Me – Content? I Never Thought About It

I always thought you were content with your life,” a dear friend recently said. It made me look back at my life and realize that was basically true. However, I never really thought about it. You see, at the time this friend and I met, I was a single mom with two daughters in college—daughters I had raised by myself since they were three and four.

In 1978, out of nowhere, my husband decided he wanted a divorce. DIVORCE —something I had never contemplated. When you get married, it is for life. What did I do wrong? Was I forever going to be plagued with the scarlet D on my forehead? How was I going to raise two precious little girls on my own? So many questions and emotions to deal with. However, once I got over the initial shock, it became very clear. The only way I was going to get through it was with God’s help and strength.

I had grown up in church and was saved at the age of seven. God had always been the biggest focus of my life. How could I get through this any other way? When I moved back to my hometown, my parents and the church I had grown up in were there. Our new life began—just the three of us.

The biggest thing that was reinforced over the next almost 18 years was that God was enough. Whatever we needed, God provided. When either of my girls needed a father figure in their life, God provided one of the men at church or one of their male teachers to provide that encouragement. At times when I was struggling, be it finances, loneliness, or I just needed a friend, God provided.

All through this time, I never really thought about it, but, overall, I was content. Did I wish things were different? Of course I did. Did it keep me from being able to continue to worship, praise, or thank God for what I had? No. I prayed continually for God’s will for my life, whether single or eventually married, but I never let it stop me from moving forward.

When my friend and I met, I had been a single mom for 15 years. My girls and I had managed well with the help of God and my parents, who were unwavering in their emotional support for all three of us. My friend told me she had always thought I seemed very content in my life because I was not out there always looking for something better to come along.

I can honestly say, throughout my life, in good times and bad, I have always looked to my heavenly Father to lead my life and provide for me as He thought best. I see all the ways He has guided, provided, and protected. If He has done that for me in the past, how can I expect He would do any differently in the future?