Continuing Contentment

“Oh to grace, how great a debtor, daily I’m constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter
bind my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I
love. Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it. Seal it for Thy courts above."

You may be asking yourself, what in the world do those words have to do with comfort or
contentment. In my absence from posting I have had these words running through my mind.
No, I did not waiver in my faith, but something that I have learned is that true comfort comes
from true contentment.There are times in our lives when we think we have mastered
something and then realize that the very thing we think we have a handle on is the thing we
need the most work on.

This past year has been a difficult and eye-opening year for me. I often find it very difficult to
let people know what is really going on in my mind. 2018 broke me of that (to a certain
degree) as we openly shared our story with what seems like the entire world. I was very
good at deflecting my true emotions as people came to us to talk about what was happening.
I would rather focus on others and what they are going through. It’s a good distraction.
However, when the distraction is gone, the problem remains.

The more Sam and I pursued becoming parents, the more I realized that I was very prone
to wander in my contentment. Without true contentment, there is no real comfort. If I am not
content with the life that God has given me, how can I ever truly look to Him for comfort?

When you are trying to learn a new skill in life there is a lot of continued work that goes into
mastering that skill. If someone has a problem with patience there is a process of getting that
under control. One does not just wake up one day and say, “hey, I got it! No more impatience!”
and then never have an impatient moment for the rest of their life. No, once a problem is
recognized there is a lot of work that is needed to maintain and grow in the problemed area.
Contentment is no different. Understanding what contentment is and where is comes from
does not make you a content person. It takes work. It takes trust. It takes help from God.
Daily deciding to be satisfied in Christ and to let your focus be knowing Him more will leak
into your everyday life.

Colossians 3:2 “Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth”

The King James Bible translates the word “minds” as affection. Where is your heart?
Psalm 37:4-5 says “Delight yourself in the LORD; and he will give you the desires of your
heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.” When we are
consumed in Christ it is hard to be discontent. Think about it! Christ left heaven and came
to earth not as a king, He came as the child of a carpenter. He lived a perfect life, endured
temptation and the agony of the cross and died in our place so that we could live forever with
Him. How can you not be content when you think about that?

True contentment will only come when you place your faith in Christ to save you from your
sins. True comfort only comes with true contentment. It is a daily decision to look back at a
one time choice in our lives and be satisfied that we are saved from our sins by trusting in
Christ. So I ask you, what is stopping you from being truly content? Have you accepted the
free gift of salvation? Where is your focus? Are you like me and get so caught up in trying to
make you heart’s desire come true that you forget that Christ is to be your heart’s desire?

Are you willing to make a daily choice to seek after God and not better circumstances? It is
a hard road but it is well worth the work!

Looking to the Shepherd

written by Sam Jones

Concerning comfort, there is a great truth found in Psalm 23:1 "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." This truth is not an easy one to bear, but it is a great truth nonetheless. The truth in Psalm 23:1 concerning comfort is this: as long as we recognize God as our Shepherd we will have comfort and contentment. This is not a truth that is easy to bear when you are going through a difficult circumstance, but it is one of the greatest comforts you can find once you grasp this truth. God is our Shepherd, He is our caregiver. It is God who is taking care of us no matter how great the difficulty. In my life, this verse has been both one of the greatest comforts and challenges to me in some of the darkest nights. Through the miscarriages that Sarah and I have had, it was this verse that constantly came to my mind. This verse challenged me to consider if I was truly recognizing God as my caregiver (Shepherd) or if I had wandered onto some foreign pasture through rebellion in my heart. This verse gives a clear promise; because God is my Shepherd I will not want! This promise is not based upon what is raging around, rather it is based upon if God is our Shepherd and if we recognize God as our Shepherd.

For God to be our Shepherd we must accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. We must do what it says in Romans 10:9 "That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." This is the greatest comfort you can have in life; knowing that you are saved from your sin and now have eternal life! In order to be content in every circumstance, and I believe comfort has a lot to do with contentment, we must recognize God as our Shepherd. I know that in this verse it doesn't say to recognize God as our Shepherd and then we will not want, but we must admit this is what David is doing in the Psalm and that we are to follow his example if we are to get the same result. To recognize God as our Shepherd we must rely upon Him and rest in the fact that He is leading us with a better purpose than we could design. I will be the first to admit that this is brutally difficult when you are going through hardships. My first reaction to having a miscarriage was not to recognize God's leading, it was to question in a sinful manner what God was doing. I could point out deadbeat dad after deadbeat dad, I could point out godless father after godless father, and I could try to justify to God why I should have a child, but the reality was God was leading in a specific way and His way is always best.

