Striving is the result of having an internalized feeling that you must keep doing, instead of being. You push yourself and become frustrated and exhausted. You are being motivated by the fear that there is NOT enough money, status, or success. Thus, you are finding each day that you live from a state of want (lack or paucity), instead of a state of abundance. The end result is that you cannot be in a state of gratitude, and you fail to appreciate the gifts that God has already bestowed upon you and continues to bestow upon you daily. Ultimately, this lack of fulfillment and dis-ease prevents you from holding on to daily joy, peace, and contentment. Stop striving and trust.

DISCONTENT ERODES OUR PEACE

Discontentment comes along with your striving. Discontentment is never being able to appreciate what you have right now. It is the result of an attitude without gratitude. There is nothing wrong with wanting more, the issue becomes when you cannot realize that you already have more than you need. The striving that comes along with the inability to appreciate how blessed you truly are, causes that inner sense of discontentment. What is really behind this failure to be content?  Within your mental framework and spiritual foundation are beliefs that are not grounded in truth and love. You are believing two things that contribute to your discontent:

1. You are NOT ENOUGH (belief about self)
2. There is NOT ENOUGH (belief about the world/God)

DECEPTION IS A TOOL OF THE ENEMY

Deception is evident by the fact that many people buy into the world’s competitive attitude that more is better, and your way is better than God’s way. Hold up right there, you are human. How can your way be better than your Creator, your Divine Father’s way? Oh, trust me, I tried that one for decades and ask me how that turned out. By 2018, I was totally UNHEALTHY. I was an emotional wreck, physically overweight with elevated cholesterol, and my emotional state fluctuated between mania and depression. In other word folks, I was in an extreme state of dis-ease, which progressed to disease.

FEAST IN THE LORD

The solution is feasting in the Lord, which simply means to FULLY trust in God and His ways. What are God’s ways? His ways are not like our ways, that is the first thing you MUST understand. God asks us, perhaps even commands us to:

1. REST and be anxious for nothing. Trust that EACH day, your daily needs will be met. KNOW that God has already bestowed upon you, everything you need to LIVE ABUNDANTLY.
2. GRATITUDE for your blessings. What we seem to think is important is often something that is a want or a desire. While there is nothing wrong with desiring or wanting things, we often lose sight of the things we already have and need to be grateful for. How often are you grateful that:
   • You woke up this morning
   • You have a roof over your head
   • You can walk
   • You can feel, hear, see, smell, and touch
   • You are LOVED unconditionally
   • Your daily needs will be met
   • You have the Holy Spirit with you always
   • You are a child of God
3. SIMPLICITY is one of my 4 S’s of spiritual health. We make life stressful when we waste our money, energy, and time in the pursuit of accumulating more and more and more. Ask yourself, how much do you really NEED to be content? I was amazed when I realized that the desire to have MORE, and MORE, and MORE was coming from an internalized erroneous belief about my value and worth.