Generate Joy | How to Be Content, With Amy Davis
How can we be truly content while expecting more from God?
This episode is from Amy Davis’s podcast, Generate Joy. Brody and Amy sit down to talk about contentment and how to be content in Christ. Amy and Brody both share from their personal experiences of learning to be content and satisfied in Christ.
We hope this episode is an encouragement to you!
Transcript – How to Be Content
I want to intro an episode that we’re going to bring you from Amy Davis’s podcast, you all might know Amy. Amy is the wife of Spencer Davis. Both Amy and Spencer serve and work here at SWO in full time ministry, vital part of our team, really grateful for both of them in their investment here and It goes way back. Amy has a podcast called Generate Joy and it is a great encouragement to a whole lot of ladies, so many ladies that are connected to SWO and a lot who aren’t Amy’s a hoot to be around, she is so faithful in her labor for the Lord, the way she guides her household, her family, the way she uses her creative giftings, she’s so creative and when you come to SWO you will see her hand on a lot of things, her artwork, her design work, graphically, she’s very gifted and she’s the person that I prefer to work with, because we’ve been working together now since 2001 so 23 years, anyway, she asked me to be on her podcast, we talked about not just joy, but because the name of her podcast is Generate Joy, but we look specifically at contentment, what it looks like to be content and to be content with Christ, in Christ, what he’s given us in terms of relationship and value in that and identity and it’s good, we had a good time. I enjoyed it and so, anyway, anytime push content towards other folks that we recommend you listen to, we want to do that. So, we’re going to share this as a bonus episode here, we’re going to drop Amy’s episode that I was a guest on and then, we’ll in the show notes, we’ll link her actual podcast episode. So, hope you all enjoy this. I had a lot of fun sitting down and doing it and then, I pray that it’s an encouragement to you as we bring it to you.
Welcome to No Sanity Required from the Ministry of Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters, a podcast about the bible, culture and stories from around the globe.
Amy
Welcome Brody Holloway, to generate joy. I’m so glad you’re here today.
Brody
It’s good to be here. I really am glad to be here. Been wanting to do this for a while.
Amy
Yes, okay, Brody is the, he’s the CEO and lead pastor for Snowbird Wilderness Outfitters. Oh no, not CEO, well, I guess kind of.
Brody
That is actually my title.
Amy
Okay, he’s the founder.
Brody
The board of directors. There has to be a CEO. That’s like, are you serious?
Amy
That’s awesome. I’m so glad, because I’m always tempted to say that, but I just looked you up online, just to make sure that I’m phrasing it correctly, but anyway, he also is my pastor at our church, Red Oak church, but personally, he is more like family to me. I’ve had the privilege of growing up with Brody, both, from my 20s till now and also just in Christ, spiritually, he’s really nurtured me, discipled me, mentored me and we’ve spent, basically our whole adult life together.
Brody
Our whole adult life, yeah.
Amy
You married Spence and I, yeah and you got our kids are similar in age and you guys are a little farther along than Spence and I as far as your marriage and stuff, but your wife is one of my best friends and so, it’s just such an awesome opportunity to have you come on the show and we talk a lot well, a lot of the people who’ve been on my show, we’ve name dropped you, because a lot of the connection is through Snowbird and how and especially, with Katie cousins, she and Anna Rose like through Red Oak and through Snowbird. So, that is how you came to be on this podcast. I wanted to interview you.
Brody
I’m so glad, I’m glad to be on the podcast, finally, we really have been trying to make it happen for a while.
Amy
We’re on the same podcast journey, you’re now, well, you kind of, inspired me to start a podcast when I was looking into trying to become more of like a life coach for Christian women and just try to help them get goals and habits and things under control and I was just like, oh, I should start a podcast and try to get that going and your podcast really had inspired me as well.
Brody
That’s good. I think we’ll probably get into this, but I’m so simple and basic in the way I approach doing mine and I have this sign that I’ve had hanging up on the wall in my shed, in my man cave since before I got married. A guy gave it to me, a buddy of mine, he was in my wedding and he said, I saw this thought of you, here you go and it says, I have one simple philosophy, empty what’s full, feel what’s empty and scratch where it itches…
Amy
I think I have seen that
Brody
You’ve seen it, and so, when the media team at SWO came to me in 2019 late 2019, they said, we want you to start a podcast. I literally went okay, I give zero thought to it and I remember, they set the thing up in my shed. Literally, my shed is my spot. It’s a teeny little, it is a tiny space. I’ve got my reloading bench where I hand load ammunition. None of your listeners are going to know what that means. It’s going to sound like a terrorist act.
Amy
No, no we got some ladies who carry as well.
Brody
Some country girls, well, it’s like, just like my little man spot and so, I set the little podcast thing that gave me. I set it up the little podcaster and I did the first five and took them to the media team and gave them the cards, the SD cards, whatever and they listened to him and said, could you do this all over again this is really bad.
Amy
Nobody’s going to listen to this.
