A Lesson In Contentment

I have tried to write a different post on contentment all morning long but when things that are out of your control with your youngest son half way around the world in Africa it is a little hard to focus on anything else than what God is doing in both of your lives right then.

My 18-year-old son is on a mission trip to Rwanda with several people from our church. The day before they were on a safari. He had approximately 3 liters of water that he drank all day and was dehydrated. Yes, there is 8 hours difference and I had talked to him via Facebook Messenger that evening over there and he said nothing about not feeling good. It wasn’t until the next morning that he told me he had to stay behind at the guest house to rest and drink a ton of water because he was dehydrated. He had several ladies that were with him go in major mom mode giving him orders to stay in bed and DRINK WATER.

I spent my day talking to our doctor and relaying the same message rest and water to him. Contacting some friends to pray. Listening to him talk about different things going on. The pastor and his wife came back before the rest of the team and he had talked to a doctor that treats missionaries at the center the team was at today and he said the same thing everyone has been telling him, water and rest.

So what does this have to do with contentment?

It had taken me a long time to get to a place of being content to let him go to Rwanda in the first place. I knew he was with a lot of people that loved him and cared for him as their own son. I also trust God wanted him there for a reason so I was content with it all. Then when he told me what was going on this morning my contentment left for a short time. It was a very short time before the verse 1 Peter 5:8, went through my head.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

It hit me the enemy was trying to steal my peace, rest, and contentment because of a circumstance was out of my control to take care of it. Right then and there I put my shield of faith up to stop the attack on what I know is true and regained my contentment.

When we hear the roar of that lion we have to make sure we have our spiritual armor on so he can’t steal our peace, rest, and contentment by replacing it with fear. That is what the loin’s roar is for, to scare the prey that it will panic and run. Once on the run the lionesses can attack and kill the prey. Our enemy can’t kill us but he will attack more if we give way to fear at his roar.

As for my son, he is doing better and feeling stronger. He has his 6 moms looking out for him along with his roommate to make sure that he is drinking the right amount of water every day for the rest of the trip.