The Resolved Woman Week One Surprisingly Satisfied

I am going to be posting week by week chapter by chapter about the book The Resolved Woman.  This has truly been a blessing to me as I have journeyed through this book. If anyone would like to add their thoughts if they are going through this book as well please comment! I would love to hear your thoughts, your struggles or anything else you have to say! :)

This is section one of the book which is divided into three sections. This section is titled Who I Am and the first chapter Surprisingly Satisfied.

Even the title of this chapter sort of captured me because how many of us are satisfied? We all want more and need more and want change.  We want to do this but only when this has changed or do that but only when circumstances are different. But what about here and now?  

So yeah..... What about now?  Well lets look at this

Act 3:19 So change the way you think and act and turn to God to have your sins removed.

Hmmm so we much change our thinking to be satisfied?

Psalms 46:10 Let go of your concerns then you will know I am God! I rule the nations, I rule the earth. 

Ohh wow so we should not be stressed with the concerns of our day to day life?

So what about now though?  Right now we need  "To take the breath of a woman fully satisfied"

We need to know and see that God has us right where we need to be. Instead of looking at what we do not have and what we think we can't do yet. We need to see what WE do have and what WE can DO!

Even Paul when he was in prison wrote....

 Philippians 4:11-14  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 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. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Paul learned that we can choose to be content. That we have to work at it but we can learn how to be content with every situation.  That in the good and bad time, in the hungry times and over abundant times we can choose contentment verses worry and stress!

So where does contentment come from?  A spirit of gratitude is where contentment comes from.  When we are just simple grateful for another breath, another sunrise, another day with our family, husband, children, friends we can learn to be content. It's not that we should not have goals or want more it's just that we choose joy RIGHT now. We know that The joy of the Lord is our Strength! So choose content joy that is satisfying without complaint or excuses.

By not being satisfied and content we are saying we do not trust God. That is right! If we trust him that he has our best interest in his heart then we have to know that where we are is the best place for us!  As stated in.....

Psalms 84:11 For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
                       the Lord bestows favor and honor;
                       no good thing does he withhold
                       from those whose walk is blameless

God does NOT withhold any good thing from us. So how can we not be satisfied right where he has us? 

Living in contentment frees us to be a blessing to others. When we are not so worried about ourselves we are then freed to help others.   Which is what God truly wants us to do.  We can say kind words to others, give other women compliments and do things with out the worry of our own circumstances.

Contentment requires resolve to be satisfied with what you have, who you are and where you are.  God made you just the way you are in this moment. He loves you JUST the way you are.  He gave you all you have and he knows your needs. He will fulfill them! He knows who you are. He knows your every thought and loves you still.  So be content that God is right there with you. Take the focus off what is truly out of our control and sigh the breath of a satisfied woman!

Something that I have always been happy with is my age.  I have never cared my number when I was younger nor now that I am 42. I embrace my age knowing that I am full of life. But I see so many women dreading another birthday. Embrace the years God has given you and be content that you are beautiful and more wiser with each year that goes by. I do struggle with a poor body image but I have had to become content in the fact that God gave me this body and he is happy with it jsut as it is. I can work on it to honor my temple and make it the best but I can also resolve to be satisfied in it and proud that my savoir knew exactly the size I was going to be right now today as I sat and typed this!

What do we hurry through in life? Are we really present? How many times do our children say MOM did you see that did you see what I did? Are we really in that moment giving our all to our children or are we distracted by so many things on our mind our running list and things to do.  Before we know it our children will be grown and we will be longing to 'see that' or 'read that' or just talk and giggle with them. Truly be present IN the day In the moment!

DRAIN the experience of each and every precious day that God bestows on us. 

Truly we should live as if it's the last day we will be alive. By doing this we are in a fully satisfied place of love, kindness and a content giving spirit.

I'll leave you with these words of wisdom from Priscilla the author...

Contentment is the equilibrium between the enjoyment of life now and the anticipation of what is to come!

                                       Resolve to be a surprisingly satisfied woman!!!

I do solemnly resolve to embrace my current season of life and will maximize my time in it. I will resist the urge to hurry through or circumvent any portion of my journey but live with a spirit of contentment!

