It's easy to be thankful when life is going the way we planned. This year is no exception for our family -- we have three new baby girls to be thankful for. They are definitely God's gift to us and offer great promise for the future. But what about those seasons when life takes on a form of its own? Circumstances play out in a way that we would never choose, and we are left with great temptations to grumble and complain with much discontent.

Our Heavenly Father knows exactly what we need, and He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us, but even these words fail to cheer our hearts at times. The weight of our difficulty can seem so burdensome that what used to encourage us, leaves us even more discouraged.

In the book I'm currently reading, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, by Jeremiah Burroughs, he states:

'Oh', says another, 'I find my affliction is such that God withdraws himself from me in my affliction. That is what troubles me, and can anybody be quiet then, can anybody be satisfied with such a condition, when the Lord withdraws himself?...If God is departed, the greatest sign of God's departing is because you are so disturbed. You make your disquiet the fruit of God's departing, and if it is examined, your disquiet is the cause of God's departing from you. If you could only cure your disquiet, if you could but quiet your own hearts and get them into a better frame of contentedness under God's hand in affliction, then you would find God's presence with you. Will you be thus disquieted till God comes again to you? Your disquiet drives him from you, and you can never expect God's coming to manifest himself comfortably to your souls, till you have gotten your hearts quiet under your afflictions. Therefore you see here how you reason amiss: you reason, I am disquiet because God is gone, when the truth is, God is gone because you are disquiet. Reason the other way, Oh, my disquiet has driven God from me, and therefore if ever I would have the presence of God to come again to me, let my heart be quiet under the hand of God.

If you are finding yourself in a place of discontentment, I pray that God will show you once again how much He has provided for you. May the shadows of our afflictions fail to eclipse the glory God alone deserves in all the circumstances we face. Who knows? There may be a special crown awaiting those who choose to be content in the midst of great affliction. To study further the effects of grumbling as found in the Bible check out this website!