I recently heard those words as part of a devotional and I’ve been mulling over them ever since. And I realized that I have a lot of discontent. The subtle kind. Just little wishes here and there and if I’m honest with myself there are some “not so little” things that I wish were different.
And when we got the only real snow of the year – very little. I was wishing for our life in Vermont. I loved Vermont. I always say, “I’d go back in a heartbeat” even though I know our life is here now and it is where God wants us. Life was simpler then. Part of it was the times and another part was the culture.
Then I started thinking about the “somethings” we faced in Vermont. Things may have been simpler, but money and food was scarce much of the time. We couldn’t provide for our children in the way we wanted and they shared their time with 6 daycare children and 5 special needs foster children. Family was 6 hours away and while that wasn’t far, it was too far and expensive for us to make trips back.
Looking back I wished I focused on more of what we had. A big old 1890’s farmhouse with 5 acres of land. The freedom to homeschool and a great place for the kids to play. Beauty surrounding us that can’t be put into words. A slower pace, with no technology or TV to interrupt daily life. Great friends, fun times as a family. A different kind of abundance.
Philippians 4:12
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 don’t want to look back at my current days, wishing for them back while not enjoying them now. And yes, life is not “perfect” as I would describe perfect, but I have much to be grateful for. Blessings I never imagined possible.
Learning to live in the today and be content in any situation. On the Journey, Jackie
When God Calls Your Name 
So resonates with our experiences both in VT and here in suburban SC. After 12 years, we still are homesick for a landscape we intimately know and love, struggling with too much traffic, too many people, and the impersonal nature of life in a county with the same population as the entirety of VT.
And yet, God…. Without SC, we would not have been able to financially shelter and help our adult children weather the economic downturn in VT, and help them get on their feet again. P would not perhaps have met his sweet wife, and subsequently the Lord. We would not be in close proximity to help B’s widowed mom and disabled brother. We would not live in a townhome newly built for us instead of a crumbling, freezing-cold, 110 yr old house…. The Lord is faithful in every place and for every season.
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