But God intervened in my life in 1973, the summer after my junior year of college. Not that He had been absent all those years before. But He shed His light in my heart, opened my eyes, and turned me from darkness to light. I was forgiven, washed, restored, and put right. In fact, for a minute there I was sparkly clean.

But I soon discovered that even though many of my old sinful habits were gone, and even though I was a new person, inside and out, I still had plenty of remaining sinfulness left to be dealt with.

So do you suppose I have any regrets since 1973? Have I done any dumb, foolish things? Have I made decisions that didn’t turn out the way I thought they would? Have I said stupid things I wish I hadn’t? All of these are rhetorical questions. Of course I have! But I have consistently sought God’s forgiveness for these stupid and/or sinful things. Sometimes they are truly sin (most of the time) and sometimes they are simply foolish, which may or may not be sin. Either way, I’ve put things right with God and right with others countless times. Call it an ongoing bath. Regular scrubbing. That’s what repentance is.

Real repentance seeks real forgiveness, but it can still feel like a fool. And regret is disappointment over what we’ve done. It’s what keeps us looking back, and it keeps that humiliating disappointment alive. But I believe that regret is all tangled up with pride. Pride says, “Why did I do such a stupid thing? I know better. I am not that kind. I am wiser than that. I am pretty sure that it was a momentary blip caused by hunger or hormones or not enough caffeine. I am so embarrassed.” Regret flatters us into thinking we are really better people than we are, that we would do it better if we were given another chance.

A real repentance deals with the root of the matter, which means that we humble ourselves and confess to God that we really are the kind of people who say or do stupid or foolish or sinful things. Real repentance doesn’t keep any self-respect around to enable long-term mourning over our mistakes.

So. Don’t waste your time regretting. Regret usually begins with thoughts like, “If only…” or “I wish I hadn’t…” or “If I could do that again…” It is unfruitful. It focuses on the wrong things (what might have been) rather than on what’s happening now.

We all have plenty to regret, but regret can just feed discontent and increase our sorrow. We have far more to be grateful for. So when I am tempted to feel regret, I remind myself that it is not relevant. This is chapter ten, and fussing over what happened back in chapter six will only slow me down. It’s not productive. No one wants to hear about it. It’s unfruitful. It’s clearly not a fruit of the Spirit. We learn from our mistakes (failures, etc.) so that we can press forward, not so we can look back at what might have been or not been. God is good.

And what would a New Year be without some resolutions to go with it? I have one resolution to recommend for 2012, and that is to find contentment. Contentment doesn’t change our circumstances, but it does change our hearts, which makes all our circumstances more comfortable. Our contentment does not lie in our circumstances, for if it did, we would only be able to be content when everything is going exactly as we like, which isn’t very often. Contentment is found in Christ, who will never leave us or forsake us. Contentment is found in submitting to God’s purposes and plans in our lives, even (or especially) when we don’t understand. Contentment is a way of exercising our faith.

So here are ten ways to apply contentment in 2012.

1. Be content with your story. That means your birth and upbringing, your parents and your siblings, even your ancestors. Own your people and be content that God has written all of them into your story. Don’t just be content with your story; love your story.

2. Be content with your condition. Are you married? Are you unmarried? Divorced? Widowed? Are you pregnant?  Are you not pregnant? If there is sin involved, confess it. If you already have, don’t keep on confessing the same sins. Don’t waste time on regret because it is both unfruitful and fleshly. Count your blessings and find contentment.

3. Be content with where you live: the weather, the geography, the view, the funny accents, the customs, and the history.

4. Be content with your income.

5. Be content with your health issues, even as you try to overcome them.

6. Be content with your home, how big it is or isn’t, how far it is from town or how close it is to the street.

7. Be content with your job assignment. What has God called you to do? What gifts do you have? Be content to use them to please Him.

8. Be content with your time. We all have the same allotment of twenty-four hours per day. Be content with what you can get done in them.

9. Be content with your age. A contented forty-five or sixty-five is much prettier than a discontented twenty-five.

10. Be content with your husband and your children. Don’t wish for different.

And have a very Happy New Year!

