Catching contentment

If anyone has a right to feel angry with life, then the author is a strong candidate. Having battled with lung disease from a young age, suffered at the hands of bullies, and, reluctantly, given up her much-loved teaching job, she has plenty to complain about. But she has made a point of exploring contentment. She has drawn particularly on Paul's letter to the Philippians. 'Contentment is something we can all catch hold of,' she believes, 'whatever circumstances we find ourselves in.' This is a message which we need to hear, whether we are lifelong sufferers, like the author, or facing deprivation or injustice of another sort. Or we may simply have fallen into bad habits. We cannot fail to be uplifted, and hopefully transformed, by the author's discoveries as we learn to buck trends within society and the church. CONTENTS Acknowledgements xii Introduction 1 Part 1: Confident contentment 7 1 Confident in our faith 9 2 Confident in our identity 19 3 Confident in our hope 30 4 Confident in our future 39 Part 2: Courageous contentment 51 5 Courageous waiting 53 6 Courageous brokenness 62 7 Courageous disappointment 74 8 Courageous perseverance 85 Part 3: Captivated contentment 95 9 Captivated by worship 97 10 Captivated by satisfaction 107 11 Captivated in darkness 118 12 Captivated by surrender 129 Part 4: Contagious contentment 139 13 Contagious discontentment 141 14 Contagious reconciliation 151 15 Contagious shining stars 164 16 Contagious God-chasing 174 Conclusion: Holy satisfied 185 Notes 191