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Are you content this morning where God has placed you? Content with your
car? Content with your job? Your living situation? I share with you this
morning a letter written by the wife of a Vietnamese pastor's wife who
was forced to live with her children on a balcony after her husband was
placed in prison. God used even her surroundings to become a sanctuary:

My dear friends,

You know around here we are experiencing hardships, but we thank the
Lord He is comforting us and caring for us in every way. When we
experience misfortune, adversity, distress, and hardship only then do we
see the real blessing of the Lord poured down on us in such a way that
we cannot contain it.

We have be obliged recently to leave our modest apartment and for over
two months have been living on a balcony. The rain has been beating down
and soaking us. Sometimes in the middle of the night we are forced to
gather our blankets and run to seek refuge in a stairwell.

Do you know what I do then? I laugh and praise the Lord, because we can
still take shelter in the stairwell. I think of how many people are
experiencing much worse hardships than I am. Then I remember the words
of the Lord, "To the poor, O Lord, You are a refuge from the storm, a
shadow from the heat" and I am gratefully comforted.

Our Father . . . is the One who according to the Scriptures does not
break the bruised reed nor put out the flickering lamp. He is the One
who brings blessings and peace to numberless people. I do not know what
words to use in order to describe the love that the Lord has shown our
family. I only can bow my knee and my heart and offer to the Lord words
of deepest thanks and praise. Although we have lost our house and
possessions, we have not lost the Lord, and HE IS ENOUGH. With the Lord
I have everything. The only thing I fear losing is His blessing!

Could I ask you and our friends in the churches abroad to continue to
pray for me that I will faithfully follow the Lord and serve Him
REGARDLESS of what the circumstances may be? As far as my husband is
concerned, I was able to visit his this past summer. We had a
twenty-minute conversation that brought us great joy.

I greet you with my love.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi An (quoted from A MINUTE OF MARGIN -- Restoring Balance
to Busy Lives by Dr. Richard A. Swenson, NavPress)

Wow. What powerful words. Are you content this morning? Paul said,
"Godliness with contentment is great gain" (1 Timothy 6:6) and "in
WHATEVER circumstance I am in, therewith to be content." (Philippians
4:11) Can you pass the contentment test this morning? Good words to
consider as we begin this new week.

Check out today's broadcast of KESWICK TODAY on the website --
www.americaskeswick.org.