For: All The Single Ladies
Valentine’s Day. The day we celebrate LOVE. We celebrate those IN love, but it is also a time to celebrate the source of love.
For all the singles ladies, social media may be telling you to spend the day feeling sorry for yourself, eating chocolates, and wasting the day away in pity. But this is a misleading message. While eating chocolate is good and fine, we must not sit in dismay or despair AS IF we don’t have a perfect love constantly chasing after us, knowing us full well at our worst, and leading us into abundant life in togetherness. Stop. PRAISE. Because we DO.
"...God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:8-10 ESV)
Waiting is the worstttt / best thing ever and let me tell ya why. We want things NOW. We are an impatient generation. This leads us to even settle for less than we deserve. And then leave us feeling dumb/ashamed/hurt later. Ouch. Why? Because deep deeeep down, we aren’t fully trusting that God knows what is best for us. When we step into something before God willingly invites us there, we aren’t walking in trust that God and God’s timing is fully and PERFECTLY good. And then, when we walk in shame, we don’t accept the fact that the debt has been paid and the grace that was given to us 2000+ years ago.
When I begin to feel impatient, ready to do my own thing, and leave out consideration for God’s plan, I hear God speaking over me, “Don’t give up now. If you could only see what is coming!” God has a better way for us than anything we could come up with. A way that doesn’t end in hurt or pain or regret. Be careful wishing for something in its premature state. God works outside of time. We see the “now,” God sees the final picture.
I think back on graduating college, applying for jobs through March, April, May, and through the summer. I questioned what God was doing. I prayed and prayed for a job where I could do what God wanted me to do, where my gifts and talents would be put to use for His glory and His Kingdom. August came. My friends returned to college. Still I had no job offers, not even a single interview. If I had given up then, and settled, I would have missed out on receiving my dream job offer in September with a company built on the truths of Jesus and doing Kingdom work. After patiently waiting and continually hoping, God blessed me with more than I could’ve originally imagined. “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV).
So in the waiting, I encourage you to count the time you have now as nothing less than JOY. There is so much work to be done and right now you have the time to do it! Continue growing into the loving, strong, godly woman that your future man will need. Pray for your future husband, that he would do the same. Lean into Jesus. You’re safe there. Satisfy your longing and desires in our never-changing God who created them in the first place.
Psalm 107. We wander. You lead us. We cry out. You deliver. We rebel. You love us still. We hunger and thirst. You satisfy.