What is singleness good for?

"Singleness is the incredible opportunity to be fully consecrated in body and spirit to Jesus Christ alone--to be un-distracted by any other romance and free to be consumed by Him. " -Sacred Singleness ♥

But what about those times when all your other friends have boyfriends or at least a guy that is somewhat interesting in them and you are all alone?

YOU NEVER HAVE TO BE A LONE AS A CHILD OF GOD!

"But with every pang of loneliness and every wistful longing for marriage, they lean all the more upon Jesus Christ and find that He is ready and willing to satisfy the cry of their heart--day or night" ~Sacred Singleness ♥

These two quotes have been such a blessing to me!

Truly, I have realized the Jesus Christ really DOES satisfy the cry of my heart day or night. He is such an amazing God!

Are you in a season of singleness?

EMBRACE IT!

I know that is so easy to say, easy to hear and not so easy to do but with God all things are possible!

He will never give us more then we can bear!

He promises to not only give us a future but a HOPE.

We have to learn that our HOPE for our future has to rely on Jesus Christ and not on a mere man.

No one.

Nothing.

Will ever completely satisfy you, fulfill you, or complete you aside from Jesus Christ...

This time were you might be alone in your life.

Embrace it as an opportunity to fall deeper and deeper in love

WITH YOUR SAVIOR!

One of my dear friends sent me this verse yesterday and I thought I would share it with all of you:

"For your Maker is your husband,
The LORD of hosts is His name;
And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
He is called the God of the whole earth."
-Isaiah 54:5

Isn't that just the most amazing idea ever!?!?!? That the God of this Universe is our HUSBAND?

I pondered that all day yesterday!

What an AWESOME God we serve!

Are you serving Him today?

With what attitude are we approaching our singleness?

Do we see our singleness as a horrid thing and do as much as we can to make sure that we do not remain this way for very long? Because we all know that you can never be happy until you are married?

OR

Do we see this season of our life as something SACRED? Do we see it as a chance to fall more in love with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ because we know that aside from Him we will never be fully satisfied?

We have to CHOOSE.

What is your choice today?

Again:

"Singleness is the incredible opportunity to be fully consecrated in body and spirit to Jesus Christ alone--to be un-distracted by any other romance and free to be consumed by Him. " -Sacred Singleness ♥

What are we doing with this God-given OPPORTUNITY that not everyone has?

Is Jesus our first love?

Something to think about...

A Success.

The past few months of my life have been some of the happiest I have ever known.

God saw fit for me to enter into a courtship relationship with a young man who loves the Lord fervently and passionately desires to serve Him with his life.

However, this past Sunday, after over three months of courtship, Kelly and I decided to break off our courtship. It was truly one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do in my life BUT I know that we made the right decision. Our courtship was a success! Neither of us have any regrets and I know that God has a purpose that is so much bigger than either of us.

Does this mean that it still doesn't hurt? Uh. NO! BUT, I have realized something:
I am not devastated.
The reason why is because Kelly did not complete me.
Jesus Christ completes me.
Because Jesus Christ completes me.
I am hurt.
But not devastated.
I KNOW that I can do all things through CHRIST Who strengthens me!
I KNOW that both Kelly and I will be able to find strength BECAUSE the JOY of the LORD is our STRENGTH.
I KNOW that in Christ,not only do I have a future, but HOPE for the future (Jeremiah 29:11).
I KNOW that I can have the freedom to move on.
I am so THANKFUL we have NO REGRETS about our courtship.

What is the purpose of courtship?
Well, to discover if the person is the one God would have you to marry.
In our case, the answer was no.
AND THAT IS OK.

I learned so much these past few months.
About others.
About myself.
About my Savior.
I will ALWAYS be eternally grateful that the Lord brought Kelly into my life!

Our courtship, although it is now ended, was a SUCCESS.

Now, I am finding the freedom to dream again.

One thing that is so important to remember as a "single person" is that only when you find your completion is Christ is when you will be fulfilled.

So many times people think that when they get a boyfriend/girlfriend or get married that is when true happiness BEGINS.

That is so wrong.

Our happiness, contentment and satisfaction in life CAN NOT be dependent on a PERSON or on CIRCUMSTANCES.

Only when we are completely satisfied with JESUS CHRIST can we truly begin to LIVE.

That is what I have realized the past week.

I mean, I knew that only Christ can complete me and in Him is the only way to be truly content and satisfied.

Let me tell you.

This week that was tested.

I think that the Lord wanted to know if I really believed what I had been teaching my girls in my Friday night Bible studies.

I had to CHOOSE.

I CHOSE Jesus.

And let me tell you! Ever since that decision...I have never known such JOY.

Does that mean that I am not sad?

No.

Does that mean that I am sometimes fearful of an unknown future.

Yes.

BUT, in the midst of it all, THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH!

He is so good!

Truly, He NEVER gives us more than we can bear.

And this past week when I got to points were I thought that there could not possibly be anymore hope as I looked to JESUS...He showed me just how much HOPE there really is!

HOPE that can only be found in HIM.

And that is why...I am beginning to heal.

And will continue to heal.

And by God's grace will continue to move forward.

In HIS strength.

I have so much more to say.

So many lessons and thoughts to share.

But I think that that is going to have to wait for another post!

Thank you so much for all your prayers!

No matter what happens in life...I am praying that my Precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be honored and glorified.

HE IS WORTHY!

Can Singleness Really Be Sacred?-Chapter 2

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I am so delighted to finally be able to share my findings from the second chapter in Leslie Ludy's book "Sacred Singleness".
Just to clarify-
FOR THIS SERIES: ALL QUOTED MATERIAL WILL BE ITALICIZED.
I just think that will make it easier to differentiate my words versus the people I am quoting (and there will be quite a few quotes let me tell you!)

This second chapter is entitled "The Pattern of True Christianity" and let me tell you this chapter really really impacted me in so many different ways! I am so excited to share my thoughts on this chapter with you all and I am praying that it will make as much of an impact on some of you as it has made on me.

