Contentment Challenge: February Goals

We’ve made it 1/3 of the way through – WOOHOO!!! Give yourself a hug, high-five or fist bump. Or all three 🙂

How are you feeling? What has been a struggle? What’s been easier than expected?

I feel like Month 1 was like a test run … try it out, see how it works, assess my weaknesses & figure out my strengths. And, now that we’ve got 30 days under our belt, let’s rock Month 2. Amen? Amen.

I had a light bulb moment the other day…

I’m doing this challenge because I felt the Holy Spirit call me to do it. I’m doing this challenge because shopping and stuff became on idol in my life. So, although the last 30 days have been challenging & crazy… I see where I failed in a big way…

I started to leave God out of it. I started to focus on how I could do it, not GOD. That was my biggest weakness. I don’t want to complete this challenge just so I can say I did it. I want to complete this challenge and have it RADICALLY change my life. By telling all of you about my journey, and making a very public dedication to it & to weekly posts about it… I set myself up for the devil to attack my heart. And he did. He told me that I was doing a great job, that people were looking up to me, that I was awesome.

Ummm. Do you see what was happening?!

I am not awesome. I am not doing a great job. JESUS is awesome; and JESUS is doing a great work in my life. I realized I had to take a step back and really PRAY my way through this challenge. Prayer in itself is really hard for me. I’ve never been very good at it. I’ve always struggled with this thought process: God already knows what’s happened, what’s happening & what’s going to happen… so why tell Him?

But God longs for me to talk to Him. He WANTS a relationship with me… He wants to bear my burdens & walk me through things. My personal goal for this month in this challenge is to mediate on what He’s already told me (His Word), and really turn my heart to Him in times of temptation or praise.

Enough with my own personal confession 🙂 Let’s get to this month’s memory verse, theme & challenge!

In January we focused on Luke 12:15, Simplicity & Getting Clutter Free. How’d it go? Where you able to de-clutter your home & focus on the simple things in life? We cleaned out our basement & the office & sent a huge car load to good will.

This month, I’m trying to focus on what I HAVE versus what I want…

…….

THE CONTENTMENT CHALLENGE: FEBRUARY 

Memory Verse: John 6:35 (shown above)

Theme: Satisfied

Challenge: Reuse the “old”. Redecorate a room using things you already own; maybe roate the pictures in your bedroom & living room, or switch around the furniture.  Come up with meals using groceries you already have in your fridge & pantry, instead of buying new items every week at Food Lion. Don’t eat something because you crave it, when you already have perfectly edible food. Wear that shirt hanging in your closet you’ve kept because “I may want it later”. Stop wearing the same 3 pairs of shoes when you have a closet full; break out the old ones for your V-Day date!! It’s time we make use of all the STUFF we already own… it’s time we find full satisfaction in the beauty of what we own, instead of thinking that the latest-greatest-cutest is what we need.

…….

I tried this out on Saturday – I switched around the furniture in our office, and I traded out pictures on the wall to redecorate a bit… it was refreshing to see it look “new” through the “old” … and humbling to see how much I already have that is not only functional, but cute!

I’ve also started wearing shirts hidden in the back of my closet. I’ve already worn 2 this week… high five for me, ha! I would always skim past them when I was getting ready in the morning… “not the right fit”, “not in style”, “ugh I’m just not sure”… welp, friends – wear it!! Do it!! How many times have you looked at your overflowing closet and said you have NOTHING to wear? Or you don’t have just the right necklace to make the outfit pop? I AM SO GUILTY OF THIS, and it needs to stop!!! (Read Nancy’s post for her challenge about creating 15 new outfits with the items you already own – so fun!! I’m going to try it – who’s with me?!).

I think a lot of the times we downplay what we already own because it’s not “in style” or not “pinterest worthy”. Friends! You have adorable things!! You have things that are YOU … rock them!!! Maybe there’s family history behind it, maybe it was your first “big” purchase, or, hey, maybe it was free 🙂 We have A LOT of free in our home!! We were given SO many pieces of furniture over the years… does it all match? Nope. Is it all my exact style? Nope. Our living room has wood, white AND black furniture… it used to drive me CRAZY, until I learned to EMBRACE it. We are so blessed!! The white bookshelf belonged to my parents, the coffee table is a hand-me-down from a sweet friend  & our black TV stand was $12. It’s functional, cheap & for newlyweds – it’s perfect! No, you will never see our living room on Pinterest… but whoever said that decided it’s worth? That we would only be satisfied in what we own, if other people wanted wanted it too? 

I urge you to try this challenge. With your decor, your clothes, your food… whatever you feel the LEAST satisfied with… shake it up! Show yourself that you have great things, things to be content with, always. To focus on being Satisfied with what you have already been given. To pray that God will truly be your bread of life. Why did Jesus use that metaphor? Because we all need bread to survive… you have to eat, right? Well Jesus is the only way to live… the only way to be EVER be fully satisfied in this life.

I can’t wait to hear how this month God moves in your life …

xo!! kat