Brody
Nobody’s going to be, we won’t get off the ground with this. So, we had to kind of, figure out how to get it started and anyway, yeah, so we’ve been blessed. It’ been very, we have a lot now, probably, you, we have so many listeners that are not Snowboard connected I get emails…
Amy
Yeah. I feel like I always have to give the context, because I don’t want to be, just assuming everybody understands camp ministry, because it kind of, can come across like cultish, but it’s not at all like, it’s very just parachurch organization and so, it’s a very unique life that we get to be a part of, super thankful for it, which brings me to our conversation about contentment, because I’ve been talking on the podcast about thanksgiving produces contentment, contentment produces joy and I kind of, to use it as a formula, almost, because if you can do something and it’s kind of, vague, just to be like, you need to just be content, it’s always just thrown out there, a blanket statement, but, thanksgiving is actually something, you can list it, you can say them off, you could, I don’t know, just notice things around and so, it kind of, gives you more of something to actually practically do and that’s one thing I love to do on my show, is to give my listeners, here are things you can actually start doing and it’s not so just vague or theoretical or idealistic and so, being able to talk with you today, it’s going to be such a delight, because I know you practice contentment. It’s become a habit and we’ve talked a lot about that and so, I want to talk about, what are some earliest thoughts, what are some like, basic things about contentment that you remember growing up with as a kid?
Brody
As a kid. So, we grew up. I think this is a popular thing to say, but it’s so true. I grew up in a poor family, we were legitimately poor by all American standards. Now, we were not poor compared to people in third world countries, but in our society, we were on the bottom rung of the socioeconomic ladder
Amy
In the Appalachia mountains
Brody
In southern Appalachia, yeah and so, Appalachian poverty, so it was pretty normal poverty, but at the same time, I grew up in a mill town where, everybody in everybody in Canton, North Carolina, either worked at the paper mill. They ran seven days a week, three shifts. So, it ran 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 and everybody worked at the mill, or every business in the small town was supported by the mill and so, I grew up in a town where people, actually there was material stability, because the mill produced good jobs and people making money, but my dad didn’t work at the mill we had a larger family, my mom stayed home, my folks eventually split up, but in my childhood, we just didn’t have much. I think contentment for me at an early age was just the simplicity of our lifestyle and we didn’t have things, we didn’t have TV. So, this is going to maybe not translate or transfer to where most people are right now, but just this, where my mindset, where my life, has come from, we didn’t have TV. I think we got a TV when I was in the seventh or eighth grade, we just didn’t have things and from a very young age, I had to work. I had to, my dad made me work a lot and if I wanted something, I had to buy it myself and I’m very thankful for that and I think one of the things that in my life created contentment early is learning to appreciate just little things in life and so, I’m grateful for my upbringing and have no grudge against the way I, raised because we just didn’t have much and I think that contentment kind of, came we were just happy with simple things.
Amy
That’s interesting that you go to, material things, because I grew up, I didn’t even know that we didn’t have material things until I was in like, middle school or so and the thing that I’ve most had to grow in contentment with people, being around people and the first time I realized that I was alone, I was in the woods, down below a cabin my dad had made and I was down in the woods and I remember just feeling just alone and just kind of, being like sad, not content with being alone and I just thought, why don’t I sing a song? So, I literally was like Dolly Parton singing songs in the Appalachians, we’re in the Cumberland gas, singing songs and throwing rocks in the woods and just learning how to be content with being alone because, I always was around people, because my dad was in ministry, we’re always at church, you know. So, for me, the contentment journey, when the first thing was learn how to be by yourself and be happy with that, which is weird how that circled around later in my life with singleness, my journey and it was like, I just want to get married and it was like, that was the lesson that God really, really worked in my heart, just realizing that now, oh my gosh, that’s like, what my tendency is with contentment, is people, not material stuff?
Brody
Yeah, well, I think the two, one, they go hand in hand because, for me as a kid, what I did have was meaningful relationships all around me, my papa and my papa, both my granddad’s, I really had endearing relationships with those men and then, my mom’s sisters, all of my aunts, who all lived right in the same valley, oh I just had good, meaningful relationships. So, I think there was no void there. I’m so thankful for that, if I look back at my childhood, we had nothing materially, but we had everything relationally, through my cousins and my siblings and eventually the wheels fell off of that, but I was older. I was 18.
Amy
But, as part of like your, foundational development like relationships being so important and that transfers in how we run Snowbird here, it’s so relational, everything is relationships. I’m super thankful for that, but I was just interested in, your first, because when we had our foster son, I remember that was contentment was like, the biggest thing he would be like, he would be like, what’s next, what are we going to do next, we’re going to do next? The windows, up down, up down, up down, up, up, up, up, up, down, down, he just could not be just like in the moment, right here.
Brody
Be here, be here now
Amy
So, I’m, it’s just funny, how like people, it’s contentment hits people with different areas, that they can be practicing in. So, when Paul’s like, be content. It’s kind of, when he’s like, I’ve learned to be whatever season that whole scripture, he’s like to be content and that really does speak to a lot of what we’re talking about today, whatever a season, wherever you are, contentment is very subjective to a person, but at the same time, it is requirement for us to be content, in Christ. Can you speak a little bit to that? Little bit to that?