I have already touched on some of the ways God was moving and working, I would rather focus this post on how I simply needed to trust that God was doing His job Shepherding rightly. To go along with Psalm 23:1, in driving this principle home in my life God also brought a recurring hymn to my mind; that hymn was He Leadeth Me specifically the verse that states, "Lord, I would place my hand in Thine, Nor ever murmur nor repine; Content, whatever lot I see, Since ’tis my God that leadeth me." Why can we be content and not want? It is because we recognize God as our Shepherd and the One who is leading us in life (this also means we must follow Him) that will bring contentment and a lack of wanting. To recognize God as our Shepherd and that He is rightly leading us in the difficulties of life we must have a right value placed upon Him. It is only when we let go of our life and let God take control as He sees fit that we will have God valued rightly in our life. To recognize God as our Shepherd is to also recognize ourselves as sheep. This brings a lot of relief when our life is falling apart for we know that it is simply our responsibility to listen to our Great Shepherd as He directs our path.

The comfort that comes from having God as our Shepherd is explained throughout Psalm 23. We can rest assured that He only leads us beside still waters and green pasture, this doesn't mean life will always be easy, but it does mean that our Shepherd, not our circumstances, is where we find our comfort. We know that God, as our Shepherd, will restore our soul and will not lead us to sin, but rather will always lead us to dwell in righteousness. Even in death’s shadow we can be comforted because of God's rod and staff. A shepherd used his rod and staff to fend off those who would seek to destroy his sheep and to count his sheep at the end of the day. This brings great comfort for we know God will fight for us and has taken account of what state we are in. As God's sheep, we know God personally cares about where we are in life and keeps constant tabs on the state we are in. Even in the presence of our enemies, we can say with David that our cup runs over, not because there is no trouble (in fact it could be staring at you from across the table), but because we know who our Shepherd is! It is only when we realize Who our Shepherd is we can rightly say, "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!" It is my hope that as you seek comfort you would let the truth of Psalm 23:1 sink into your life and be comforted! "The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want."

The People in Comfort

As of June 2018, the United Nations estimates that there are 7.6 billion people on planet earth. So why does it
sometimes feel like we are all by ourselves and have to pull ourselves through alone?

One of the loneliest places to be is in the middle of a trial all by yourself. There are many points in time then you are
in the midst of a trying circumstance when it can feel like absolutely no one knows what you are going through, the pain
you feel, or thoughts in your head. The fact of the matter is none of that matters. With 7.6 billion people on this earth,
there is for sure at least one person around you that wants to help you and want to comfort you. I would like to go over
the people that were involved in my life when I needed comfort most and give some ideas as to where to find these loving
people.

First up is my husband. Sam has been my best friend for seven years now.
Five years ago when we got married I had no Idea that I would depend on his
friendship as much as his unconditional love for me. Throughout our
miscarriages and now years of infertility, as I have visited times of sadness,
frustration, bitternss, and jealousy, he has always been there to lovingly steer
my attitude back towards Christ. Does your best friend do this? Sam is not
perfect. He is a sinner just like me and you, but he is very humble and
heavenly minded (and will probably hate that I am saying all of this for
everyone to read). Through our struggles, Sam has always been someone
that I can count on to have something to tell me from his quiet time with God.
He constantly encourages me to refocus my mind on what God has given us
and the task that are at hand. I encourage you to find a friend like this and to
be a friend like this!

Next up is my family. Both my mom and my mother-in-law have
been wonderful as I talk through what has happened. They have
both prayed with me and pointed me back to realizing that God is
in control. My sisters have been there to listen to me when I just

need someone to listen. My dad and my father-in-law have both
expressed their concern just by asking how Sam and I were doing
Sometimes comfort comes in knowing that people care about you!

God was very gracious to Sam and I in giving us another couple that have been our “infertility friends”.
Though we praise the Lord that they do have a child now, for the first part of both of our marriages we went
through similar thought and feelings. This was a couple that we turned to when we needed to talk about something.
There have been many long nights of conversation, many tears, many laughs, and many prayers between us and
them. They have been a couple that has pointed Sam and I back to Christ and God’s plan for us when we both
needed it! My friendship with Sam is something that I treasure, but there is a high value placed on our friendship
with this couple as well. I encourage you as a couple to find another couple that can be your friend. There are
things that Sam does not understand about the way that I think and feel because God did not design him to think
and feel that way. There is great benefit in being able to talk with another woman about this and have her completely
understand what I’m saying.