"There are some who would have Christ cheap. They would have Him without the cross. But the price will not come down."
-Samuel Rutherford
Jesus never promised that a life lived for Him would be easy, BUT He promises to be with us every single step of the way. We cannot expect to be able to get away with half-heartedly living for our Lord. He wants our all. Think of this: Jesus Christ paid the ULTIMATE price for us on that cross by willingly laying down His life for ours. The LEAST we can do for Him as His child is CHOOSE to live a 110% Surrendered life for Him each and everyday.
1 Corinthians 6: 20 says:
"For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit."
So often it can be so easy to do a lot of outward service for our Savior, but what about the inside? What does our spirit look like from day to day? I know personally it can be really easy to talk my talk but when it comes to walking the walk...that can be a little more difficult. But as a child of the King...the price was His life! Lets glorify Him both inwardly and outwardly. Whatever the circumstances.

"The idea that everything-including the good dreams and hopes GOd has given us-must be surrendered back to Jesus Christ is often deemed extremem and unnecesary...The concept of trusting God to script our love story in HIS perfect time, without manipulation on our part, is typically treated as ridiculous and naive."
-Leslie Ludy
This is hard. The past few weeks I have really been struggling with just trusting the Lord to write my love story and in the meantime NOT MANIPULATE to try to get things to turn out the way I want them too. The problem is that when I try to take matters in my own hands instead of just trusting God things tend to blow up in my face. The sad part is that so often because I feel I have to have that control I tend to take steps to go forward (or try to go forwards) when I know full well that all the Lord wants me to do is be still before Him and just trust in His timing. Like Leslie Ludy said "...this concept is treated as ridiculous and naive" which in esssence is like telling the God of the universe, Who not only knows our life story but wrote it, that He made some mistakes when it came to ________________________ and He should really just allow us to pencil in what we think needs to happen in our lives in our story. The only problem is that when a book has already been published penciled in changes aren't really going to make much sense. Sound familiar to anyone?

"Once upon a time, Christian men and women understood what it meant to lay down everything for the sake of Christ-including their desires for marriage and family. Like Abraham surrendering Issac, they willingly laid their most sacred and priceless blessings upon the alter before God. They realized that if He desired them to be married, He would make it clear in His own perfect time and way. But He must always come first, and He must always be implicitly trusted."
-Leslie Ludy
When the above quote was talking about how when it comes to surrendering out love stories Christ must be IMPLICITLY trusted..that really made me stop and think. So many times I have laid down my singleness at His feet trusting Him to do His perfect will in whatever He has planned for both my life story and my love story. But so often when things get rough, or I see my friends pairing off and life seems to get incredibly lonely I tend to pick my single state up once more and start trying to control it. Then I begin to worry and agonize over whether or not my turn will finally come when all the while the God of the entire universe (I think He can handle it!) is waiting for me to lay it back down at His feet in complete surrender and just start living in complete and total trust that He knows what He is doing. What if we all started living like that? I think we would be amazed at the things that would happen once we surrendered our all to Him.

"No matter how our selfish, fleshly side feels about it, laying everything on the alter before our King, and allowing His to do with our lives whatever He sees fit, is where true Christianity begins.
Our desire for marriage must be no exception. Let us not fall for ear-tickling, lackadaisical messages that require less than absolute abandonment to the One who gave His very life for us. He took up His cross and He asks us to do the same. Never forget...on the other side of surrender, we will find the greatest joy!"
-Leslie Ludy
This is what it all boils down to. Whether or not we will CHOOSE (because it is our choice and no one elses) to live a 110% surrendered life for Jesus Christ OR to continue to ride the fence with one foot in the world and one foot in the church (which let me tell you from personal experience does not work). So I desire to be married and have babies. It that wrong? NO! However if I put that dream before my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and it gets in the way of having a deeper, more intimate and surrendered relationship with Him I do believe it is wrong.
He wants us to surrender every single thing in our lives to Him. Will this mean that life will all the sudden get easier? No, but it does mean in these hard times we will have Him to lean on (Philippians 4:8) Does this mean that I will always be happy? No, but it does mean that no matter what comes my way I can have joy in knowing that through Christ there is victory (1 Corinthians 15:57-58). Does that mean that sometimes as I surrender circumstances (like loneliness and worry) to the Lord I will not experience loneliness and worry at times? No, BUT it does mean that in those times I can call on my God knowing that He will give me strength and a peace that can only come from Him (Isaiah 26:3) and that in those times of worry and stress I need only to fix my eyes on Him knowing that He will give me peace (Philippians 4:6-7). That is what surrender brings...a dependence on Him.

"It is easy to think,'If I surrender this desire to Christ, He will eventually give it back to me. If I stay pure, then surely He will write a beautiful earthly love story for me and all my dreams will come true.'
But that's not real surrender. When I laid down my dreams and desires at the feet of Jesus, I knew I could not hold onto any expectations. I didn't have the assurance that one day He would write a beautiful love story for me. I couldn't assume that an earthly prince was waiting in the wings for me.
Rather I was to expect to be single-and to become fully content with singleness-unless at some point God made it clear that He had a different plan for me."
-Leslie Ludy
I have to admit this is one of the hardest things I have struggled with. Over the past few years I have had people assure me (meaning well of course) that one I surrender my singleness to the Lord that will be when God sends my knight in shining armor. Basically the mind set that once I surrender then I will finally get what I desire. The thing is that there are no guarantees! I have had to come to terms with whether I will be content if I surrendered my singleness and the Lord NEVER brought someone into my life here on earth and I was single for the rest of my life or not.
Each and everyone of us need to come to that decision. To be so surrendered to Christ we expect to be single? Wow...talk about surrender being difficult sometimes! That brings us back to whether or not Jesus is worth it. Is He worth it to you?