Brody
Yeah, I think that is where contentment comes from, whether you’re discontented with your relationships, you’re discontented with your material possession, you’re discontented with your career, there’s the contentment, discontentment continuum, we make a list and there’s so many levels that a person might struggle to find contentment in their work, in their relationships, in their singleness, in their sexuality, if that’s a struggle in their past with regret, it’s hard to be content when you live with a decade worth of regret behind you, contentment is something that you don’t put in one little box. It touches every facet of your life you could be, yesterday I told, so I have six children and actually now one grandchild and my…
Amy
Congratulations.
Brody
thank you, I have an 18 year old daughter that is, she works at Snowboard this summer and she’s on a water wreck, she guides Cano trips every day and yes, just for rainy week this week, as we’re recording this, it’s a rainy week and so, I thought, what’s going to make her life so good, is if I’m waiting when she gets off the water today with burger basket.
Amy
Oh, that’s awesome.
Brody
So, I went to burger by and I told her, Monday night. I took, I went to the Dollar General market where, [crosstalk] and I took a one small. Igloo coolers and I put ice in it and I got three or four of her favorite drinks and I put a bag of chocolates in there and a little thing of strawberries, she loves strawberries. I picked up a bunch of fresh blueberries off the vine at the house, put it on the cooler and I had it waiting on her. I said, every day I’m going to give you a push. So, she was so excited, you know and then so then Tuesday, took her, her favorite coffee drink between the morning worship service and the breakout and then, so when I was waiting on her on Wednesday, when she got off the water, I said, I got you something. Meet me up in front of the coop parking lot. So, she comes up there and I got a burger basket, she got a little teary eyed, she said, I’m so happy right now. So, we’re sitting in, I’ve got it for me too. So, we’re sitting in her car, Dumb and Dumber, [ crosstalk], steamed up. I’m sweating. The world is going, I said, turn this thing on, put air conditioner and so, we sit there and we eat burger basket.
Which is a local burger joint. That’s the best. it was comfort food, soul food and I said, lay lee, you know what we’re experiencing right now? She said, what? I said, true contentment, there’s this when I think of contentment, I’ll tell you where my mind always goes in the book of Ecclesiastes is a very depressing it’s very discouraging because it’s this guy, all my life, I thought Solomon wrote it, but I’m not sure he did. I read a book about it, a commentary and this guy makes some arguments that it’s somebody else, but it doesn’t matter. So, whoever wrote it, they have everything the world offers, both materially and relationally, surrounded by people and servants this guy, has experienced everything the world offers, sexually, materially, food and drink and he said, here’s what I’ve learned. Life is just and he uses this Hebrew word and I think this is where my mind goes with contentment. The word is hevel. It would be spelled like H-E-V-E-L, but the V has sort of a, b sound to it, hevel and the word, it’s hard to translate the word into English, but the best way to illustrate it would be if you take a candle, a big candle and you blow that candle out, there is a momentary puff like stream of smoke that comes up.
From where that wick just went out, When the flames there and it’s dancing you don’t really… You see a little bit of smoke, but not much, but when you put it out, you take your fingers, you lick the fingertips and touch it and put it out. There’s a stream of smoke that goes up. That’s what hevel is, you can see it, you can even touch it, but you can’t take hold of it and then, it’s gone in just a few moments. That’s how he describes life, he says, all of the sexual experiences, all the financial gains, all the material wealth, all the people that gave me accolades, it’s hevel. It’s boom, boom, gone. It’s like smoke, he said and there’s this one scene at the end of Ecclesiastes where he says, here’s what I found. Nothing is better than to sit down and he starts to describe different scenes, to have a glass of wine with a nice meal, to sit with a friend and have a conversation, to observe a sunset, to look at a Krieger stream, he says and I find that in that moment, there’s meaning, which is the opposite of hevel. Hevel is translated meaninglessness. So, there’s a lot of biblical translations that say, I have this and I had this and it was meaninglessness. I had this and I had this and it was meaningless.
Some bible translation’s, say futility. It was pointless and he says, but here’s what I found and he starts to describe these simple moments and experiences with people and with God and with creation, where he says, in that moment, I had meaning and so, I think contentment is found in finding the meaning and so, to answer your question, when we say, what does contentment mean for me? This, if you’re 14 years old, if you’re 54 years old, contentment for the believer is found in recognizing what you’ve received in Christ and so, what we’ve received is sonship with the Father, adoption, we’ve received an inheritance, we’ve received a stabilizing peace that goes beyond the understanding that the world can have and no matter what I deal with, when Paul says I found in whatever state I’m in to be content, it’s because in whatever state I’m in, I have peace, I have hope, I have confidence, the words that he uses. So, contentment comes from recognizing who you are in Christ A and what you have in Christ B, the who I am in Christ, my identity, what I have in Christ, what he’s granted me and given me and that’s where contentment lies.
