Contentment in All Circumstances

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.  I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all this through him who gives me strength." Philippians 4:11b-13 NIV

One thing I am learning about myself is that I struggle with contentment.  Though there are always aspects of every location that I enjoy, I constantly have my next move in the back of my mind.  Recently, this has become even more of a struggle for me as I find myself being forced to eat foods I dislike on a daily basis, take cold showers, and lose Internet connection every 30 seconds. My host family lives very differently then I am accustomed to living.  We clean our clothing by hand and our host mom literally dumps half the bottle of detergent in the bucket we soak our clothing in (even though the detergent is triple strength!)  I have no control over what my host mom feeds me.   When she serves us papaya again and again, I secretly want nothing more then to walk over to the trash can and throw it all out.   My host family never turns off their tv.  In fact, often they all fall asleep in front of the tv and stay there all night, using the tv as an alarm to wake them up in the morning.  I don't know what they are saying half the time and I have no control over anything that happens.  We are required to ask permission from our host family for everything we do - from taking a shower, to eating a snack, to going on a walk.  Quite honestly, think I had more freedom when I was 7.  But in all of this, I am learning to be content.

I am learning to be content even though I feel like I'm wearing a pot of soap on my clothing.  I am learning to be thankful that we have food (even if it is papaya and cactus).  I am thankful that we have electricity at all (even if it means the tv will never turn off), thankful that we can access the Internet (even if it doesn't work half the time), and thankful that God is allowing me to go through a time in which I have no control over anything.  When Paul wrote that he had learned the secret of being content he didn't mean that he enjoyed every situation, but he did mean that he learned to rest in God in every situation.  This is the secret of being content - it is learning how to find our peace and comfort in the presence of God and not in the presence of material objects.  So I am praying that I might learn the secret of being content in every situation - whether with Internet or without, whether near family or apart, whether eating foods I enjoy or foods that I dislike, and whether at home or in unfamiliarity.