"Christ loved us without expecting us to love Him in return. As He was dying on the cross, those He had come to save were mocking Him and spitting in His face. Can we love Him the way He loved us? Can we surrender everything to Him without expecting anything in return?"
-Leslie Ludy
Can I surrender it ALL (husband, babies of my own? Which has always been my life dream). What are your dreams? Can we love Him enough to serve Him unconditionally even if we don't get anything in return? Is He worth it to us?

"This is the secret-whether we are single or married-to finding contentment no matter what our situation. To turn down the volume of our selfish, screaming emotions and attune our ears to our King's gentle whisper. To yield to His strength rather than the power of our own desires. To CHOOSE to love, give, serve, and pour out our lives for Him, asking nothing in return. It's what He did for us. And its what He asks us to do for Him."
-Leslie Ludy
Doesn't that pretty much sum it up very nicely? To be content no matter what our circumstances are...to rely on Him for strength. To not surrender things with strings attached...Alot to digest but...don't digest it too long.

IT IS TIME TO STEP OUT AND START LIVING FOR OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST.

Miss the 1st part of the series? Read them here:
Can Singleness Really Be Single?-Introduction
Can Singleness Really Be Sacred?-Chapter 1

Guest Post #4: Singleness and No Compromise

Hey all you bloggers out there!
This is the last of four guest posts that range on topics from singleness to modesty to living a life of no compromise for Christ. I have really enjoyed all the posts that people Note: my words will be ITALICIZED and the actual posts will just be in REGULAR type. Now onto the series :)
Please feel free to leave comments and/or contact with any thoughts, questions, or your real life experience with singleness, modesty or living a life of no compromise and would like to share feel free. Also feel free to visit the previous guest posts:

Guest Post #1: Singleness
Guest Post #2: Modesty
Guest Post #3: Singleness

This final post is written by my dear friend Jane. She has been an amazing source of encouragement to me over the past year and I am so excited to share what she has written with you :)

Where where are you my beloved? -- Part 1 (December 2008).

Yes where is he?? i've waited for this special man that God will send to me since i was very young, i waited and waited until i started dating. Big mistake. Big big mistake, through all these hard lessons that God gave me, through much heartbreak i learned to be more pure in relationships, and to preserve my body as a holy temple of God. Temptations befall everyone, but i repeat again, DO NOT DO NOT give yourself away before marriage, God set those rules for a reason in the bible, HE knows what's best for us =)) Just wait however long it takes..the waiting does matter, and God is like a potter, HE prunes us slowly and he molds us to be the best wife, mother, and friend and lover and daughter of God. These single years have been such a blessing to me. I have not been single long, only since this July, 2008. I had to break off a very dear relationship, because the guy was not Christian..after much prayer i had to put my foot down and tell him that God is first in my life, it took tears, but in the long run i am glad that we never got intimate. I learned the hard way about that long ago, i don't want to get into too much detail, but it's obvious that God had to prune me the hard way. He molded me, refined me like fire, and made me pure again through HIS Love, Faithfulness, and His Word.
I went through a very long relationship with a Christian man for over 2 years, we were engaged too, but things fell apart slowly, and it was for the best. God knew that relationship was not meant to be. So HE took him away from me to never return..BUT i am glad for that, BECAUSE if the Lord never took HIM away, i wouldn't be WHO i am today! i've grew stronger and more spiritual on my own without a man. YET i know the Lord is good and HE will bring me the one i've been waiting for....
the only question is when???
The strange thing is i think God had already sent him to me, someone at church is such a great guy, BUT i feel this is not the right time, so i'll just wait for God to sort all this out ...and to make time perfect or to send me another...Only the Lord knows what's best for us..He does..always have FAITH in HIM and trust HIM, it took much hardships for me to learn to trust HIM more and to not lean on my own understanding but on HIS own. I always relied on myself too much, i'm trying to break myself away from that, it's a slow process, because i'm stubborn lol

But seriously, this waiting seasons have refined me like nothing else. And i know that this long long time will eventually prepare me to be a better woman, wife, mother and daughter of the King Most High.

I can only pray and hope to be a woman like the one in Proverbs 31. But it will take a lot of work on God's part and on my part. I pray a lot, the thing i lack in my spiritual walk is to read more of God's Word. I get sooo busy with college, work, life that i don't read the WORD often enough. It has to be my daily essence...i know that, and gotta work on that =))

Where are you beloved?? Part 2, almost 1 year later (October 30, 2009).

What can I write now almost 1 year later that I didn’t mention in part 1?
My words escape me, yet there is a truth I learned in this year alone about singleness is putting God first no matter what. I have learned what it is like to surrender to the Lord what it is like to get really much closer to HIM. And what’s it is like to leave it all at His feet. That alone has given me freedom. And honestly at this point almost 1 year later..I am not as concerned about when and how this prince will come. I know God will send Him in Due timing. But in the mean time like many other girls here on Katy’s blog said, we need to use our single years to glorify God Almighty J We need to use our single years to live life and to live to glorify God. We can not sit behind and wait wait for that perfect guy to come and then settle and date.
I’ve done enough dating in my life many years ago to have learned that dating is not what it’s cracked up to be.
Courting is a better option. But for some the best thing is to just be friends and then marry. But it all works different for everyone.
What I do know now one year later which I didn’t realize one year ago. IS that God truly has a plan, a future for me (Jeremiah 29:11-14) And if HIS plan is to keep me single now it’s ok. I’ve come to terms with that…as long as I have him as my Lord that’s all that matters. HE should be foremost the Lover of Our souls. I need to learn to see Him as my husband and HAVE Him as my best friend. I have struggled with so many temptations this week, yet the Lord has always been faithful. And He is always good.
And I can honestly say that IF I get married when I am 40 it will be well worth it. Yes I may have to wait awhile…but sometimes the Lord has to prune not just us but our future husband too. Sometimes he may not be ready either. I can honestly say today that if I got married when I was 22, it would have ended in disaster. I was just a babe then, not ready or equipped for marriage. I may be more ready now, BUT the Lord has his perfect timing in everything. We just got to Trust Him at all times and Wait on Him patiently. Waiting can be hard but is so well worth it. I am 30 years old and I have learned patience in these single years that I would have never learned if I got married when I was 20. The Lord has plans, a hope and a future for me and for all of you.
I am actually writing this all a 2nd time today because my file in Word document was erased, so I am redoing it all..But God had a plan in that too :))
One last thing we have to pray for our future spouse, for God to edify him and make him the best man HE wants him to become. Just pray for your future husband/wife tonight For God to teach them about humbleness, love, and being God’s servant. Just pray for their heart and soul. I think I said enough tonight.
Just remember to wait on the Lord, HE has the perfect time for when you 2 will meet, He has a perfect time for it all. It will be beautiful and so sweet, IF and only IF you wait. Don’t ruin it by dating. Don’t ruin it. DO NOT settle for anything But God’s very best. HE has had two of you in mind since time began. So just be patient my dear friends, Your waiting will be well worth it.
Here is a beautiful verse that has comforted me lately…It’s my new favorite and then I’ll close!