Amy
That’s super important, because in this generation, everything is pointing to gratitude, mindfulness, which are all great skills for your mind, for your inner thoughts, we do need to be mindful, we do need to be where we are and all those things, but it’s, it’s like you said, it is empty. It is meaningless, apart from Christ, because it’s just satisfying, a human condition and not an eternal purpose, just kind of, spinning your wheels. I feel like pretending that you’re content, but you don’t really understand what contentment is, because you don’t have Christ. So, I think that was really well said,
Brody
Yeah, I don’t think you can ever find true contentment apart from Christ, because I think it was Pascal was the, I don’t know who Pascal was trying to come on. Sounds smart people around the interview, but he, I know he’s a guy that said, I don’t know if he’s like a scientist or an artist. I don’t know if he painted stuff or if he made.
Amy
I don’t know either. Brody.
Brody
All right, well, he was smart. I know that he might have made stuff
Amy
He’s quotable, now.
Brody
He’s quotable and he said there’s a God sized void in everyone’s heart, that’s the guy that I think said that and what he’s saying is, you want to know where contentment lies, let Jesus fill that void, which is what salvation, when we receive Christ, he fills what’s empty in us. I always think of when I think of contentment in that lane, of just being filled with Christ. I always think of, I get so tickled when Little comes to bed wearing my T shirts and my socks and I’m 6.3, for people, nobody can see me. I’m 6.3. I’m 225, pounds. I’m a larger dude and she’s, I call her Little, cute little thing and she’ll come wearing my double XL t shirt and my socks and my, the heel of my sock will be up at the bottom of her calf and I think that and every time I see that and then, my shirts hanging to her knees and she’ll come over and crawl in bed and I’ll just chuckle as, a lot of nights, just as I’m drifting off, I’ll chuckle and I’ll think that’s what it is to try to take anything in this world and feel what’s empty inside of you. It’s just a bunch of open, sloppy space and Christ fills us up and he fills in the cracks and he and that’s where contentment comes from, too, just let Jesus feel the empty spaces.
Amy
So, how do you practice that daily, what are some things that you do?
Brody
I’m glad you asked that, because that sounds really nice to say, let Jesus fill him spaces and then….
Amy
it’s true.
Brody
It’s true, but most people are going to go, oh, okay, what’s that mean? So, I think the first important thing is, what you said thanksgiving, it really does produce joy and so, I think giving thanks every day will generate contentment and joy in our lives and so, giving thanks and I’m talking about giving thanks for every little thing that you can recognize as a blessing, but also giving thanks for things that are difficult, because you’re going to grow in that thank you Lord that you’ve taken me through this and that I’ve learned how to endure, but just being thankful and then, I think committing to be content, you can commit to it. I think the Lord produces it in us when we give thanks and when we worship and when we obey and when we surrender, but you can commit to I’m going to be content, you’re not going to, I have a personal mantra, kind of, like, you can’t make me complain, you will not make me complain, I try to live by that personally, don’t always do it to perfection, but refusing to complain and being determined to be content, I think my answers here are probably going to be so simple, people are going to be disappointed, but I have found that if every day I start my day spending time with the Lord in meditation on his word, reflecting on his goodness, telling him what I think about him, listening to what he thinks about me, so every day start today, I tell Jesus what I think about him. I listen to what he thinks about me and that primarily comes through his word and in meditation, I then pray for other people. Obviously, every day, the people in my inner circle that I care most about in this world, my family, my closest friends, if you’ll do that little list of things, you will be content.
Amy
Yes, I think it has a lot to do with perspective, because when we’re praying, it gets the focus off of ourselves and onto other people. I tell my kids that whenever they’re just complaining a lot and they’re just like, oh, I have to go over to camp and walk through the field to go eat the free lunch that’s being prepared for me with all of my friends and it’s just like, what are you even talking about?
Brody
In my mind, I’m thinking, you little ungrateful.
Amy
Ungrateful. Yes, it’s the opposite of, contentment and so, just being able to remind ourselves of like, it is a perspective shift and our mindset and I think that’s where the world will try to go with this topic. Is just like, oh, well, you just choose not to complain, because you can do that as a non-believer, but without that foundation of who we are in Christ and without every day, like you said, starting off praying, starting off talking with the Lord, telling him, having a conversation, connecting with him, all those things, really does build up contentment and satisfaction and where we are in the moment and I think that’s a really great way to think about it, too.
Brody
I think recognizing we’re all wired differently and they’re things that fill you up, for some people, music really fills you up, for some people, artistic expression that definitely for you, that’s a lane that, when you get in it, you find, energy and joy and some people love to read. Some people enjoy working in the garden or running, running, yeah, running, yeah, go running. I am not like, I’d rather take a whooping. I’d rather take an absolute beating and run anywhere, but I like to get my truck drive down the road. I like to get on a lawnmower, lawnmower don’t talk back, the grass. Don’t complain and it looks really good when you’re done, finding those places where you just have simple contentment in a moment.