–Thomas Case

The precept to avoid anxious care is earnestly inculcated by our Saviour, again and again; it is reiterated by the apostles; and it is one which cannot be neglected without involving transgression: for the very essence of anxious care is the imagining that we are wiser than God, and the thrusting ourselves into His place to do for Him that which He has undertaken to do for us. We attempt to think of that which we fancy He will forget; we labour to take upon ourselves our weary burden, as if He were unable or unwilling to take it for us. Now this is disobedience to His plain precept, this unbelief in His Word, this presumption in intruding upon His province, is all sinful…Anxiety makes us doubt God’s lovingkindess, and thus our love to Him grows cold; we feel mistrust, and thus grieve the Spirit of God, so that our prayers become hindered, our consistent example marred, and our life one of selfseeking. Thus want of confidence in God leads us to wander far from Him; but if through simple faith in His promise, we cast each burden as it comes upon Him, and are “careful for nothing” because He undertakes to care for us, it will keep us close to Him, and strengthen us against much temptation. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.”

Why should we want to be content?

1. The first and most important reason is because God commands it: “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

2. It is our duty as Christians. We believe that our circumstances are not the result of chance or luck, but because our wise Father has decreed this for us. Therefore, contentment fits us for our duties and makes our duties lively.

3. Contentment makes our life more comfortable. When we are content, we are not dependent on the creature for our comfort. Contentment changes an affliction into something else. Quoting Burroughs: “Godly men get more riches out of their poverty than ever they get out of their revenues. Godly men are better for an affliction; many godly men are worse for their prosperity.”

4.It is a means of worshiping God rightly. In active obedience, we do what pleases Him. In passive obedience, we are pleased with what God does.

5. Contentment is excellent. As Watson says, “It is a remedy against all our troubles, a comfort to all our burdens, a cure of care.”

6. Contentment exhibits the beauty of grace and the strength of grace. It sweetens every condition. God’s glory is exhibited in contentment.

7. Contentment makes our souls fit to receive mercy. We must hold still to receive God’s mercy. Quiet your hearts; quiet your soul.

8. Contentment delivers us from many temptations. It keeps us from murmuring, envy, covetousness, anger, and a host of other sins. Contentment is  a way of mortifying the flesh.

9. Sabbath is kept in a contented heart; where there is contentment, there is rest. Get into the ark of contentment.

10. By contentment our souls are nearer to God’s own excellence. When God is our portion, we are “self-sufficient” in the best sense, because we don’t need much, and what we have we are thankful for.

Remember one is given strength to bear what happens to one, but not the 100 and 1 different things that might happen.

C.S. Lewis, Letter to An American Lady

But thankfully, God doesn’t rely on me or on my blog to satisfy the hearts of His people. If so, we would all be sunk! Nevertheless, I hope He can and will use me to encourage some of you who have heavy hearts about miscarriages, infertility, or the unmarried state. And how can I do that? By pointing you to the excellencies of Christ. You have a Savior and He is a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He, and only He, can enable the Christian to find hope and comfort, satisfaction and joy in Him and no where else. So I point you to Jesus. Look to Him for help and strength.

And as you do that, here is something to consider. I believe that if you can identify your trouble as what the Bible calls affliction, then you will have a handle with which to process your troubles. This is actually a very good place to start. This childlessness, this singleness or widowhood, this loss of a child or miscarriage is an affliction, and the Bible has much to say about affliction in this life. God always uses such things to sanctify us, to conform us to the image of His Son, to teach us to follow Christ. It is good to be needy because we have a Savior who loves to bestow comfort in affliction, joy in suffering, and help for the helpless. If we never had need, would we have an idea of His matchless grace?

Afflictions are good for us because they are God’s schoolroom in which He teaches His children many things. Learn to listen and learn to be a good student in affliction. He does all things well. This is not an accident, but part of His good (though hard) Providence in your life. This is an opportunity for faith, without which we will not see the Lord.

The rest of the saints need to also identify affliction. When we realize that to be childless is a hard affliction, we will deal differently with our sisters who long for children. This doesn’t mean we will pity them in an ungodly or unproductive way, but we will look to encourage them. If someone is in a wheel chair or using a walker, we know that is an affliction. But loneliness and heartache can be camouflaged. So be tender of those women and offer them a hand.