Psalm 27:14 (King James Version)

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

~~~
That verse has given me such peace and comfort.
I want to thank Katy for giving me the opportunity to post on her blog. Thank you Katy for being a good friend. And thank you for the opportunity to write.
Blessings to all!!

Guest Post #3: Singleness

Hey All You Fellow Bloggers out there!
I am finally getting on schedule! My goal was to post these guest posts every two days and today (for the 1st time) I have accomplished that :)
This is the third of four guest posts that range on topics from singleness to modesty to living a life of no compromise for Christ. Note: my words will be ITALICIZED and the actual posts will just be in REGULAR type. Now onto the series :)
Please feel free to leave comments and/or contact with any thoughts, questions, or your real life experience with modesty. Also feel free to visit the previous guest posts:

Guest Post #1: Singleness
Guest Post #2: Modesty


So this post is on singleness. I know that the 1st post I did in this series had to do with singleness (Click HERE to read it) but I think that as a single young lady personally I can never be reminded to much to keep my eyes of faith on Christ and wait patiently for when or if HE chooses to bring me an earthly love story. Last night ,after spending a few hours with the most adorable six month old on the planet, I got a severe case of "Icanhardlywaittobeawifeandmother". Before this past year I someday my earthly prince will come and until then I will just strive to fall more and more deeply in love with my Heavenly Prince :) ♥ Sometimes it can get lonely though (specially with a lot of pairing off with my friends and people I know the older I get) but God is so good and gracious to send reminders (like this post) to keep my eyes on HIM!

Ok, so enough rambling! This post is written by my dear friend Katie. Ironically we got to know each other via blogs and then facebook and then texting :) Even in the short time we have known each other it is such a blessing to be able to connect in so many ways with her. She has been such an encouragement to me! Plus we are alike in some crazy ways! :) God is so good to send people along in our lives right when we need them most and that is what He did with Katie (yes we have the same name!). She has devoted an entire blog to encouraging other single ladies to keep their eyes on Christ and view their singleness as a gift. Check her blog out: God Will Bless Those Who Wait (click here). And now onto the post:

First off, I'd like to thank Katy for allowing me to write this post. I have so enjoyed getting to know her. She is such a dear friend and I thank God for being us together! I am very pleased to continue getting to know her better. And am very thankful to be able to write for her. : )

When asked to write on the topic of singleness, I was quite excited! I have a whole blog where I write on singleness and relationships. But as I started preparing for this post, I have to admit I had not a clue as to what I'd write. Having never been in any type of relationship, I am not an expert on the subject by any means, it is something God burdened my heart for so I write about it. And being only 19 years old, I am not a expert on singleness either. But I do have my own experience with singleness. It has been horribly hard at times, but I am honestly excited to greet the day I am no longer single. I don't believe its right for a Christian woman to go out and seek a man. The Bible say that a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife...which shows that the man is to seek the wife. But that doesn't mean I just sit at home and wait for my 'Prince Charming' to show up. I believe my part is to lift him up in prayer and trust God to reveal the future to us when we are both ready. In the mean time, I am learning to be content with the love of my Heavenly Prince. And in doing that, I can feel that God is creating a love within me for my future husband. As far as I know, I have never met my future husband...and if I have, than God chose not to reveal him to me. But I have a journal of letters to my future husband, and I can't tell you how much it has helped me to write them. My plan is that I will give it to my husband on our honeymoon. I want him to know that I kept my not just my body, but my heart for him. I have often had times where I saw people my age pairing off and me still single. But truth be told, I don't want the type of relationship I see others my age with. They seem to be so focused on having fun and their emotions...and that type of relationship won't always end so well. I guess in a way I am happy to still be single, I'd rather be single until God thinks I am completely ready for marriage then have a relationship when I'm not ready and end up making a mess of things.

I know I've been rambling a bit here, but I guess I said all that to say this: Don't be too discouraged with your singleness, use this time to serve God in every way you can. And be content with His love and with loving Him. Also know this, you aren't alone...they are many other young people who are giving their singleness up to God and they understand what you're going thru. : )

Katie

(www.katiemarie2003.blogspot.com - www.those-who-wait.blogspot.com)

Guest Post #1: Singleness

Hey all you bloggers out there!
I am so excited to kick start this week of guest posts off! :) There will be four in total ranging on topics from singleness to modesty to living a life of no compromise for Christ. Note: my words will be ITALICIZED and the actual posts will just be in REGULAR type. Now onto the series :)

This first post is written by my dear friend Loca Chica. We have been writing each other back and forth via email and I have been so blessed by her heart for God (Visit her blog HERE). And now onto the post:

But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:25)

This is what I want to talk about today.
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. (Romans 8:25)
I'm aware that Paul was probably not thinking about marriage when he wrote this verse, but I do believe that this verse is relevant and true for those of us whose 'hope' is to get married.

To all of you who are single and reading this- I want you to know that God has very important, unique service for you to do during this time in your life. Your singleness is not a mistake, God DOES know what He is doing, and He does have a plan. He hasn't overlooked you, your desires, your dreams, and your life. His ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than ours.

His plan for those of us who are single right now is a good plan. It is for a reason. Maybe there are things that He needs to teach you, before you are ready to marry. Maybe He is waiting until the person He has for you is ready. Maybe He wants you to draw near to Him, instead of anyone, or anything else. Maybe He simply wants to see if you'll love Him, even if that means trading your dream of becoming a wife and mother, for His dream of becoming more fruitful and productive in the service He has for you to do.

