For You Singles

For You Unmarried Folks-

Like Me!

The season of singleness is a gift from God! Does this statement surprise you? It surprised me, too, at first. But, after I learned more about the season of singleness and learned what the Bible has to say about it, the truer it sounded and the more I understood!

Singleness is a high calling from God to His children ~ us! In this we must take heart. Paul says in I Corinthians 7:1 and 7:8 the following: ". . . it is good for a man not to marry," and "Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am."

I know what you're thinking, because I sometimes think the same thing myself: "Everyone is supposed to get married!" "How can I get through my life without sharing it with anyone?" "Not get married, what are you CRAZY??!!"

We singles must be crazy about ONE thing alone: Jesus Christ. The deepest desire of my heart is to marry and raise children with the husband God gives me. But until I submit all my thoughts, desires and feelings to Jesus Christ and lay them at His feet, I am not ready for what He will and wants to bring me.

Take heart in this: God knows the deepest desires of our hearts! And He longs to give our desires to us. If we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts! This promise is found in Psalm 37 verse 4. But we must hand our expectations over to Him. We need to commit our way to the Lord and trust in Him alone, not in ourselves or anyone else.

As I write this, my heart is quiet and contemplative. I don't want to sound like a know-it-all or like I have all the answers, that is not my intention at all! I don't have all the answers. I know I haven't learned all what God wants to teach me. I will continue to learn for the rest of my life! These things I've written are just what God has been teaching me in these last couple of years.

I just thought of something else. Maybe you've already learned what God wants you to learn! Thats great! God might still working on the person He has picked out for you. Who are we to know the mind of God? He has a perfect plan for each and every one of us.

God might be thinking that you are more useful to Him while you are single! After you marry and you are saddled with the burdens that come in a marriage, you might not have the time to serve God as much as when you were single. I don't know! We must remember that God says in His Word that He will give us the desires of our hearts and He only has our best interests in mind!

And I do know this to be true: God has a plan for each and every one of us. A plan to give us *hope* and a *future.* We can find such comfort in the Scriptures, can't we?

Am I single? Yes. Is it hard and do I struggle sometimes? Yes. Do I feel discouraged and impatient sometimes? Yes. These feelings are natural human tendencies. But that does not excuse them. We are to think about whatever is true, honest, just, pure and lovely - not depressing, angry or impatient thoughts!

In closing, I leave you with this bit of Scripture I found: "Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him..." (Psalm 37:36 NIV). God bless you as you strive to become more like Christ in each one of your lives!

Terra