The Resolved Woman

My wonderful friend Renae and I have been attending a ladies bible study The Resolved Woman which is a book for women based off of the movie Courageous.   It's been a wonderful journey indeed. It has been only 6 weeks but Renae and I decided that we would finish the book ourselves and continue our study on our own at Starbucks.  The Resolved Woman will stretch you and pull you in directions that are greatly needed to go. She challenges you to look inward and act outwardly to see things that need fine tuning, tossing out the door and some old things brought back to life. As one of my previous post I am trying to find myself again.  I'm on a journey and this book has really aided me in that journey.  It has brought a lot to my attention that really needed to be there.  It challenges you and I think that always there is room for a challenge so that we can grow and stretch. I think that God knows just when to bring something into your life.  For me now was perfection in timing to help me with the changes I've desired to make but have been fumbling in the dark, lacking self discipline and strength to complete.  Thank you God for always knowing what I need when I need it and HOW I need it.  If we only but trust him he will be there always.  I am considering journaling each weeks study so that I can keep my own personal revelations for the week.  They are very inspiring! If you have yet to pick up a copy of The Resolved Woman you really should! It could change your life in phenominal ways!

Finding Myself again....

Let's face it life is hard no matter how much money you have, how beautiful you are or how wonderful a husband/wife you have. I think we can lose who we are with all of life's twist and turns. I have had that happen for the second time in my life now. I am a pleaser. I want to please people. I like to make others happy.  Do for them.  Fulfil their desires.   In that, I somewhere along the line began to adapt myself to who I thought everyone around me wanted/needed me to be.  Frankly I'm very disappointed in myself. 

I swore when I left my ex husband that I would never again lose myself to anyone.  However somehow here I am again. Feeling like 'who am I' and 'where did I run off to'.  Depression of course is a factor that has played a role in this but also things my husband has done really took it's course with me.  I adapted thinking that if I did things differently then things would be different. Now by no means is my husband abusive. I'm a domestic violence counselor. I'm a formerly battered woman.  I know abuse flat out.   However I found myself adapting for him not because he asked me but because I wanted to.  In the mist of this though I lost ME.  I lost the woman that I prided myself in being. The strong independent woman who knows what she wants and goes after it. The confident woman who can maneuver with the best of them. I lost my style, my love for things, basically just totally lost everything there was about myself.  I was simple a woman taking up space, air and breath. 

I've ventured out these last few weeks to re-discover who I am. I am loving my journey.  My re-discovery.  I've found many  things since then.   I'm finding my zest in reading books of varied topics. Spending more time with God in praise and worship.  I joined a bible study that was eye opening and thought provocative.  I'm back to fixing my hair and makeup every day so that I feel I'm ready no matter what the day holds. I've become more confident in the past several weeks. I've also found my 'Inner Goddess' that has gave me an insatiable desire for sex again.  Which is really nice and I'm sure my husband is happy with this discovery.  I've been purging my thoughts and not holding back.  I've written long emails to people and journaled. I've started back working out which feels phenomenal!

Most of all I'm working on me and I'm finding I'm a pretty good person to work on.  I've warned my children and husband that when I find myself I hope they all will still love me even though I will most likely not resemble who I have been the last few years. It's time for their Mother and my Husband's wife to emerge into who she knows she wants to be and please herself for a change.  In no way neglecting my family only making it stronger and better by having a whole happy and healthy Mom.

I don't think it's wrong to want to please people or wrong to want to do things for others what so ever. But I do think when we start sacrificing who we are for others that it's a line that should not be crossed. If you find yourself there quickly jump back over that line and look around because you are still there on the other side somewhere. It may take you a little while to find yourself or you may end up being someone totally different but it's so much richer to be YOU than who everyone else needs you to be!

The Journey we call Life

The more with each passing day I have to sit back and look at how God so miraculously weaves our lives together. Just as in his word. He takes all that was meant for bad and makes it work for our good. Although I have endured great loss in my life I've also been equally as blessed. Not that one thing replaces another but sometimes we have to come to peace with where we are and just seek God.  To rest in his knowing that he is in control. He knows the number of hairs on our heads and holds every tear we cry in his hand. One day we shall know his purpose of the twist and turns of life. For now I trust him living in complete faith that he is in charge. Life can be strange but we take what we are given, trust God, have good attitudes and know that we are meant to choose happiness and joy.  I haven't blogged in several years outside of reviewing home school products and I look forward to this new journey of blogging again.