I was thinking while I was in bed the other night, "What if it isn't really about the issue of marriage? What if it's about contentment?" The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. If I cannot be joyful and content to serve God, doing whatever He has for me to do as a single young woman, then it is very difficult for me to believe that I would be content serving Him in the same way as a married woman. Sure, the first couple months of married life may be blissful, but if I do not have a heart that has "learned to be content in whatsoever state it is in" then being married to the most wonderful man in the world will not give me lasting satisfaction.

God desires for us to give ourselves fully to Him. To allow Him to be our "knight in shining armor" to allow Him to fill all of our desires for love and affection. To allow Him to fulfill our every need.

There is a void in every woman's heart. It's a desire to be loved, to be needed, to be made complete. I think our biggest mistake is thinking that marriage will fill this void. This void is our "God spot", no man can fill it. We may think a husband could fill it. But, the only the one who created it in us is the only one who can fill it.

I don't want you to misunderstand me here, though. Is marriage good? Did God create marriage? Do all of us desire to become one in marriage? My answer to those questions is a very emphatic YES. But, marriage does not give a discontent heart contentment. Marriage does not fill all of our longings and desires that God created so that we would be drawn to Him, and He could fulfill us. My point is, it shouldn't require a husband to make us serve God, because that's the only way we've ever "dreamed" of living our adult life. It shouldn't take a husband for us to live life the way God specifically intended for us at this moment. If we are unmarried at this point, God has us where we are for a reason, and that should be enough reason for us to serve Him where He has us with a content, yes, cheerful, heart.

Maybe you're asking yourself right now, yes, you're right..it should be enough. But right now, it just isn't. I understand what you mean. What we 'should' do as Christians isn't always easy. In fact, the bible warns us that it is hard. Really hard. We have to daily "take up our cross" and choose God and His perfect ways over ours, and our sinful, fleshly desires(I am not saying desiring to be married is sinful at all-I am simply saying that desiring it so much that you don't do what you are supposed to be doing right now, where God has you, as a single person is. Desiring it too much is wrong.)we have to crucify ourselves, and choose to follow Christ.

I advise you to use this time of singleness to grow in wisdom and in grace. To grow closer to God, and farther away from your old, sinful self. Ask God to give you a passionate hunger and thirst for Him. Ask Him to make your desires line up with His desires for you. Ask Him to give you a content heart, that desires only to serve Him and love Him fully, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what His plan is.

Of course, you will fall. You will catch yourself being tempted to fall back into self-pity. You may look at a just married couple, and secretly wonder why they are so blessed. Why you have to wait. You will make mistakes. Just remember, that our God is a God of second chances. He understands who, and what we are. He knows that we mess up. When things like this happen, I urge you, run to God, not away from Him. He will be waiting with His arms wide open, ready to welcome you back. He is ready to change you, to mold you into the person He created you to be. And another thing that I've personally found extremely helpful when I feel like being discontent, I do one thing. Praise. Thank God, yes, for anything. When I feel like falling into self-pity, or like God just doesn't care anymore, I pray a prayer something like this, "God, thank you for always loving me. Thank you for sunshine, and butterflies. For smiles, and tears. For trials, and triumphs. For tests, and successes. Thank you for my family. Thank you for a healthy body. Thank you for understanding all of my ways, and desiring only the best for me." It's amazing what a little gratitude can for a discontent attitude!

And as you are " still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. (Psalm 37:7)", and continue to wait upon the Lord, I pray that you will decrease, and Christ will increase. And whether His will is for you to be married in 2 years, 12 years, or at all, that when you come before His throne in Heaven someday, He will say to you "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You served me selflessly and beautifully with your single years. You chose to be content in Me. You chose 110% surrender."

Can Singleness Really Be Sacred?-Chapter 1

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I am so delighted to share my findings from the first chapter in Leslie Ludy's book "Sacred Singleness".
Just to clarify-
FOR THIS SERIES: ALL QUOTED MATERIAL WILL BE ITALICIZED.
I just think that will make it easier to differentiate my words versus the people I am quoting (and there will be quite a few quotes let me tell you!)

So lets get started! :)

The first chapter is entitles "Forsaking All" and it Leslie's personal story of the journey the Lord took her on to teach her that having a boyfriend (or a husband) can not fill the void in our hearts only HE CAN. As she shared her very personal story about a boy named Kyle I was struck by the fact that even though Kyle was a great guy and by any standards a "good catch" Leslie KNEW that he was not the best that God had for her and that she was compromising as long as she was with him. Here are some things that really convicted me in my own life as I read her experiances.

"God has made us for Himself, and our hearts can never know rest and perfect satisfaction until they find it in Him."
-Hannah Hurnard
Why do we persist in chasing after anything and anyone to try and fill the void in our hearts that only Jesus can fill? Even as Christians so often our eyes get off our first love Jesus Christ and instead get focused on other things (boyfriends, work, school, sports, you name it) while Jesus just wants our eyes to be on Him, trusting Him to complete us.
"looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)
Jesus Christ the Son of the Most High God endured that cross for YOU and endured that cross for ME! Just ponder that for a moment...Are our eyes on Him? Are we allowing our hearts to be filled by the One who loved us so much He willingly laid His life down for us?

"I was so repulsed by the thought of spending life alone, of never having my dreams of earthly romance come true, that I was willing to settle for a less-than-Christlike guy in order to avoid being single.
This is the plight of nearly every single young woman I've encountered over the last 14 years. We want to be fully set apart for Christ. We want Him to be our all in all. We want to find our fulfillment and satisfaction in Him, even if an earthly romance never comes our way.
