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.
Introduction
Confident contentment
1 Confident in our faith
2 Confident in our meaning and purpose
3 Confident in our identity and calling
4 Confident in our future
Courageous contentment
5 Courage is active
6 Courage is acceptance
7 Courageous is brokenness
8 Courage in the Word
9 Courageous disappointment
10 Courageous lament
11 Courage is pressing on
12 Courageous contentment in action
Captivated contentment
13 Captivated by glory
14 Captivated by surrender
15 Captivated satisfaction
16 Captivated by yearning
17 Captivated by infinite love
18 Captivated by discipline
19 Captivated in the dark night
Contagious contentment
20 Contagious unity
21 Jesus - the greatest example of contagious contentment
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