Finding Contentment in God: Eun’s Story

Finding contentment in God: Eun’s story

As Jesus restores broken lives at His Mansion, He draws His disciples into contentment in His love. For some people this occurs during their Resident year or after they leave. For others, God uses the Servant Leader Program to continue what He began in the Resident program. Eun Chong Lee’s story illustrates how God uses both programs to reveal Himself as the foundation of contentment.

Eun was “chasing after contentment” his whole life; meanwhile, God was chasing after him. Born in Seoul, Korea in 1982, Eun and his family moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1990. Although he had a relationship with Christ, it was “at best immature.” At twenty-five he got married: “I was looking for contentment in marriage and it wasn’t there.” After a divorce, he concluded that contentment must be in success, status and a lavish lifestyle, so he devoted himself to a growing restaurant business. By 2020 he had a six-figure income and respect from others. “I would have thought that I would be content,” Eun reflects. “But there was a lot more shallowness, anxiety, and discontentment.”

Eun blamed his discontent on the drugs he had been using “to work harder longer,” so God brought him to His Mansion as a Resident in 2021 and finally again in 2022. “I was here to get myself right so that I could go outside and perform better,” Eun says. However, God instead started dismantling his idea of success: “He taught me how to lay down my desires. And by laying down, there’s freedom.” Gradually, God showed him that he did not need to produce so much as rely on Him and His plan.

As he finished his Resident year, God led him to stay as a Servant Leader. Desiring to grow, Eun admits that he also wanted to prove his love for God so He would do things for him. “God showed me how much I don’t love Him,” Eun laughs a year later. At first he focused on his abilities, but soon sensed God humbling him by stripping him of everything and surrounding him with “very gifted people.” He then learned to rejoice in others’ greatness, a practice he calls “priceless,” while discovering that he did not need to perform in order to be loved and called by God. “I saw God as a Santa Claus before, just a giver,” Eun says. “How I view Him now is that He’s God. He is the God of a trillion stars, and then He knows me. There’s a shift in my insignificance, but yet I am very significant.”

Eun completed his Servant Leader year in June 2024, and testifies that he has found the foundation of contentment: “The foundation is basically I am loved. I’m a beloved being, and starting from there, I already have everything.”

Reflections from the June graduates

“I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Psalm 122:1

Coming to His Mansion for a year is a difficult decision for many. New Residents wonder what their life will be like and whether God will meet them here and restore and renew their lives. The graduates were asked what they will miss most about His Mansion and what God has done in their lives over the last 12-16 months.

Many responses to the first question centered on community.

“I have come to love the people here as family.”

Daniel

“The people here are genuine and everyone supports and loves each other.”

Emily

“I’ve never had a community I could trust with everything before. There is a deep well of love and trust here.”

Drew

“I will miss our community fellowship and worship and the way God speaks through people here.”

Mark

God also has done significant work in the lives of the graduates.

“God has forced me to reflect and go deeper with Him than ever before.”

“God has healed my relationship with my parents and family.”

“God has instilled in me that I have value and that people love me regardless of my past mistakes.”

“The Lord has revealed my purpose in life and that is to know Him and to see Him more each day.”

“God has shattered the stronghold of pain and loneliness that gripped me and has set my heart free.”

Join the His Mansion team

• Men’s Program Administrator
• Women’s Counselor
• Farm/Agriculture Coordinator
• Facilities Technician

Prayer requests

• Eleven new Residents arrived on The Hill in June. Pray that the Lord meets them in their brokenness and that He uses the community to heal and restore.
• Summer work groups are in full swing. Pray that God uses their presence on The Hill to encourage and strengthen, and that the work groups have an experience of drawing near to Christ.
• For the counseling and teaching staff, that God will give them wisdom and compassion as they help guide Residents through the healing process.
• For the gardens on The Hill. Summer planting and growing season is critical to food services and provides meaningful work.