I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him Who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13. (NIV).

Whenever I read this statement by Paul, it reminds me of the description my husband gave me of his Aunt Nora. I never met her, but from his recollection, she really was a remarkable woman.

Nora was a young woman in the 1920s who married well. Very well. During the Great Depression, she drove a brand new Packard. She travelled overseas to Europe. She had a maid and a gardener. To my husband’s father and uncles, who were young boys during this time of Nora’s high living, she was a celebrity. They loved her—and stood in awe of her.

But, in the early 1940s, Nora’s lavish lifestyle came to an abrupt halt. Her husband died. Everything had to be sold to pay for his debts. Though he left her a small sum of money, he set it up in a trust so that she could only have a small income from it each month.

What did she do?

She downscaled her lifestyle, rented an apartment, went to work for a dentist, and learned to love her new life. She found contentment.

Nora was a Christian. Her faith in a God who loved her and stood by her sustained her.

To hear my husband tell it, she never complained. She never looked back. She was still the amazing Aunt Nora who made wonderful meals in her small tidy apartment, bought small gifts for her great nephews, and exuded joy.

Notice I said she learned to be content.

Paul, too, said he learned to be content. What this implies is that Paul was not always like this.

So, how do we learn to be content?

According to Colin Smith, Senior Pastor of Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, there are three ways to train yourself to be content in all circumstances.

First, make more of your joys than you do of your sorrows. Make more of your gains than you do of your losses. Luther famously said, “If a cross comes, make it a little cross, but if there is a mercy, make that mercy great.”

Pastor Smith likens this to how you can refine the sound of the music you listen to—you can turn up the treble or the base. In this case, you turn up the “mercies” in your life. Don’t ignore your sorrows—but lift up your joys!

Second, according to Pastor Smith, you should “confidently affirm the sufficiency of Christ.” Paul connects the secret of contentment with the strength he receives from Christ. My husband attributes the same source of strength for his aunt. She loved Jesus. Pastor Smith puts it this way: “There is an infusion of strength that comes from Christ into the life of the believer that matches the load He has given you to carry. God can double your load and triple your strength. That is why Paul says, ‘I can do all things through (Christ) who gives me strength.’”

Third, the source of contentment truly comes from what you are living for.

What are you living for?

In Paul’s case, as Pastor Smith points out, he was “living for Christ, so dying meant getting more of Him.”

Perhaps if you use your loss as an opportunity for more time with Christ, you too, can count it all as gain.

I want to focus back on the word “learn”. The best time to prepare for contentment in loss is to find contentment that has nothing to do with your circumstances. In times of plenty, teach yourself to be content apart from your riches.

Spend time with Christ.

Develop relationships with other Christians.

Center your heart and mind on those aspects of life that “the moth cannot eat.”

Aunt Nora did this.

So did Paul.

Think today—what is the source of your contentment?