I remember being pretty antsy when my senior year of college rolled around.
I only had a few months to snag a boyfriend if I was hoping to finish up my MRS degree in time for graduation. That was always the plan, right? Graduate high school, go to college, graduate from college and then get married… the rest I could figure out with my husband.
Life didn’t really work out that way, though. It’s been over six years and I still get these anxious thoughts about needing to have a boyfriend so I can get married by these weird deadlines I’ve created for myself in my head. It didn’t help when all my single friends eventually got boyfriends, fiances and then husbands.
But…the thing is…
I’ve loved my life.
I wouldn’t change the way it’s gone down (if anything, I’d change the amount of time I’ve spent caring/worrying about being single). I talk to a lot of girls in their early twenties who are still single and in a lot of despair about never getting married, and I can’t help but think, ‘You’ve got so much time…and you’ve got so much time to do incredible things!’
Yes, marriage is a beautiful blessing and I’m looking forward to when it’s that time for me, but I don’t want to wish away the moments that I have now and the opportunities that I have now. Opportunities that I have because I’m not married.
So this post is for all the single ladies…especially all you ladies who feel discouraged about your singleness. Seize it. Live in it. Enjoy it. Take advantage of the time that you have, the freedom that you have, the ability that you have to do what you feel called to do without having to consider how a husband or family might affect that. Don’t alter the things you think the Lord is asking you to do because you’re scared that you couldn’t possibly meet the man of your dreams while doing it. Go! Do it! You just might meet someone when you least expect it…and even if you don’t, it shouldn’t be the priority in your life.
Would you trust that the Lord will be good and faithful to you in your desire for a companion? Would you trust that you don’t have to make it happen? Would you trust that you can truly surrender this part of your life and live abundantly in the greater calling He has for you right now?
Gosh, I know it’s easier said than done… but I earnestly yearn for this to not be a thing that drags you down or discourages you. There’s so much freedom and goodness to be found in your singleness.
If there’s something in your life that you know the Lord is calling you to but you’ve been hesitating because of the possibility of something working out with a guy…? I urge you to be obedient. If there’s something in your life that you know the Lord is calling you to but you’ve been ignoring because you think you’ll never meet someone in India or at that new job or volunteering for that organization…? I urge you to be obedient.
Don’t miss out on the greater thing for your life because you’re crippled by the fear of being alone. Don’t miss out on impacting the Kingdom eternally because you’re too focused on the temporary. Don’t miss out on the opportunities, on the experiences, on the people who the Lord is asking you to love because you are consumed by the ‘what-ifs’.
Go.
Be single.
Embrace this time…because you probably won’t have it forever.
Make waves in the Kingdom because of your willingness to go forth into whatever He is calling you to, single or not. Be willing to set aside your own plans for your life and live in the fullness, in the better, that He has for you.
I promise it’s awesome.
I wouldn’t change a thing.
Live a life of no regret, eh?