The last on my list is the most important person involved in the comfort process. Proverbs 18:24 says “A man who
has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” If you believe that you are a
sinner on your way to hell, that Jesus came and lived a perfect life, died on the cross for your sins, was buried, and
rose again, and have asked Jesus Christ to forgive you from your sins, you are never alone. If this is your story, you have
a friend that sticks closer than a brother. You cannot see Him right now, but He is always there. I have found great
comfort that.

I want to leave you with the words of a good old hymn, What a Friend we have in Jesus. They say:

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit, o what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Handling a Potentially Offensive Situation

April Fool’s Day is almost upon us. As the holiday for playing practical jokes draws near, it is
important to remember the thoughts and feelings of others. While keeping this in mind, it is
also important to not be overly sensitive about jokes that are played.

I have seen a meme circulating Facebook (this is the second year I have seen it) that is a picture

of a positive pregnancy test and states, “1 in 8 of your friends struggle to get pregnant. 1 in 4 of

your friends has lost a baby. Pregnancy is not an April Fool’s joke.” While I understand the

sentiment behind this meme and I appreciate people trying to be sensitive to others, I see no

reason to be hurt or offended by this joke. As someone who is a part of both of these statistics

(lost 4 now can’t get pregnant), the reactions to this particular April Fool’s prank are some that

have brought great laughter in my life.

I understand that some people are more sensitive to this issue than I am, however, please ask
yourself this one question “Why am I offended?” I highly doubt that the person playing this joke

is doing so as an intentional way to make you feel bad. I will admit that in the past I have taken
offense when people innocently asked when Sam and I were going to start a family. It is not fun

to have extra reminders of what you have lost or what you do not have, especially when you

want it so desperately. There was a lot of self-examination that needed to be done when walking
away from these situations. I realized that my hurt and offended reaction had its root in bitterness.

I was bitter that God had taken my babies away. I was angry that other people got to be parents

and I didn’t. To be frank, I was sinning.

Part of not being offended comes from accepting the circumstance that have been placed in

my life. Who am I to tell God what should and should not happen? James 1 talks about how we

are to view and handle trials.  Verse 17 states, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from

above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of
turning.” When I view everything in my life, trial or not, as a gift from a God who will never
change, it is so much easier not to focus on the things that are happening or the things that are
being said around me. God has perfectly orchestrated the events of my life to mold me and shape
me into the person He wants me to be. He has opened a direct line of communication through the

death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is loving and forgiving and just and holy. Why should I
spend my time being offended when I can focus on the creator God who wants a personal
relationship with me?

So how should we react when someone asks when we will start a family, grow our family, or plays

a joke? Thankfulness. Often times we put thankfulness in a box that only gets to come out in
November. The truth is, thankfulness is the ultimate weapon to fight off and guard against

bitterness. If you have lost a child but you still have one, be thankful for the one that you have.

Yes, you mourn the loss and miss your child but do not fixate on it. If you have never lost a child

but you can’t seem to get pregnant, be thankful for the things that are in your life. Focus on what

you have, not what you don’t. When I am struggling with bitterness in this way, I like to list of a
minimum of five things that I am thankful for. They usually include my salvation, my church, my
husband, my family, and chocolate. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “in everything give thanks; for this

is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” God has given us far more that we deserve. Be so busy
being thankful that there is not time to be offended by the questions or jokes that you hear.

Three More Comforts

“Oh, the pure delight of a single hour that before Thy throne I spend, when I kneel in prayer, and
with Thee, my God I commune as friend with friend! Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to
the cross where Thou hast died; draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord, to Thy precious,
bleeding side.”

Growing up, and still today, this was one of my favorite hymns to sing. However, it wasn’t until
Sam and I went through personal tragedy that I truly understood what this song was saying and
what it meant to truly desire to be drawn closer to my Heavenly Father. Before going through
hardship, I thought I had a pretty good relationship with God. It wasn’t until I was tested with fire
that I learned to truly seek His face and find rest in who Christ is. I found three very specific
things about the character of God that have given me comfort along the way.

God is sovereign. He is in 100% complete control of anything that ever has happened and
anything that ever will happen. Some people may ask, “doesn’t it make you mad knowing that
God knew what was coming and He could have stopped it.” Yes, He could have stopped it but no,
it does not make me mad. There was a plan and a purpose behind everything that happened. I
am content (though I often don’t want to be) knowing that I see one puzzle piece and God sees
the picture on the outside of the box. There is great comfort in knowing that nothing that has ever
happened has come as a surprise to Him.

