Content Whatever the Circumstances - Brother Lawrence

 Philippians 4:10-20 (NIV)

¹⁰ I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
 ¹⁴ Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. ¹⁵ Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; ¹⁶ for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need. ¹⁷ Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account. ¹⁸ I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. ¹⁹ And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
 ²⁰ To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

One of the best examples of being content in all circumstances besides Paul is found in a book called "The Practice of the Presence of God" which is an assemblance of conversations and letters written by Brother Lawrence in the 1600's.  Brother Lawrence was a lay brother in the order of the Carmelites from 1640 until his death in 1691.  He was the monastery's cook for a great deal of that time.  He says:

"It matters not to me what I do, or what I suffer, so long as I abide lovingly untied to God's will--that is my whole business.

I am in the hands of God, and He has His own good purposes regarding me; therefore I trouble not myself for aught that man can do to me.  If I cannot serve God here, elsewhere I shall find a place wherein to serve Him.

The practice of the presence of God is the shortest and easiest way to attain to Christian perfection:  it is the form and life of virtue, it is the great preservative from sin.  The practice will become easy, if we have but courage and good will.

The whole world seems to me to be no longer real; all that my outward eyes behold pass like fantasies and dreams.  That which I see with the eyes of the soul is what alone I long for, and to be not yet in the possession of my heart's desire brings me to sorrow and a drooping of spirit.  On the one hand dazzled by the brightness of the Sun of Righteousness, the Scatterer of the shades of night, and, on the other, with eyes dimmed by my own sin, I feel at times as if I were beside myself.  And yet, I make it my ordinary business to abide in the presence of God with the humility of a useless, though a faithful servant."

This book is only 115 pages long and well worth reading.  I encourage you to pick up a copy and begin practicing the presence of God yourself until it becomes a habit!