Work in Progress

Growing up I have always heard other people say that you need to learn to be content with the things that you have; however, you don't need to be content with your relationship with God.  I am trying so hard right now to learn to be content with the things that I have.  Don't get me wrong, I am so thankful because God has truly blessed me far beyond what I deserve.  If anyone knows me well, they know that (as much as I hate to admit this) I love spending money.  I must say though the older I get, the more I realize that I am so much like my dad.  Last week, I just received my first "big girl paycheck" and to a degree I was a little disappointed.  Let me start off and say that NEVER did I realize that I would have hundreds of dollars taken out for federal taxes and if that's not enough I have to pay for the health care of people who don't work.  Okay I know that makes me sound very selfish, but still it was a little frustrating.  I felt like I got more money taken out of my check for a variety of things than I actually had put into the bank.  

I was struggling this past week with that and then Sunday night it hit me all of a sudden.  Caleb and I are just started a financial class at Westwood and all we talked about this past Sunday night was the fact that our money isn't ours but God's.  Honestly, I had never really thought about that before and it was just like it struck me.  I had been upset all week about all that money being taken out when in reality it's not mine anyways.  God is the one who gave me the opportunity to have this job and get the money in the first place.  Now, I'm not saying that I still don't have feelings like I had last week, but I must keep reminding myself that it's God's money.  Let me just say, that living in our world today and seeing all these things on TVs makes it really hard to not constantly want, want, want (or atleast it makes it difficult for me).  I wish I wasn't like this, but I have to constantly remind myself that I am a work in progress and pray that God teaches me how to completely be content with everything I have.  One verse that I love that helps me daily is...

Hebrews 13:5

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,"Never will I leave you; nor forsake you."