Philippians 4:11 tells us “Not that I speak according to lack, for I have learned, in whatever circumstances I am, to be content”.

This semester has really been a learning process for me of learning to be content in any situation.  At the beginning of this semester in a weekly Bible study I attend, someone shared that God was teaching her to be satisfied with where she is at right now and to stop saying “if only”.  As humans, we find ourselves doing this a lot.  Naturally, we look towards the future and tend to think “once this particular circumstance is over, life will be better”.  In my case, I catch myself doing this a lot with my classes.  As students, we are constantly complaining that once *insert class* is over, life is going to be so much better.  And of course, it might be the case that some aspects of our life do get easier once a certain class is over.  But, overall no matter what stage of life you’re in there are going to be hardships and struggles.  So how about learning to be happy with where we are at this exact moment?

We have to remember that this stage of our life is not going to last forever and once we are into the next stage, we will probably wish we would have enjoyed it more while we could.  As difficult as college classes are, I recognize that they are just classes.  Besides classes, college is such a fun time in life.  When else do you get to live with your best friends and be around your friends almost all the time?  But, even semester by semester there are so many changes as friends graduate and new friends are made.   So learning to really take it all in day by day has been something that has helped me tremendously this semester.

As a Christian, I see every hardship and struggle as another opportunity to gain more of Christ and further my relationship with Him.  The Lord has gained so much more of me this semester as I have been forced to turn to Him and rely on Him so much more.  I keep saying how hard this semester has been for me and the reason for that is because I am taking 17 credit hours and it’s been difficult to balance my studies, my pursuit of the Lord, and everything else I have to take care of.  I’ve had to skip out on so many Bible studies and other events to study for school and that has been really hard for me because I hate missing that stuff.  But on the flip side, the result of being alone so much has resulted in so many sweet conversations with the Lord.  He has increased my love for Him so, so much since even only 2 months ago since the semester started.  It’s crazy to see growth that drastically.  It’s normally difficult to see growth since it is such a slow process, but when you look back over time it’s so evident how different you really are.  I had an experience recently that showed me how different I am from even just a year ago.  If we continue to come to the Lord, He is faithful to provide the growth in life.

And so as I go about my day to day, of course I wish that microbiology and anatomy would just be over already.  But when those thoughts cross my mind, I remind myself that this semester isn’t going to last forever and so much is going to change.  I try to remember to enjoy the little moments of joy and be content with what the Lord is doing in my life right now.  We can always look forward to the future because it is exciting, but we also have to learn to be happy right where we are.  I pray that the Lord continues to teach me to be content in all situations and that Paul’s reality of Christ in Philippians 4:11 becomes more of my reality, too.

XOXO,

Texan On The Go