Learning to Live Well
Walking into the GEB America offices in August of 2012 was a surreal experience. My year spent here went by almost as quickly as it came.
This year, I had some great opportunities as a GEB American intern. I was privileged to watch the company re-launch as GEB America in October, had the chance to be a stage manager for the Gathering and learned more about the operations of a Christian television network. While I am leaving to start my future, I will treasure this interning experience and always be thankful to my supervisors for helping me live well.
As a senior, the one question everyone on campus asks me is, “What is your next step?” Before I entered this stage of life, I figured the answer would flow naturally. I had my future already planed and I placed my confidence in it. But through this semester, God has started to chip away pieces of what I thought was the perfect plan. Now, my plan looks more like a question mark.
So if I were to answer that question honestly, I would say: “I don’t know what my next step is, but I do know who will be there with me when I take it. I am confident in the One who holds my future.”
I have no permanent job, no permanent residence and no plan. But what I do have is a new sense of happiness. In one word, I have learned contentment.
“I rejoice in the Lord greatly that now at last you have revived your concern for me; indeed, you were concerned for me, but had no opportunity to show it. Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:10-13
Through trusting God this year, I have found a special value in the little things. I sense the power of God in coloring with a little girl at the Laura Dester shelter, the vast love of God in staying up late in the hall talking with my best friend, the aesthetic beauty of God in organizing the GEB America book shelves. Those are the precious memories I will take with me from this university and this internship, because those are the moments God instilled in me a feeling of contentment.
Why can I be so content? Because I’m no longer waiting for something far off. I have realized that although I don’t have a job, a salary, a mega-ministry platform or a plan, I’ve found what I’ve always been looking for. I have Jesus, and He is everything. He is all I need, and He’s here to stay. I am content in the little things because His presence is in the little things with me.
Let me be clear: I do sense that God has called me to something that is bigger than me. However, I recognize that the expanse of the call is not found in the position, title or accolades. It’s found in the vertical relationship with Christ overflowing to the horizontal relationship with people. By simply being in Christ, even the “little” things become a big call. That’s why I am content.
You too can experience this contentment – this God quality of life. Look at His love towards you; He is beside you and for you. He has a good opinion of you. And He is always with you. Rest in his unwavering love, and you too will find contentment in just being with Him. Life is not found in what you do, your successes or your work. It is found in recognizing the One that walks with you.
That’s the secret to being content. And that is how you live well.
Mary Elisabeth Harp
Editor-In-Chief
ORU Student Publications and Media – Perihelion Yearbook
Class 2013
