Thoughts on Singleness

In the book, When God Writes Your Love Story, an older single girl was asked if she thought that God has called her to be single. Her response was, "Today He has." I have been coming back to that statement quite a bit recently. Lately, God has brought me to wrestle with the fact that I am unmarried. I have an aunt who is single and in her forties. Almost everything about her, though, would make you wonder if she was in her twenties. I think that is what I may be like when I am her age...and possibly single. She flew to India today on her annual medical missions trip. Last night we got to talk for a while. In the last few years, as she doesn't view me as an annoying little niece anymore, we talk a lot together about being single. I always come away encouraged with that fact that I need to take full advantage of this time in my life. I don't know how long God wants me to be unmarried. I am not guaranteed that I will ever be married. I don't need to live like I have this horrible curse, and I have been gypped out of all the great things that God gave to everyone that is married. Last night was just as encouraging. She said that more and more she has come to realize recently that God has her single for a purpose. She was sharing how she has started taking a class on financial planning. She said that most of the people in the class at her church are taking it to get out of debt. She said she isn't taking it to get out of debt, but rather she is taking it so that she can manager her money wisely so that she can have the financial freedom to go on missions trips as much as God opens doors. This summer she decided 10 days before she left that she was going to go to Haiti for a week on a trip with a teenage girl who was flying down for a 3 month missions trip.

God has been teaching me a lot of the same perspective. He has been teaching me to see the error in the thinking of singles today. We have this mindset that we have to get married. We deserve to get married, and if we are not married, then something is wrong with us. I can speak for myself in say that I know for a fact that God has me exactly where I am in life for a purpose. I don't know all the implications of this status, but this is God's best for me right now. I know that all the past relationships that I have been in were orchestrated and ended by God. Every guy that I have previously dated is also married now. Don't get me wrong, I am not at all against marriage. I would love to be married. God established the institute of marriage and the family. God said it was "VERY GOOD." But God also has His perfect plan and times table in how He designs our lives. I am human. I still often fight in my thinking to balance this out biblically. But I shouldn't live like it is my right to get married. I deserve to get married, and I won't live a fulfilled life until I am married. God has great things for me NOW! I have a ministry to people that isn't the same as married ladies do. I have freedom to minister in ways that married people don't have. I can focus on my relationship with God with time that many others don't have. I started this counseling course on Monday nights. I was talking to friend on Wednesday who said she always wanted to take those classes but never was able to. Now she is married and had a baby girl on Christmas Day. She may never have a chance to do things I am doing. But she understands where I am in life because she was married when she was older too. God is teaching me to think biblically in all areas of life, and opens my eyes to see how much I live by my own thinking. I also see how little I know. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. It may be of personal interest to a lot of you. Shoot me a comment.