Finding Peace and Purpose in the Waiting
What are the first words that come to mind when you think of singleness?
For me, these words come to mind:
- Uncertainty
- Waiting
- Desiring God’s Best (i.e. His Plan over my plan)
- Blessing…but let’s be honest. It’s a journey to get to blessing.
Singleness is a big part of my story. My plan was to marry at 27. When my 27th birthday rolled around, and a husband was not one of my birthday presents, I felt I should prepare my heart. You see, greater than my desire to marry at 27 was my desire NOT to be single at 30!
Up to that point, singleness had been filled with possibilities, hope, adventure, and a whole lot of heartache. Despite the heartache, hope remained. Preparing my heart meant wrestling with the uncertainty poking my heart and prodding my mind. This is uncertainty speaking:
What if God’s Plan is for me to be single at 30?
What if marriage isn’t God’s Plan for me?
How do I find peace and purpose in the uncertainty of singleness?
Reflection
- What age do you desire to marry, and how is your plan going so far?
- How loud is the voice of uncertainty in this area of your life?
- How anxious do you feel about not being married yet?
Whether the voice of uncertainty whispers quietly or rings loudly in your ears, God can prepare your heart for what lies ahead.
Through my Heart Prep, God’s Word put my uncertainty in its place and helped me walk away with promising perspective, a purposeful plan, and profound peace! My 30th birthday came, and yes, I was single, and there were NO tears! Not one! God freed me to embrace the beauty of singleness and taught me to wait well for His Plan’s unveiling.
God’s Plan was for me to marry. Steve and I married right before my 31st birthday, and he was worth the wait. The wait was a gift, too. I’m certain I have a stronger relationship with Jesus and my hubby because God walked me through the wait.
That is what today’s Heart Prep is all about. It’s about knowing that you are never alone in the wait. It’s learning how to let God walk you through the wait. Ready to go on a walk with Him?
What you need: An open heart, a pondering mind, a willingness to honor God, and the powerful Word of God to light your path
Hold on to this promise: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” -Proverbs 3:5-6
Your first step is to remember…
It’s okay to desire to marry.
In the Garden of Eden, God designed Woman for Man with the plan for them to become husband and wife. “And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’” -Genesis 2:22-24
The desire to marry is a natural desire that reflects your beautiful design. It’s okay to desire to marry. It’s also okay to feel a mix of emotions about not being married. (By the way, it’s also natural to desire to be a mom one day. See Genesis 1:28).
Your life rests in God’s hands.
God is sovereign; He holds ultimate authority and supreme power in the world He created. “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16).
God is sovereign over your life. “In him {you} live and move and have {your} being” (Acts 17:28a). He is sovereign over ALL the things affecting your life and over ALL the people impacting your life. Your life rests in God’s hands.
Psalm 139:1-3 / “O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.”
God wrote your life story with intentionality and care.
He wonderfully wove you into being as His image-bearer, full of God-praising purpose, dignity, and value. God is the Author of your story. YES, the GOD of ALL CREATION wrote your story!
Psalm 139:13-16 / “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”
Genesis 1:27 / “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
Psalm 8:3-5 / “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor.”
Ephesians 2:10 / “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Philippians 1:6 / “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
Tap here to read Part 2 of this blog series.
*Verses are ESV unless noted.
Special thanks to my friend, Kate Keith, for the beautiful background designs in the quote graphics! Her FB page is Be Creative with Kate Keith.