But all too often, these desires are nothing more than good Christian sentiments that quickly fall by the wayside as soon as a semi-decent guy comes along. The moment we see an opportunity to shed the stigma of singleness, we cave. Instead of allowing Jesus Christ to be our 1st love, we look to earthly guys to meet needs in our heart that only Jesus Christ can fulfill. And we end up disappointed and dissatisfied time and time again."
-Leslie Ludy
So does that last part of the quote in bold sound familiar to any of you? Sadly it does to me. So many, many times...sadly more than I can count...I have been willing to settle for less than God would have for me. The problem was that for a long time I felt my worth was measured by whether or not a guy like me. So I would do my best to put myself out there and I would spends hours dreaming about the what-ifs or the possible possibilities with any guy that was available and smiled at me.
IT WAS SO WRONG!
Yet, the whole time, God was waiting and when I realized the folly of my ways He began to show me how He alone can satisfy and that with Him by my side I would never be truly alone.
Does this mean that there are not days when I am in tears because there appear to be no prospects and I have the feeling I will be single till the day I die? NO! BUT it does mean that on those days I am learning (still not there yet) to run to my Savior, pour my fears in His listening ear and then with His help gain courage to continue to walk this path of singleness I now He has called me on for as long as He wills.
Wow, I honestly cannot believe I am saying all this! I am just so thankful for how far God has brought me! And how much He has taught me ESPECIALLY in these past two years in regards to singleness. It truly has been a refining process! Painful...but now I am realizing how with it it was and still is! That was an aside :)

"Here is the crucial truth that all too many of us miss in our quest for true love: Even a beautiful God-scripted love story can never satisfy the way Jesus does. Even the most heroic and Christlike man on earth can never fulfill the longings of our heart like the true Prince and lover of our soul (Jesus Christ). And until we are able to truly make Him our first love, until we are willing to give up our dream of an earthly love story for His sake, we will never know the fullness of Him who fills us all in all. We will always be looking to a mere man to meet the desires of our heart, rather than to the One who created us, who knows us better than we know ourselves, and who gave His very life's blood to rescue us."
-Leslie Ludy
The only way to know His know His fullness is by giving up what we think is our right to have that one person in our lives. We have to stop looking to others to fulfill us and instead look only to HIM.
IS HE WORTH IT TO YOU? I have had to ask myself that question and the answer it can be hard. This quote is one of the reasons I chose the life I am living now by His grace:

"Is not the One who has given everything for me worthy of everything I could offer Him?"
-Leslie Ludy
IS HE WORTH IT TO YOU? IS HE? HE IS WORTHY!
We say that He is...BUT DO WE LIVE IT OUT?

"Our fulfillment cannot be found in marriage, children, or fairy-tale dreams come true. Until He (Jesus Christ) is our all in all, we aren't truly living the Gospel life."
-Leslie Ludy
Our fulfillment needs to be found in Jesus Christ alone. He needs to be our all in all.
IS HE OUR ALL-IN-ALL? Do we live to find fulfillment from HIM ALONE?


Here is the thought I want to leave you all with today:
"Marriage is not the answer to the longings of our feminine hearts-Jesus Christ is."
He is the answer! HIM ALONE! He is so worthy! Why do we still insist on clinging to our dreams and our plans while He stands there with open arms ready and waiting to be our ALL-in-ALL?http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Has He been calling you? Are you fed up with trying to fill that void in your life? Run to HIM! He is there waiting and HE IS SO WORTHY! He died for you! He willingly laid down His life FOR YOU! HE CAN AND WILL FILL THAT VOID IN OUR LIVES! All we have to do is trust Him in that and surrender our desires to Him and then live each and everyday trusting that He will accomplish His will for our lives. Remember this. He not only knows our life story He WROTE it...

What are your thoughts? If you comment I will try to get back to you asap :)
Blessings to you all!

Can Singleness Really Be Sacred?-Introduction

I am so, So, SOSOSOSO excited introduce this new series on singleness with you all! Just to clarify-
FOR THIS SERIES: ALL QUOTED MATERIAL WILL BE ITALICIZED.
I just think that will make it easier to differentiate my words versus the people I am quoting (and there will be quite a few quotes let me tell you!)


I am currently reading an amazing book by Leslie Ludy called "Sacred Singleness" and have been so blessed with it that I have decided to start a series ,based on the book, highlighting the main points of each chapter and then including my own personal findings. I have not really written on the subject of singleness lately but I was one of the people that was certain I would be married at 18 and pregnant at 19 :) Well I am 19 and neither of those have come to pass and God has seen fit to make it so that there really are not any prospects right now. Until a few weeks ago I had allowed discontentment to creep into my heart and instead of living a victorious single life for my Lord I was living a mediocre one that was causing a lot of compromise. So I CHOSE to not live like that anymore and asked Him to take away the discontentment and all the problems it was causing and replace it with a spirit of complete surrender and trust in the fact that HE IS IN CONTROL! I was content to just wait around but now…I really believe that the Lord has called me to minister to others via missions. I am going to school for nursing. I am planning a short terms mission trip. I am ministering to other single girls. Does this mean that I am not lonely sometimes…yeah I am but…those are the times that I just have to surrender it once again to my Lord trusting in His timing and CHOOSE to live each day faithfully fulfilling the callings He has for my life right now as a single girl and reading this book has really encouraged me in that as I hope it will encourage you.

God has been taking me on quite a journey this past year especially in regards to singleness. In a post dated Wednesday, February 11, 2009 I wrote these words:

One thing that I have always wanted to be is a wife and mother. The Lord started asking me a few months ago if HE was enough for me. The sad thing was that for the longest time He was not. When I truly surrendered my ALL to Him however He did become enough.

"Lady in Waiting
is not about finding the right man,
but becoming the right woman.
The lady in waiting
recklessly abandons herself
