When Contentment Rules

September 3, 2021September 1, 2021 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

His eyes take it all in. He sees and hears things that he does not know what they are, but he is okay. Why is he okay, even though he doesn’t understand? Because he looks at his mother and father and observes how they are reacting to those things. He remains calm, because they remain calm. He is content.

This child is one year old. He is adorable. He can be in the company of adults and yet his personality does not distract from what the adults are doing. Of course he has needs, like hunger, but somehow he doesn’t have to tell his parents he is hungry, they know and they feed him. He knows his every need will be met. He trusts them, so he doesn’t have to cry out to make his needs known.

As I witnessed this child, and the above thoughts went through my head, I started comparing my own contentment to this child’s. It wasn’t long before I realized what the child was doing that made him an expert in contentment.

The child focused on his mother and father.

When we are in situations we do not know what is happening or why, we need to keep our focus on our heavenly Father. We need to watch and see how He is reacting to the news, the weather, our boss, and our family members, to anything that personally affects us. Is God running around like a chicken with its head cut off screaming, “Now what?” or is God remaining calm therefore we can remain calm?

The child didn’t have to cry out in order to get his “needs” met.

God knows what we have need of. “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” Mat.6:8 (NIV) It’s about knowing God and trusting him.

True contentment brings peace. This kind of contentment allows you to sleep, and experience true rest. A calmness that, at times, can’t be explained. Others will be in amazed when they see it. That is what it is like when contentment rules.

God’s Top Ten List

May 5, 2018May 4, 2018 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

The Ten

No other Gods before me.
I’m to be your first priority.
Nothing should be your idol.
Keep your life pure.
Don’t use my name when cussing.
Understanding this can bring humility.
Keep Sundays Holy.
Resting one day a week is a wonderful thing.
Honor your father and mother.
Doing so will bless your life.
Killing is not good.
Love is a much better way.
Committing adultery tears people apart.
Learning intimacy will bring people together.
Don’t take what isn’t yours.
If you do, you’ll never learn to trust.
Lying is a bad idea.
Honesty is always the way to go.
You shouldn’t want what isn’t yours.
Contentment brings peace to your life.

God didn’t come up with these 10 commandments to make your life miserable. He didn’t do it so we would become “religious”, and start a bunch of denominations with a list of “rules” to live by. He gave us these principles, to live by, so we could relate to him better, and with each other.

Wisdom from God’s Word

October 30, 2016October 30, 2016 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

Work is tough. Ever since Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and He told them that work would be hard, it has been just that. I grew up believing in the American dream. That a person could find employment doing something they enjoyed. At first I did, but over the years things have changed. Now, work is hard and it isn’t enjoyable at all. There are good moments, but mainly those moments are on a personal level.

In these current times we, who try our best to be Godly, are often thrown under the bus, lied about, ridiculed, and mistreated even though some of the treatment goes against the business code of conduct. rev-1

If I had things my way I would be living in an RV, traveling across America, writing. I want this kind of life. I desire this life with everything in my heart. Then I read Proverbs 16:9:

We plan the way we want to live, but only GOD makes us able to live it.

My faith in God requires that I believe this from God’s word. More importantly, I live it. The worst thing I could do is try to make the life I so desperately want happen. I yield to the truth that if God wants it to happen, then it will, but in His timing, and in His way. Hopefully doing so will help me to be wise.

To Know

September 4, 2016 / Mark Brady / 2 Comments

To know unconditional love;
is to know God.
To know real forgiveness;
is to know Jesus.
To know perfect direction;
is to know the Holy Spirit.

To know pure laughter;
is to know true friends.
To know great joy;
is to know a child.
To know time;
is to know an elderly person.

To know gratitude;
is to feed the hungry.
To know security;
is to clothe the naked.
To know health;
is to visit the sick.

To know peace;
is to know contentment.
To know lasting hope;
is to know faith.
To know wisdom;
is to know the Word of God.

Do you have one?

May 15, 2016May 15, 2016 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

“When the dream is unleashed”

Do you have one so deep down inside you some people close to you don’t even realize it. How long has it been there? Do you know when it will be unleashed? Does carrying it around every day hurt?

I’m talking about a dream. A desire to do something for God. Perhaps more people have them than we would know. There are those who want to be in one form of ministry, or another, full time. Not just to minister on weekends, or part time, but all the time. Not getting that opportunity can hurt, and at times it makes getting up and going to work somewhere we don’t want to be extremely hard to do.

Yes, I have one. I can relate to Joseph in Genesis 35:7, “Joseph had a dream.” I desire more than anything to become a full time author, and public speaker. I write where and when I can. I try my best to be faithful with the time I have to minister with words. I struggle to, but I know I need to be content where God has me now. There are people where I am now that need to be ministered to full time.

I am learning this: to be faithful where I am today, and that practice will prepare me to be faithful where I want to be. If you have one, I know what you are going through. If you would like to be on this special list of God dreamers, so that I can pray for you as well then let me hear from you at: bradymarka@gmail.com As I have shared with another just this past week, it stays with me, but you can know this; there is at least another who understands what you feel, what you want, and what you cry out to God for, that the dream will one day be more than a dream. It will be your life.

The Life You Should Really Want

May 3, 2015May 3, 2015 / Mark Brady / Leave a comment

I was talking this past week with someone and it didn’t take long before I realized they were depressed. I asked them why, and they responded they weren’t sure. I asked them if they were happy with their current situation concerning life. They replied, “No.” Then the question of all questions came to me, so I asked, “If your world looked like you wanted it to what would it look like?” I mean this is the kind of question my friend Steve usually comes up with, but not me, so it had to come from God! The person I was talking to said that was a really good question, but wasn’t sure how to answer it.

What if you were asked that question? Would you be able to answer it? Would you have a different job? Live somewhere else? I hate to ask, but would you be in a relationship with someone else? If your world could look like you wanted it to would that world be the result of making better decisions? Have you really learned from the life you have lived in the past?

You can’t live in the past, and you shouldn’t live with regret. Whatever it was, it happened. Okay? So get over it with God’s love, help, and power. Learn from it. Give it to God, and allow him to use it to help someone else who is about to do the same thing. Paul tells us:

(Phi 4:11) Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances.

Contentment is a powerful thing to say, but even a more powerful thing to practice in your own life! I think once you learn to accept and relax in your current situation it is then that God can begin to lead you to the life He wants for you, and I assure you, this is the life you should really want.

The Other Side

December 2, 2014 / Mark Brady / 1 Comment

What is it about the other side? What is it on the other side that looks so appealing? Is it really better than what we already have on the side we are on? If we waited long enough would what is on the other side be on our side? Will what is on the other side satisfy us any better than what we have? Or will going after what is on the other side cause us to get stuck? Stuck in a bad relationship, a bad job, a bad business deal? Causing us to ask ourselves, “Now what?” Perhaps it is always better to just be content with what we have on the side we are on.

Paul (from the bible) said it like this:

Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. (Phi. 4:11-13 MSG)

Author Shauna Niequist once said, “If you want the grass to be green on your side of the fence then water it.”

So be happy with what you have. Stop looking to see what is on the other side. You might just learn that what you have is pretty good after all, and perhaps everyone else is wanting what you have on your side?