Amy
Okay, all right. Brody, one of the main reasons why I wanted to have you on the show is to ask you about something I know I struggle with, as a creative even like making this podcast and staying on task with different things is, how do you balance contentment with expecting more of God. How do you pray like Hana, continue to go and ask God like the annoying neighbor that Jesus talks about in the parable, who’s like, I got a visitor I need some bread, you just being persistent, how do you balance that with contentment?
Brody
There’s a I remember one of the first books I read as a Christian was called The Dangerous Duty of Delight and it was basically like the Cliff Notes version of bigger book, but there was a phrase that was used in that book and the phrase was dissatisfied contentment. The way that phrase is broken down is, it’s like, I’m content to receive what the Lord has for me, in sickness and in health, in wealth or poverty, in need or want, because we’re made to have desires. It’s not wrong to have desires, I think it’s important that it go. It’s not wrong to want a husband. It’s not wrong to desire your own home, those are the desire… Somebody that rents or lives in a trailer park where they rent a trailer and their neighbors are smashing it on both sides of them. I want to be able to have a garden in my own house and I don’t want much. I just want, whatever that desire looks like, it’s not a bad desire. That doesn’t mean you’re discontented, a person that says I’m wrestling with my singleness, I just want to be married, that that 25, 28-year-old girl, 19-year-old girl, whatever this saying I just want a husband. It’s not wrong. That’s not unbiblical discontentment, you can be content in the state that you’re in, but still experience some dissatisfied moments, there’s something more that God has for me, because what contentment is not is it’s not saying I’m going to plop down right here and just this is where it all stops. I’m going to be happy with what I’ve got, there’s God made us to desire more. That’s the same mechanism that makes us want more of Jesus the reason I want more of Jesus right now than I did when I was 30 is because he’s infinite in what he can give and provide and where he can take me. So, if you’re 30, don’t think that when you’re 50, you’ll have got all of Jesus you can handle and you won’t want no more, you’re always going to desire more. So, the human mechanism, that’s put in us to always be desiring more, it also fleshes itself out and I want a deeper, more meaningful relationship, or I want my marriage to be more than what it is or there’s desires for more that are not sinful, doesn’t mean…
Amy
Yes, that’s a good phrasing. Sin versus like, healthy…
Brody
Dissatisfied, contentment. I’m not completely satisfied, I’m content with where God’s got me, but I’m not content to stay right here. I can be content in my singleness, but I can still desire a spouse. Now what has to happen is I cannot be controlled by that desire. So, I put that desire in front of me and I say okay, I see you’re here, this thing. It’s part of who I am. I desire more, vocationally, for example, God gave us a vision for Snowbird. I was 23 years old and I can remember desiring for students to come and it was just me and Little living here in her grandma’s old cabin, Charlene’s cabin, on the side of McClellan Creek up in the mountains of North Carolina and aren’t no kids coming. Nobody even knows who I am. They don’t know what Snowbird is, we didn’t have, if they would have wanted to come, I wouldn’t know where to stay and then, my buddy Rob Hester brought a bunch of kids and they tent camp and we all tent camped. It was like a camp out. That’s where it started. I wanted to run a camp with 100 kids in it. It took us three years to get there. I wasn’t discontented when we had our first week of camp ever and there were 54 kids that showed up, but I’d set a goal. There’s nothing wrong, goal setting is biblical. Doesn’t mean you’re not content and so, God has made us to be driven and to be creative and to explore. God has put in the heart and mind of his creatures who are created in his image an exploratory drive. I want to explore and adventure and experience new heights, listen, day one in heaven is not going to look like day one million in heaven, we’re always going to be exploring and gaining and experiencing new things, because so, only God is infinitely, omnipresent, omniscient, Omni powerful, I’m not. There’s, not a point in heaven where I’m going to know as much as God, because he knows everything and I’m going to constantly be going deeper.
Into my knowledge of him, my experiences with him and so, the Christian experience of contentment doesn’t mean I’m not going to desire more or set goals or move forward. It means I’m not going to be controlled by those desires and so, when we talk about living in a specific moment, right where I’m at, where my feet are planted and experiencing God in this moment and experiencing the sunset or a sunrise or a good meal or a conversation with a friend, or the first time I hear a song from my favorite band or a new movie that I’ve been looking forward to, a sequel to my favorite movie is coming out and I’m so excited and I sit there in the movie theater with a butterfly excitement in my chest. That’s a gift from the Lord, he wired us that way. That’s part of that creative experience that God made us to desire new and great things and adventure and experience when I’ve got a day off and we’re going to go over to the water park and Sevierville and ride those rides and I’m excited on the drive over. God made me that way, the fact that last week I was looking forward to this doesn’t mean I wasn’t content last week to be at work. I got vacation coming next week. It’s not discontentment to be longing and looking forward to my vacation trip. God made me that way. So, I think it’s important that we keep this idea of contentment in a biblical context, we are creatures created by God to be creative, to be driven, to be goal setters, to climb mountains.
