Valentine's Day and singleness. Ah, where do I begin? This day for so many people is filled with bitterness. I'll be the first to admit it's not one of my favorites, especially during this time in my life. For most Christians, especially girls, the call to wait on the sovereignty of the Lord in falling in love is a tough call to follow. If I've heard one sermon on singleness/dating, I've heard a thousand. I've grown up hearing how we, as Believers, are called to 'kiss dating goodbye' and 'let God write our love stories.' I have seen story after story unfold that beautifully glorified it's Author. Growing up under the teachings of my mom, Aunt Teresa and Kelly Akers, and in a youth group with leaders like KJ, Katie, Bethany, Alex and many others, dating wasn't even really an issue for me. Waiting was the 'cool' thing. I was taught at a young age to pray for and love my husband. I am so thankful for this time in my life as the Lord use these means of grace to protect me from so many things. As I've gotten older, and this future is not so distant, being patient and content has become harder. Waiting is hard, but it is worse when you wait with the wrong focus. If you are waiting with your hope in the end result, your time of waiting will be miserable and the result will be disappointing. But if you are waiting with your hope set in the Christ not only will you not be disappointed with whatever He has sovereignly ordained for you, but your time of waiting will be sweet as you learn to depend of the Lord for your needs and satisfaction. This time goes from being miserable and wasteful to a time of bittersweetness, as though we long for a family, we find the sweetness in trusting and resting in the Lord.
Believer, and single friends, dont waste this time being miserable. Instead use this time to magnify the all-satisfying worth of Christ and display this worth to the nations! He is better than anything this world has to offer!
Hillary, this post is wonderful. It is so easy after having waited and waited AND WAITED to think, "Ok, this isn't working. I'm supposed to be content in my singleness so God will reward me with a husband. He's not following through on His end of the deal." Obviously, that's not real contentment! For me, the goal is not to deny the genuine pain of waiting, while truly submitting to God's right to keep me waiting indefinitely. He CAN use the sorrow of singleness to be a means of His sanctifying grace. I want to glean the fruit of joy from this suffering, not the gall of bitterness.
ReplyDeleteP.S. This is Heather, by the way! I have my mom's name on here because I post her blog posts for her on my account!
Thanks Heather! I have caught myself thinking that so many times...'my reward for my waiting is a husband.' But my reward is not a husband, it's God. I may not get a husband now, I may not ever get one, but I get HIM now. It's hard being single and waiting, and waiting AND WAITING ;) but its about becoming His during the wait. He makes the wait worth it because we are sanctified through it, not because we may get married one day. I have to remind myself of this all the time. It's on my mirror. :)
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