to the Lordship of Christ,
diligently uses her single days,
trusts God with unwavering faith,
demonstrates virtue in daily life,
loves God with UNRESTRICTED devotion,
stands for physical and emotional purity,
lives in security,
responds to life in contentment,
makes choices based on her convictions,
and waits patiently for God
to meet her needs."

The whole waiting patiently for God to meet my needs...yeah, God is so faithful and I am in just in awe that He would love and care for someone like me :) So I am purposing in my heart to continue to live each and every single second of my day for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but ALSO waiting patiently on Him for His timing of things. I am so grateful I serve a patient God!

I absolutely love that poem! The thought of loving God with UNRESTRICTED DEVOTION. WOW what an AWESOME thought! To be able to look back on our single years and be able so say that we lived those years with UNRESTRICTED DEVOTION to the Lord!

Is that even possible? I mean I have asked that question a million times in the past year especially.

CAN SINGLENESS REALLY BE A SACRED AND JOY-FILLED TIME? I mean so often it can be so hard and lonely watching others pair off and being well...alone. Can even that time be sacred and joy-filled?

The simple answer...

YES IT CAN!

So here comes the next question:

HOW?

The simple answer...

God has made us for Himself and our hearts can never know rest and perfect satisfaction until they find it in HIM. (Hannah Hurnard)

It is all about HIM! In HIM ALONE can that void in our hearts be filled. In HIM ALONE. I absolutely love this poem and I know that I have shared it with you all before but another time won't hurt I don't think:

On His Plan For Your Mate
Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone, to have a deep soul relationship with another, to be loved thoroughly and exclusively.

But God says to a Christian, "No, not until you are satisfied and fulfilled and content with living, loved by me alone, with giving yourself totally and unreservedly to me alone. I love you, my child, and until you discover that only in me is your satisfaction to be found, you will not be capable of the perfect human relationship that I have planned for you. You will never be united with another until you are united with me, exclusive of anyone or anything else, exclusive of any other desires or longings.

"I want you to stop planning, stop wishing, and allow me to give you that most thrilling plan existing, one that you can't imagine. I want you to have the BEST! Please allow me to bring it to you. You just keep watching me, expecting that satisfaction, expecting the greatest things, and know that I Am. Keep learning and listening to the things I tell you. You must wait!

"Don't be anxious. Don't worry. Don't look around at the things others have received. Don't look at the things you think you want. You just keep looking off and away up to me, or you'll miss what I want to show you.

"And then, when you're ready, I'll surprise you with a love far more wonderful than you would ever imagine. You see, until you are ready and until the one I have for you is ready (I am working this very minute to have both of you ready at the same time), until you are both satisfied exclusively with me and the life I have planned and prepared for you, you won't be able to experience the love that exemplifies your relationship with me...and this is perfect love.

"Dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love. I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your relationship with me and to enjoy materially and concretely the everlasting union of beauty and perfection and love that I offer you with myself. Know that I love you utterly, I am God Almighty. Believe and be satisfied."

--Author Unknown

To be satisfied with JESUS CHRIST alone...wow...what a glorious thought :) And that is what we will be studying in the upcoming segments SO PLEASE STICK AROUND! :)

In the meanwhile I wanted to share with you an article (it has two parts) from YLCF that REALLY encouraged me and got me thinking:

Marriage Is Not My Highest Calling-Part 1
Marriage Is Not My Highest Calling-Part 2

DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THOSE LINKS AS MUST READS!!

And last but certainly not least I would love to direct you over to one of my newest blogging friends Katie. She is the author of a really amazing blog called God Will Bless Those Who Wait which is described as "Thoughts for those who have decided to wait on God and trust Him for their mate." It is really been encouraging to me and I am sure will encourage all of you :)

So are you ready to start on this journey? I am! I truly have been shying away from mentioning ANYTHING about being single but lately I have just had this new FREEDOM and I really believe that the Lord wants me to share it with all of you :)

Let the journey begin...

Miss any part of the series? Read them here:
Can Singleness Really Be Sacred?-Chapter 1
Can Singleness Really Be Sacred?-Chapter 2
All Good Things Must Come To An End

Patience is a virtue...that I don't have enough of!

Actually it is also one of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) which as Christians we should be bearing. With that in mind...the Lord has been teaching me to wait PATIENTLY on Him AND surrender my all.

So if you do not know me it would not take you long to realize that I am NOT a very patient person! I have always been the one to get an idea and then go do it which when you have not brought it before the Lord, really isn't the best thing. The Lord started teaching me a lesson in patience when I broke my foot on November 1st. All the sudden I was really unable to move ESPECIALLY not quickly. So, I had to slow down a bit, but then the cast came off, I got back to my go-for-it-without thinking most of the time ways. I started acting as though my foot was healed (when it most definately WAS NOT) and because of that I developed some complications and now am in my 3rd week of not working and being back in the cast with not much mobility.

Unable to go and do my normal things that I thought were "necessary" I sat before the Lord and realized that He was trying to teach me a lesson. Through various happenings ,that would take forever to type out, I realized that I was so intent on what I thought that I "needed" that I was jumping ahead (in some areas WAY ahead) of were the Lord wanted me. I had allowed Him to write my life story but I had been penciling in what I thought were things that He had skipped over. NOT GOOD TO DO!

One thing that I have always wanted to be is a wife and mother. The Lord started asking me a few months ago if HE was enough for me. The sad thing was that for the longest time He was not. When I truly surrended my ALL to Him however He did become enough.

"Lady in Waiting
is not about finding the right man,
but becoming the right woman.
The lady in waiting
recklessly abandons herself
to the Lordship of Christ,
diligently uses her single days,
trusts God with unwavering faith,