Amy
Yeah, I love that. I think that is such a great way to say it, because when I find myself being discontent, I just immediately attach, oh, gosh, I’m living in sin. I am just going down a bad path and I just like, heap all this extra on me when really, it’s just a couple thoughts I got a tweak of just like, God’s got this enjoy the moment and he’s. going to give me creativity when it is the right time. I know for myself, I’ll definitely go back and forth of like, just the difference between letting your mind spin out of control to despair, versus spinning out of control to create and make and like you say, adventure and to dream and to set goals, there’s just two different mindsets. It’s so good. I’m glad that you clarified that, because I couldn’t articulate it and I’m like, I don’t know how to reconcile this because, you want to be able to, especially be a model to your kids. It’s like, I’m happy to be in my home, but I don’t want to just sit here and clean all day. I’ve got, at some point, get a popsicle and sit on the front porch and just be and have conversation and be content and so, I think sometimes we can get so overly, work mode in our daily lives, between, school or just going to our jobs or getting into the mundane, that we get so we long for that adventure. I think I get in my head way too much because I’m like, well, I’m not content and so, that must mean that I’m something deep down is wrong with me.
Brody
Yeah, when it could be that that lack of contentment is something that God’s doing to spur you on to creativity and new ideas and because there’s also a side of this where it’s like, don’t get too comfortable and we can confuse that with contentment, you just get comfortable.
Amy
Yes, and compromise.
Brody
Yeah, live in compromise where you’re like, you’re no longer striving to be the best version of who God created you to be and you said something a while ago that I think is really important. What happens is, if we aren’t careful, then we can become bitter, because life isn’t working out the way I want it to work out. Life isn’t what I imagined it would be. I think the opposite of contentment is bitterness, jealousy, hypocrisy. The opposite of contentment are the things that drive me away from Christ. You know what I mean? So, desiring something that is not sinful, that is not innately sinful, doesn’t mean I’m not content just like there’s something that maybe is not sinful, but it’s not what God has for me right now, like when the devil comes up to Jesus and says, turn this stone into bread, you hungry? You haven’t eaten nothing in six weeks. So, I got to try to remember to use good grammar. I’m sure your people don’t care. The devil did not say you ain’t ate nothing. What he said was probably more proper than that, he might talk southern Appalachian, but the devil comes up. Jesus says, are you hungry? Of course, you’re hungry. Then turn these stones into bread. Well, let’s be clear, there isn’t nothing wrong with eating bread and there would have been nothing innately wrong if Jesus is out there all by himself and God the Father said, you can break your fast. Why was Jesus fasting? He was fasting out of obedience to the Father. if God would have said to Jesus, okay, my son you can break the fast.
He said that through the leading of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil and Jesus goes, okay, well, there’s no food around here. I’m going to turn this rock into a loaf of bread. I’m going to eat it and I’m going to walk home. That wouldn’t have been wrong in and of itself. What was wrong was the devil was telling Jesus to do something that was out of the will of God for Jesus in that moment and so, it’s not wrong to I’m going to use the idea of back to the person, the young mom who’s living in a one bedroom apartment with a bass and a pack and play slammed into you and your husband’s bedroom and another kid sleeping in a pallet in the little, teeny living room where the kitchen flows into it and he’s working a job in the morning, so that he can finish school in the evening and it’s not wrong to have a desire to, one day we’re going to have a house that each kid’s going to have a room and I’m going to have some space and I’m going to plant a garden and we’re going to have a porch we can sit on where right now I don’t have a porch, but if I did, I wouldn’t want to sit out there, because I’m in the hood, or whatever and that’s not discontentment, unless it is unless you let it become the controlling thing that robs you of your joy, which goes back to where this conversation started. If I get on my knees every morning, I say, Lord, thank You that in this season of life, I got a baby, I got two little ones and we’re learning, how-to live-in dependence on you and it’s kind of, tough, but I’m. Learning a lot that I wouldn’t be learning.
Amy
Yeah, because sometimes you can get in that season where you’re like okay, well, if I can just be content, then God will reward me, for my contentment.
Brody
Yeah, that’s right.
Amy
That’s where I know for myself, as a married woman, the word submission is a trigger word for a lot of married ladies and I think contentment is that same type of trigger word for single women, if I can just be content, then God will reward me with what I really want to begin with and so, you go back and forth with this half openness with the Lord, even because you’re trying to hide back like your true thoughts and your true emotions and your true battle, instead of inviting God into that and being able to be like God, whatever, whenever, however you are, all I seek you are, what satisfies you are, what I want to be content in, show me how to do that and even listening to the podcast, getting a mentor, getting a lady in your church to disciple you to walk through those seasons when discontentment can just feel so like ravenous on your soul and get some community around you, because everybody deals with it.
Brody
Yeah, they do, everybody does.
Amy
But, God uses that, I think, to produce maturity and closeness in our relationship with him that you wouldn’t experience if you had everything you wanted, every time you needed something. We’re going to just not kind of, downplay it to God, try to be more spiritual than we are and try to pray those prayers, the skit we used to do here. Somebody posted that on Facebook this week smite my enemies with the utmost smitten city, we used to do funny things like that, but we get too spiritual and we kind of, over spiritualize, our walk with Christ as being like, we should be professional Christians and we’re all on this journey, we’re all failing, stumbling forward sometimes, but we’re all also being just conformed to the image of Christ and the work that he’s doing and his timing, when we are just persistent and faithful and enduring and it’s just been really neat to watch that, even in our own family.