Turning a profit on your troubles means that your goal in them, as well as in all of life, is to bring glory and honor to the Lord Jesus Christ. So what opportunities has God given you in this affliction? How can you glorify Him in this trial? By trusting Him, believing Him, rejoicing in Him, showing gratitude to Him, and resting there in His grace for you. This is how we glorify Him, and this is what makes it possible for us to enjoy Him and our fellowship with Him forever.

I must close with a little from Samuel Rutherford who knew well what it was to suffer.

Dry wells send us to the fountain.

Christ chargeth me to believe His daylight at midnight.

Look for crosses, and while it is fair weather mend the sails of the ship.

Contentment is not natural, but an inward work of grace in our hearts. We do not need any lessons in discontent. That is easy enough and the flesh runs that direction well enough on its own. But how do we learn contentment? By bridling our thoughts and emotions. That means putting a bit in the teeth of our thoughts, and steering them in the right direction. By mortifying (putting to death) our desires, and keeping our hearts from being set too much on the creature. These are hard lessons indeed. And if we think it’s as easy as snapping our fingers, we don’t yet understand contentment.

We often think that if we could get our circumstances up to our desires, then we would be content. If only we could pay off the debts or move into a bigger house or find the man of our dreams, then contentment would be easy. But that never really works. If you have a discontented heart, you will simply take it with you right into the bigger house and right into the marriage with you. And then you will find something else to be discontent about.

Rather, we come to contentment by subtraction, and not by addition. We come to contentment by getting our desires down to our circumstances. But no one really wants to do that. It goes against the grain, which means it goes against the flesh.

Contentment says, “What God would have, I would have too; I will not only yield to it, but I would have it too.” Obviously, that kind of attitude requires supernatural grace, and God is willing to give us that kind of grace. He gave it to Paul, and Paul learned to be content in all kinds of circumstances.

Consider 2 Corinthians 4:7-12 and 16-18, and then chapter 6:4-10.  Paul was no pansy when it came to handling tough circumstances. He dealt with just about every kind: beatings, imprisonments, tumults, labors, watchings, fastings, troubles, persecutions, dishonor, and  sorrows.

Contentment requires a change in outlook. Instead of looking for the things we want, those external blessings, contentment looks to our duties in our present circumstances. Thinking about other circumstances, all those enticing possibilities, is merely a temptation that we need to resist. Those thoughts only feed discontent, and we need to starve discontent right out of our hearts and minds.

So make a list of your blessings and a list of your troubles. Take your time and fill it in. If you do this honestly, you will have many more blessings than troubles. Thank God for it all. He is kindly loading you with blessings that are often overlooked. And those troubles in the other column are entrusted to you from a wise and loving Father. Use those troubles to turn a profit. Be a good and grateful steward of your blessings and your troubles, and God will see that you harvest a hefty crop of spiritual maturity and contentment.

Paul turned his troubles to a profit (2 Cor. 6:10): “As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”

Here’s a little summary of what Watson and Burroughs would say about the evils of discontent.

1. It’s sinful, sordid, troublesome, wearying, and unworthy of a Christian.

2. It has evil companions like melancholy, sullenness, ingratitude, envy, jealousy, and covetousness.

3. It is folly. It takes away your comfort, making the body sick and weak.

4. It makes your crosses heavier and your grief unbearable.

5. It spins out your troubles longer.

6. It spreads to others like an infection.

7. It breeds quarrels.

I won’t list off the problems with that place here. Trust me. It was not a very convenient house for us, and I wasn’t making things up. But I remember well one day having a conversation with my husband where I was listing my woes about our apartment. And I well remember what he told me in response. He said that God would not provide a new place for us until I was at the point where I would be sad to leave our old place. Yikes! You’ve got to be kidding! That will never happen! But he kindly pointed out that God moves us from strength to strength. If we are in defeat over a situation, God wants us to get the victory in it and over it before He moves us on to the next one.

That was a turning point for me. I started doing intentional things to improve my attitude. And some time later when we moved out, I didn’t shed a tear, but I was no longer under the power of discontent. By God’s grace I had gotten out from under that.

We often think that if we could change our circumstances, then we would be content. But that takes the power out of our hands because we can seldom change our circumstances. But we can change our attitude, which provides comfort and peace in uncomfortable circumstances.

Contentment comes by subtraction, not by addition (as Burroughs would say). We get our desires down to our circumstances and we find contentment. And then we are in a position of strength to do our duties that God has laid out for us to do.