demonstrates virtue in daily life,
loves God with UNRESTRICTED devotion,
stands for physical and emotional purity,
lives in security,
responds to life in contentment,
makes choices based on her convictions,
and waits patiently for God
to meet her needs."

The whole waiting patiently for God to meet my needs...yeah, God is so faithful and I am in just in awe that He would love and care for someone like me :) So I am purposing in my heart to continue to live each and every single second of my day for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but ALSO waiting patiently on Him for His timing of things. I am so grateful I serve a patient God!

Ok, so I am done rambling now. I think ya'll (no I am not southern I just love saying that) will be hearing alot about this kind of thing the next few days (since it is the lesson the Lord is currently teaching me!) so please bear with me :)

Today, is one of those slow days...I am going to be going back to work this upcoming week so that will be exciting! I will only be working two days a week when I start back (because I have been gone for so long) but hopefully I will start getting my regular hours again soon. It is just another oppurtunity to wait on the Lord and trust Him to take care of my needs :)

Youth group is tonight! Well, Awana for me and Andrew and Youth group for all the other people that are still in high school :-p I can hardly wait to see everyone :) OH! And we are taking a trip up to Word of Life Bible Institute this Friday. Jac, her mom, Scott, his mom, Abby, Andrew, and I are all going up together. We are leaving at like 4am. I didn't even know that was a time! lol :-p

Enough of my rambling! Have a blessed day the Lord is the One who gave it to you! Have you thanked Him for it? Just something to ponder...

Hey this is really something worth checking out...

Hey all,
SO I don't know if you have noticed all the new links and such that I have put up a lately but I do encourage you to check some of them out :)

One of the neat websites that I came across was the Crossed-Eyes Blog and Webzine which is just full of amazing articles written by young people for young people about the Lord and becoming more like Him. On there was an article entitled "Two Different Love Stories" which was about relationships primarily from a guys perspective.

Because it was primarily for a guy Lauren wrote a 2nd part to it entitled "Look No Hands" which is about relationships from a girls perspective.

As a girl (:-p) It was so neat to be reminded to not only wait for my future-husband-to-be but to also guard my heart jealously for him. Not only to be pure physically but EMOTIONALLY (which is something that I think most girls really struggle with).

SO besides that the Lord has been teaching me some really interesting lessons this past week.

Modesty has been a huge one. You may notice all the new links on my sidebar addressing modesty-Girls I encourage you to go check them out! I think that the most important truth I have been learning about modesty this week is that it is not about a list of rules and regulations but it is about an attitude of the heart. It is about wanting to honor Christ 1st and foremost but it is also about helping our brothers to guard their eyes. Because of that I first had a long talk with the Lord and then we went through my closet. It was definately a time of heart searching and re-evaluating.

A few years ago I had made the decision to wear skirts and skirts only (except when I absolutely HAD to wear pants for decencies sake!). The sad part was that I thought that in order to be modest meant that I had to be as plain as possible and frumpish. That lasted about a year and then I left it all behind me and did not go near skirts for about two years.

This past weekend I felt the Lord again encouraging me to wear primarily skirts again. But, there were some changes in my attitude. I realized that in order to be modest and feminine DID NOT mean that I had to make myself as plain as possible. In fact, now that I have been striving to honor God in my dress I look more like a young lady (hair and make-up done, dressed tastefully not my normal grungy look :-p) than I ever did before!

Do I believe that it is wrong to wear pants sometimes? Absolutely not! I have realized that is not about what I am or what I am not going to wear. It is about an attitude of the heart. That is where it all stems from! From wanting to honor and glorify Jesus in that area of my life.

So yes there are new links up on modesty and Girls I would urge you to check them out...they have some really really neat stuff in them!

"I’m waiting
I’m waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I’m waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait"

THat is from the song "While I am Waiting" by John Waller (scroll to the bottom of my page if you want to listen to it in my player).

This weekend I have realized how painful it truly can be to wait on the Lord. Loneliness, jealousy, wondering when it will be my turn-these were all emotions that ran through my heart this past weekends at one time or another. I was empty and I came before the LOrd and begged Him to fill me. It was at that moment that He showed me something.

All my life I have looked for my completeness in what others thought of me. My worth as a person was measured in how well I was liked and what other people thought about/told me. THIS WEEKEND I FINALLY REALIZED HOW WRONG THAT IS!

I had been looking for completeness/something to fill the void in my life in a guy, friends, family, ministry oppurtunities, you name it I looked there.

Christ was the love of my life (or so I thought) but He was not the complete and total center and source of my life. He showed me that HE was the only person/thing that could ever ever ever complete me and fill the void that I had been trying to fill so long in my life.

When I realized that...I cannot even explain the joy that just...radiated through my being. It was as though I had REALLY began to live. Do I still struggle? YES! Is it still lonely sometimes? YES! Is Jesus worth it? YES A HUNDRED TIMES OVER!

SO how about you? Have you been trying to fill you life with everything but the One that is the ONLY one that can truly satisfy? Just thought I would give ya'll something to think about :)

So I have not posted pictures in awhile so here are some from a few weekends ago when Jac, Laura, Andrew and Sean came over to our house. We went outside and FROZE (seriously it was like ---------0 out)! But we did manage to get some really cute pics :)

These were all taken by Andrew (as he loves to remind me :-p) and they are us girls. We have adopted two new sisters if you haven't noticed :)





Left to Right:
Abby,
Laura,
Me,
Jac,
Jen.



Left to Right:
Laura,
Me,
Jac.
(We were not
exactly ready for
this picture can you
tell? :-p)



And Me
and Jac :)




I am off to go and
make Valentines Day
cookies with the
Kindergarden and First
Grade class at CCA with Abby and Tammy. Blessings to you all and have a wonderful day :)