Brody
Listening to you describe that reminded me. I remember, this is years ago. I don’t know if it’s a coffee mug or T shirt or but it was like you know how people will put a poster up on a light pole where they’re looking for their dog that’s missing, missing cocker spaniel goes by the name of, foo, foo, whatever, cocoa, but it was like, it was a missing poster for a dog and it was like missing two legs, blind in one eye, his tongue is stuck hanging out, he don’t have any teeth, he’s got the mange and his tail got bobbed off when he got run over by a car. If you see him, he goes by the name of lucky and I always, I remember, I used to think, when I was a kid, I thought that was really funny, but like, that’s the Christian life. It’s like, it doesn’t matter what happened. That’s why Paul said, whatever state I’m in, I’m going to be content, because this ain’t permanent. This world is not my home.
Amy
That is awesome. I love that. Oh, okay, that’s a great way to kind of, wrap up this episode. I have to ask you one question I ask all of my guests that I have on here, is, what is one thing in your life that is like a surprising joy. I’ll give you an example while you think about it, for me this week, one of the surprising joys that I had was walking out to the girl’s night and developing the stage and going through all the things like the pink lights was just one of my goals, I love it, every Wednesday night they turn the Big B lights on to be pink. All the girls have caught wind now. It’s like week eight or nine that you wear pink and purple girls’ night and I walk out there and they’ve got a bubble gun and it’s like one of those bubbles like going everywhere and the big fans are going they’re blowing bubbles everywhere and it is literally like bubbles in pink and the Snowbird pink lit sign and I was just like, I got teary eyed. I was just like, thank you. Lord, this is just such a surprising joy, I just walked around the corner and it’s just like, oh, this is what I envisioned, for girl’s night was so wonderful. I just loved it so much and God gives us those little joys, me personally, all the time and so, and then, one might trigger another thought, I was doing dishes and I was kind of, like, this is pretty lame and I accidentally squeezed like the dawn soap and I’ll only get the dawn and Spencer makes fun of me because it has little duck on it and they clean the little commercials. I love it. So, I, picked up the detergent and we’re just soap and a couple of bubbles just like, go up in the air and I just started laughing and my kids were like, what are you laughing at and I was like, oh gosh, the bubble thing and they’re like, oh my gosh and then, I got to say, but it reminded me of being at camp last night. So, things like that, what’s something not bubbles obviously, you’re very like, Bubbles might be the thing for you, but I hope not.
Brody
Nope, Bubbles don’t really do it. I think, let me think about this. I will be honest, surprising joys for me are often associated with the sensation of taste and food and drink and so. my first I have a couple thoughts. My first one is when I’m surprised with a meal or a food that I was not expecting, so, I come in one-night last week and there was a cheesecake in the top shelf of the refrigerator that Jenna Rouleau had made. I had no idea and did I tell you what the sign says in my shed? Was that in this episode?
Amy
Yes, I think so, yes.
Brody
So, just, I love spontaneity and I love not doing the same thing twice. 95% of people will order the same dish every time they go to a restaurant. 5% of us will order something different every time.
Amy
Yes, I got a strong head nod going on over here. Yes, I got you.
Brody
Yeah, I like to do things different. I like to try. I like to just to a fault. I like to do something different, just to do it different, but I come in the house that next night, after you all had gone on your excursion. I had no idea Jenna had made this cheesecake, well, cheesecakes were my favorite things. I love cheesecake, buttermilk pie, Flan, that cut anything from custard to cheesecake. That’s the realm of dessert I love. There’s a, this is one of those cheesecakes like you could buy at a store for 50 bucks. I mean,
Amy
Okay, full disclosure, I saw her bring it in the house. I know 100% what it looks like.
Brody
It was heavy, when I picked it up, I was like, what in the world?
Amy
It was a solid, one foot tall I think it was.
Brody
It was so thick and dense, yeah and I walked in, I came in the next night, it’s like, one in the morning or something and opened the fridge and there’s a big old cheesecake sitting there. Okay, surprise and joy. So, I pull it out and I kid you not, I ate one quarter of that cheesecake and drunk a quart of whole milk, okay and then, went to bed and slept like a daggum baby, meaning I woke up crying and crap myself, not really. I had thrush and colic. So, no, I slept so hard and I woke up so happy in the morning and we go down, we’re standing in the kitchen and Little says oh my gosh, did you eat this cheesecake? Yes, she said, it hasn’t been cooked and I said, what do you mean I didn’t know you have to cook cheesecake, what do you mean, it’s supposed to be cold so, apparently Jenna had done about 70% of the work, she brought it to the house and told Little, you’re going to need to finish this out. It’s got eggs in it. It’s got, whatever.
Amy
Is that for fit for finished Friday. Pretty strong Friday.