God is faithful. Through this entire trial I have never questioned if God was still there. Because I
believe that Jesus Christ came to this earth, lived a perfect life, died in my place for my sin, was
buried, and rose from the dead, I have been promised that God will never leave me nor forsake
me (Hebrews 13:5). God’s faithfulness is so much more than Him just being there though. There
were many people in my life who were there when we went through the miscarriages, so what
makes it different that God is there? Psalm 46:1-3 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah” The word refuge means a condition of
being safe or sheltered from pursuit, danger, or trouble. Because I have accepted Christ as my
personal Savior, the very person of God is a stronghold for me. There is peace and shelter
waiting for me when I run to Him. That does not mean that new storms will never come or even
that the current storm is over. It does, however, mean that I can have rest while the storm is raging.

God is loving. Hebrews 12:6 says, “For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every
son whom He receives.” Sam and I have two bushes in our backyard. The first summer we lived
in our house we both just thought they were nice bushes. They were getting a little wild so I
decided to trim them down. The next summer we discovered that my pruning made way for huge
bunches of lilacs to sprout out. If I would have never cut back the leaves we would have never
had the nice flowers. Philippians 1:6 says “being confident of this very thing, that He who has
begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” The fact that I am going
through a trial is encouraging to me. It means that God is still chastening me. I am not yet who
He wants me to be and He is still working on me. God shows His love for me by slowly chipping
away the parts of me that are sinful and contrary to His word or by simply eliminating the nice
leaves to make room for flowers. This process is slow and painful (Hebrews 12:11). Some parts
are more painful than others but they all are working towards one end goal: to make me more like
Christ. God is not done working on me and I am so glad that he loves me enough to keep
chipping away.

I would NEVER say that I am happy about what happened. I would, however, say that I am
incredibly thankful for what happened. Yes, I would much rather be holding my babies, reading
them stories, and tucking them into bed at night; but, I realize that without our miscarriages, I
would not have so desperately sought God and I would not have the relationship I have today
with Him. Tragedy has the potential to push you far away from Christ or draw you so near to
Him that you can’t help but find comfort in who He is. How do you choose to respond?

Three Comforts

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

This passage of Scripture teaches us a few great truths about comfort. The first truth we see is that God is the God of all comfort, simply put there is nothing that God cannot comfort us in. The second truth we see is that God does comfort us in all of our tribulations, not only does He have the ability to comfort us, He is willing to comfort us! The third truth that we see is that God wants us to do something with the comfort that we have received, He wants us to share that comfort with others! This passage of Scripture is what drove my wife and me to start this blog. Through the trials of miscarriages and infertility we have come to realize that God is the God of all comfort. He has comforted us and we need to share this comfort with others. In this post I just want to lay out three comforts that God has given me through these great trials; I hope that it can be a comfort to you! 

The first comfort I want to share is the comfort of the testimony of those who have gone through these trials before me. It was shortly after our second miscarriage that I was preaching on how God is worthy in the book of Job, specifically Job 1:21 And he said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” After I got done with the message an 80 some year old lady came up to me and she said, “I love that verse, it was after I gave birth to my stillborn child that the church came and made me a plaque with that verse on it, I love that verse.” She said this with a genuine smile on her face. This woman had been comforted by God and recognized His worthiness even in the midst of her great trials. It was after this that I realized there is not a sweeter sound on this earth than to hear a saint, who has had their world shaken, reaffirm that their faith still holds and that God is good! No matter the trial you are going through today rest assured God has already comforted someone else in a very similar situation. I am also of the belief that God has most likely placed a person in your life who has gone through a similar trial and they will share their comfort with you. When you hear this comfort I am convinced you will also be comforted! You will know you are not alone, someone understands, and they are glorifying God through their trial! 

The second comfort I want to share is the comfort of ministry to others. I am not sure how you are wired, but I am wired with a desire to want to help and to see a purpose for my circumstances. Though we may not always see a purpose for our circumstances right away, I believe God does all things for a reason, and through all of our trials, it brings an opportunity to minister. After our first miscarriage, I had no idea what God was doing. I didn’t know why God would allow it, and I did not see any ministry coming from it. After our second miscarriage, though God did something interesting, He allowed an opportunity for ministry. This first opportunity for ministry was when a couple shared with us their struggle to get pregnant. This couple soon became our “infertility friends” and we were able to minister to each other through prayer, tears, and words of encouragement! After this friendship and mutual ministry were built, God wasn’t done. He soon flooded our lives with couples who had miscarriages, struggled with infertility, and even those whose children died in infancy. Through this God gave me great comfort as I could use the trials we were going through to impact others and to point them to God. I have personally been able to share the gospel with several people, and the circumstance that opened the door was our miscarriages. If you are going through a difficult trial today, take heart, God has a ministry for you! 

