Contentment?

A fellow blogger has raised the subject of contentment, so I have been pondering it some. I 'm going to throw out my thoughts and you'll have to "scrapbook" with them. (A friend 's term I have adopted, as it is quite frequently fitting when you have many thoughts and haven't yet compiled them cohesively)
Paul said (in Phil.4:11-) "I have learned... to be content... through Christ who strengthens me." There's food for thought...
It seems we have a choice (1 Tim. 6:6-) with vastly different consequences.
Hebrews 13:5 says ...be content...for He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." That's a lot to content ourselves with, if we are truly experiencing Him with us!! It's not like we are settling for something small!
If we walk in delighting ourselves in the Lord, we know true contentment. We learn it. Years ago when I was single, I ran across a book that was titled "Single and Satisfied". I never did read the whole thing, because even the title was enough to stir my thoughts sufficiently. The gist of it was that you will never find satisfaction/fulfilment in anything outside of "Christ in you". If you aren't satisfied single, then you won't be, married, or with children, or the new job, etc. Boy, do we find that out!!!! It's a life lesson we do well to learn early!
For those who don't know me well, you'll notice my blog is full of pictures of my new house, still a work in progress. You can think... it's easy for her to be content!
Well, I lived in a 14'x70' mobile home for almost 13 years, and I can honestly say I was content and even cried when the mobile home left our yard. God sheltered us through so much in those walls... the births of our 5 daughters... the death of one...
There have been days already in my new home when I have felt utterly discontent and you know when it was?!? When I was feeling alienated from God, in a dark day... I can promise you the contentment we can walk in has nothing to do with what's outside of us, but what is inside. (or should I say, what's not inside!)
The truth is, when we desire Him and delight in Him, He delights in filling and fulfilling us, in our heart of hearts! We are also told we "must believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." The title of my blog is sort of the story of my life! It seems every time I dare to believe God further, to give over yet more to Him, to count myself nothing and Him everything, He responds in ways that astonish me! God want us to truly believe He is who He says He is, even if what we experience makes no sense at times. He wants to be able to safely pour Himself out on us and in us and He can't do that until we can say with Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."
This last weekend we had a friend here to visit. A single mother with two children that has gone through so much and continues to let God go deeper in her heart and life. I was humbled to experience what God did here amongst us. Father, YOU ARE WORTHY TO BE PRAISED!
Someone once said to us: We have as much of God as we want!
Part of me wanted to argue with that but somehow I couldn't...
May we say with John the Baptist: "HE MUST INCREASE, BUT I MUST DECREASE!"
God bless us everyone in that endeavor!
Psalm 139:24