Brody
So, it was going to be for finish strong Friday, they’re supposed to finish the cheesecake and I ate a quarter of it in one sitting. I’m talking people. I’m talking about it was enough cheesecake. It would have fed six grown men, dessert and I drunk a quart of milk and I ate raw cheesecake and I was so happy. I have zero regrets. I have no regrets about it. [crosstalk], when I opened that fridge up and that was sitting there, that was a surprising joy. Usually, this type of thing is connected to my taste buds.
Amy
Oh, that’s so good, though, because, with my smell thing, you know that my nose doesn’t work. I don’t have that and so, it’s pretty crazy that I’m always interested in that’s wonderful, yeah and you love ice cream too.
Brody
I love ice cream. I do. I love it, yeah and then another surprising joy would be anything as a parent, anything related to my kids, yesterday morning, I had. So, I want to say this, I know we’re done and our time’s up, but I wanted to say one thing, I’m glad this. I just remember this. I was thinking this when you talking a while ago and I’ll tie this to my last, my second surprise and joy. I have a granddaughter, her name’s Alma Ruth and my oldest daughter, Kilby, lives in East Africa. They do missionary work really gritty, gritty, gritty, dirty, rough, in some rough places, in villages and it’s a hard life and so, Kilby, from the time she was a little girl, wanted to be a missionary and so, people will off and so, like, for family vacations. Multiple times we went on mission trips, we went and saw missionaries in other places and we spent a couple weeks with Lena golf one time in Mumbai, India, we spent, lord knows how many weeks at orphanage manual in Honduras, we spent three months in Uganda and so, she grew up getting those experiences and I always knew she was one day going to be a missionary and I prayed to that end, that God would give her a husband that had that call on his life, because I had a cousin that grew up the same way and all she ever wanted to do is be a missionary .
She married a good old boy from mountains here, awesome dude. They love the Lord, but then she just settled into a different life and I, so I prayed for Kilby as a dad, should, I prayed that the Lord would work through that calling and those desires and so, then when he was faithful of that to give her a husband and they had a calling together and they moved to the other side of the world and I knew she’s 19, she got married and at 20, she’s gone. They’re gone and then, so then they had this baby. Baby’s now a month and a half old. I’ve still not held her, met her, seen her in person and someone asked me, I get it all the time when someone will say something like, how hard is it, or is that so difficult or and I remember something Jackie Leggett, Jackie Leggett wrote a book. Jackie Leggett is a lady who is a close friend of ours and her husband was martyred, he was killed by Al Qaeda. They were missionaries in Mauritania and he was killed by Al Qaeda and she later wrote a book. The title of the book was, We Died Before We Came Here and the premise was, when that day came and he was killed, as hard as it was, they had prepared their hearts for that, in as much as you can, prepare your heart and that same thing goes into as hard as it is to not have seen my granddaughter yet and not have held her. I accepted this when Kilby was about nine years old and I lived it out in my imagination.
In my prayer life, through all of her growing up years. So, when the day came for her to move overseas and for me to know I’m going to see her about once every two years. When the day came that she was pregnant, we rejoiced because it took her three years to get pregnant, she didn’t think she’s going to be able to, we rejoice when the day came for the baby to be born and I’m in North Carolina and she’s on the other side of the world, we rejoiced because we accepted this and so, yesterday morning, I woke up wide awake at about five in the morning, having just had about a nine second dream where I was holding my granddaughter and I was looking at her and she was smiling at me and I woke up and my heart was so full of joy and I just got up and started my day. I was like, why would I go back to sleep? I’m so full right now from a few seconds of holding a child that I’ve never held and she’s looking at me and in the dream, she was wearing a hat, even though she’s six weeks old, she had this little hat on that Kilby wears this hat that has, a little, this style hat has a little bitty brim and a big poufy, oh yeah, kind of, poufy up on top, big, puffy hat with a little bitty brim. My grandmother, who you knew, Dinky, wore hats like that and Kilby got a couple of her hats and in the dream, Alma Ruth was wearing that hat. and I just woke up happy and I was happy all day, you couldn’t have made me mad for nothing. So…
Amy
This is surprising joy for sure. Those little treats the Lord gives us just because he knows all of us is so individually and uniquely and just so special, that’s really special. thanks for sharing that. Well, Brody, thanks for being on my show today. This is really fun. That you’re on Generate Joy. I really enjoyed it.
Brody
Thank you for having me. I’m sure you don’t have a lot of dudes on here, so it’s an honor and I hope people are encouraged.
Amy
Yeah, it’s going to be awesome and yeah, Spencer is going to be on here this fall, we’re going to do a marriage series, we’re going to do some things like that, he’s actually really excited about it. It’s going to be fun. So, thanks, yep, that’s it.
Brody
Okay. Go check Amy’s podcast out. Generate Joy wherever you get your podcasts and I think you’ll be encouraged week to week she puts out good content. I’ve had a chance to go and listen to several of her episodes and she does a great job. So, anytime we can share likeminded content, especially that’s connected to this ministry, we want to do it. So, thanks Amy for having me and thank you all for listening, we’ll see you next time.