Searching For Contentment

I found a new verse that I absolutely love. Hebrews 13:5

Believers are instructed to free themselves from the love of money.
They are to be content with what they have.
Believers are to do this because God promised to never leave or forsake them.

This is directly opposite of a consumerist culture, but it reaches my yearning to be content and it reassures me that God is with me.

Money won't bring contentment. In fact, money increases stress. People who have a lot worry about thieves and if their friendships are true. Ecclesiastes 5:10 confirms this. If you love money, you'll always want more. If you love wealth, you'll always want a higher income.

Stuff won't bring contentment. In fact, stuff increases stress. People compete with the Jones, worry about thieves, and show off.

One reason why I love the idea of minimalism is because it reduces the stuff in my life. It reduces the money I spend (why get more stuff??). It frees me up to do things I love.

My hubby and I are searching for the path to do missions. Every time I look at buying clothes, in order for me to buy it, I have to want to carry it overseas. If I don't like it enough to take it overseas, I don't need to buy it.

For a while, I was snatching up every free kindle book that I could snag. I didn't consider if I wanted it or would read it, but if it was free. I was getting multiple emails a day about free and cheap kindle books. I would download a hundred books at a time. I ended up with 1500+ books. It caused stress in my life. I would get overwhelmed when I wanted to read a book. I would skip over books that I just wanted to brag about. "Yeah, I sorta have the Gettysburg Address and the Constitution on my kindle." I slowly started to analyze my books and cut down on them. I took drastic measures. I cut out all series (because only the first book was free) and all books that I didn't get hooked on the first chapter. Books that swore went bye-bye. It turns out cursing books makes it harder for Liz not to curse. I'm down to 480 books, but over 150 have been read by me (and others are my Sunday School & Bible Study lessons).

How do you search for contentment? What things do you add to your life to become more content? What things do you cut out to be more content?