s true. In fact, we actually looked at one that was really nice and spacious. However, that does not describe what we lived in. Our camper had no pop-outs and very little floor space. Everything was very compact. If you opened the bathroom door all the way, you couldn’t walk through the hallway. In fact, you could probably sit on the toilet and open the hallway closet door. We would joke about how you could sit on the couch and open the refrigerator. Okay, that was an exaggerated joke. When you walked into the camper, you entered the main area which included the living room and kitchen. You could stand in the middle of the area and almost touch anything in that area. There was a small hallway that included the bathroom and a closet. At the end was a little doorway that separated the rest of the camper and the two twin beds. It was very challenging for two people to stand between the beds at one time.
Understanding how small this camper is, imagine four people living in it. That was us: my husband, myself, our son, and our daughter. Are you imagining? Now couple that with the fact that at least one of those people felt she needed space. And remember, she doesn’t like clutter. Do you remember how I mentioned earlier that it seemed space and clutter go hand in hand? Such was the case here. We had very limited space and too much to put in that space. Needless to say, no matter how hard we tried to keep things organized, clutter just happened. When you have more stuff than the space to put it in, clutter and disorganization occur. Definitely not an ideal situation for someone who likes neatness and organization.
For a little over a year, my family and I lived in this camper. Now don’t get me wrong, I am thankful we had a place to live. Yet it still came with its struggles. I tried for many months to make myself be content and to accept our living situation. While I think it was good that I was trying so hard to be content, I was definitely striving to do something that fought against every grain in my fiber. We definitely had our ups and downs. In fact, I remember one day being so upset that I told my husband I didn’t want to live in that stinky, trashy trailer.
This was not something I could do on my own. But what we can’t do, God can do. God was working in me. And one day, He flipped the light switch. He helped me gain the perspective I needed to have. He changed my mind so much that I was not the same from that day forward. Finally, I was content. I found myself not minding living in the camper. Sure, I still would’ve loved to have had a home. Yet, I was okay if we didn’t. It wasn’t such a struggle anymore. In fact, I found myself feeling that I could stay there as long as we needed to. You see, God helped me change my mind. He helped me do what was not possible for me to do on my own. God’s Word tells me in Philippians 4:13 that through Christ, I can do all things. It doesn’t say that I can do all things on my own. It says, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” That means that those areas I feel I am not able to do, I can do them with the help of Christ who gives me the strength to do them. You see, Jesus said in Luke 18:27, “…‘The things that are impossible with people are possible with God.’” We serve a mighty God who does the impossible.
The story doesn’t end there though. A couple of months after God gave me what I call my light switch moment, we were given an opportunity to move to a spacious 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home. Isn’t God good? And isn’t that just like God? He helped me change my mind and live in a situation I thought would’ve been impossible for me. But it was only after I was content and willing to live in that situation that He abundantly blessed me with plenty of space. God is so good. He proved to me once again that what we can’t do, He can.
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