The third comfort I want to share today is the comfort of growing closer to God. This is the greatest comfort I have received through our miscarriages. God is the God of all comfort and the greatest lesson He has taught me through this trial is how to really pray. Now I am a pastor and I knew the mechanics of prayer before these trials, I even knew how to pray Scripture, and had the discipline of prayer in my life. Through these trials, though, God showed me a deeper truth about prayer, that truth is that prayer is an avenue to seek Christ more. This may sound simple and truly it is as prayer is how we communicate with God. Through the trial of our miscarriages and the ministry we had to others with their infertility and miscarriages, I was driven to my knees in prayer. It was after our fourth miscarriage that God allowed me to have a burden for prayer like I had never had before. Since that miscarriage I have spent several sleepless nights praying for others to have children, praying for the salvation of children, and praying for the protection of unborn children. Many people wonder how you can pray for one child or pregnancy for six straight hours, but when you are praying seeking God, it is not difficult. Through our first three miscarriages I spent a few hours praying asking God to give us a child, but after our fourth miscarriage, I realized contentment could only be found in Him, and not a child. It was at this time that I started praying with Who God is in mind and not simply my requests. You can pray for hours on end when you ask God to protect a pregnancy and your prayer is filled with all of the examples of God’s protection in your life and the Bible. It is not the length of prayer that brought me comfort, it is the closeness to God I had after I spent hours thanking God for Who He is and what He has done in my life! 

I hope these three comforts can comfort you as they have comforted me, remember we serve a God who is the God of all comfort!

Welcome!

Thanks for stopping by our blog! My name is Sarah Jones and my husband Sam and I have

started this blog because we have a burden for sharing comfort with other people. Though

we are only 25 years old, life has shown us how difficult it can be. As we have gone through

different trials, certain ones have drawn us closer together and closer to God. Our hope is

that as you get to know us and the things that we struggle with, we can be an

encouragement to you.

First things first, Sam and I are Iowans to the core. Sam is from Conrad, IA and I am from

Cedar Falls, IA. Sam recognized God’s call into full time vocational ministry early in his life.

He opted out of going to Bible College and decided to accept a year long internship and my

home church. We were put in the Christmas play together as husband and wife and it stuck.

We got married in June of 2013 and in August of 2013 a small church in Hudson, IA called

Sam to be the pastor. We have been in Hudson for 4 ½ years now and we cannot imagine

being anywhere else. We love the church that God has given us and we love the ministry

that we have been allowed to take part in.

On July 19, 2013, just 6 weeks into our marriage, Sam and I suffered a loss that we never

had thought was possible. I miscarried our first child. There are no words to describe the

shock and the devastation we felt as the doctor confirmed what we had feared. Yet we

knew, whether we showed it or not, that God was in control. We pulled it together and went

on with life. In December of 2013 I miscarried again, and again in August of 2014 and again

in August of 2015. Since then we have struggled with 2 ½ years of infertility.

I tell you this not to garner sympathy or to say how hard our life has been. It is estimated

that 1 in 4 women will experience a miscarriage in their lifetime and that there are 6.1

million women (just women) in the USA alone that struggle to get pregnant and/or stay

pregnant. If you are in this boat, please know that you are not alone. More importantly,

please know that there is hope. Sam and I have been married for almost 5 years and each

year has brought a new heartache that in the moment, seems to much to bear. We have

needed comfort and we have found it.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the

Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may

be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves

are comforted by God.” As christians, Sam and I believe in the sovereignty of God. We

believe that He is in control of all things, that nothing happens outside of His plan, and that

His timing is perfect. We have found an abundance of comfort in seeking out the character

of God and deepening our individual relationships with Him. Comfort does not make trials

easier, but it does make them bearable. Our goal with this blog is to point others to Christ

by sharing the comfort that we have received from God. We realized that not everyone is

going through the same struggles and that not everyone will need the same comforts at

the same times. We do also realize that we live in a world marred by sin that leaves us with

aches, pains, and deep hurts. No matter what your struggle, we hope to encourage you to

look to Christ and find true contentment and comfort in knowing who He is and that He died

to save you from your sins.