Hello ladies!!
Karissa asked me if I wanted to join her blog and post something every once in awhile, and of course I said YES! We also talked briefly about how we want this blog to be a space for women who are walking with the Lord, to encourage and to love one another by sharing in our struggles and in our joys as we are pursuing the Lord above all else. After all, we are His treasured possessions (Malachi 3:17 and Deuteronomy 7:6) and He is our light and salvation (Psalm 27:1).
Anyways, so before I get started I just want to introduce myself. My name is Sarah and I am a recent graduate of Loyola University Chicago (that's where Karissa and I met). I am currently on staff (well, support-raising this summer) with Campus Crusade for Christ and will be doing full-time ministry at Loyola and Northwestern this fall in Chicago! I became a Christian when I was eight but it wasn't until college that I really learned what it meant to walk with the Lord and put Him at the center of my life. Since then, my life has been transformed in tremendous ways by the power of Jesus and I am just crazy in love with Him. However, I wasn't always... which actually leads me into the topic on my heart today - singleness... and is it really a gift?
This is probably cliché and almost always overdone and perhaps you ladies are over this topic but I think this is a hard thing for single women to swallow (I know it was for me) and I don't think we as single women can encourage each other enough in this arena. Soo here goes nothing...
Four years ago I came to college looking for a boyfriend and a career (in that particular order, might I add) and man, was I surprised to find Jesus instead, but it was absolutely the best surprise of my life and I am beyond thankful for Jesus getting into my heart and diverting "my path" towards His. However, since then, I have always wanted a boyfriend/soulmate/husband/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, or maybe just a date or two... As I was growing in my faith, that was my biggest desire at the top of my "wish-list" for God. I would grow in one area of my life and then I would say, "Okay God I am ready now. Let me have him." You see, no matter what, I was not content in my singleness and thus I was not really content in my relationship with God. I was chasing after a boyfriend, not God. God was not my ultimate, like He should be, instead "love" was.
Love was my idol, the definition of which is anything that takes the place of God in our hearts. Fill in the blank: I will be happy when... For me the answer was, when I'm married. My married friends howl with laughter when they hear that one. Again and again they tell me how living with a man is HARD. (They also tell me how wonderful it is too, but right now that is not the point!) The point is, ladies, that once you are married, you are not single. I know you are probably thinking, "Duh, Sarah... And you have a college education?" Yes, it seems obvious but I don't think we actually think about it and we surely do not appreciate it enough while we have it. What's that quote about never truly appreciating something until it is gone? Well, not appreciating our singleness while we have it would be a mistake, a BIG mistake.
You always hear people tell you that "singleness is a gift," and when I was in college, I thought those people were d-e-l-u-s-i-o-n-a-l. By the grace of God, however, and after a series of challenging experiences (including traveling all the way to South America), the Lord tore down my idol and demanded that I surrender everything to Him. He is, after all, a jealous God (Exodus 20:5) - jealous after us, that is. And after that incredibly painful process of laying it all down on the altar for Him, He restored my vision and I was able to see my singleness clearly... as a wonderful opportunity full of freedom and adventure and beautiful friendships.
I think the woman in the Song of Solomon puts it perfectly when she says, "Do not awaken or arouse love until it so desires." Wait upon the Lord. For He knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). If we delight ourselves in the Lord, He promises to give us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). However, if we don't trust Jesus with everything, including our relationships, and if we try to seize control of the moving vehicle, we will drive ourselves off the road and end up in a big ol' mess. Trust me on this one.
In the meantime, enjoy your singleness. Do some things that you probably wouldn't be able to do (or at least do as easily) if you were married. Travel. Go. See. Do. Pack a bag, grab a friend, and go. Invest in your chica-relationships. Your husband more than likely won't be down to get in your "comfies," make popcorn, eat cookie dough, and watch The Notebook and other chick flicks all night. Embrace having substantially less responsibilities than if you were married. Your time is your time. Right now you don't have to think about the needs of your significant other. Enjoy your singleness. Because before we know it we may be married, with two kids, a mortgage, and a to-do list longer than the Nile...
An unmarried woman is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. 1 Corinthians 7:34
Karissa asked me if I wanted to join her blog and post something every once in awhile, and of course I said YES! We also talked briefly about how we want this blog to be a space for women who are walking with the Lord, to encourage and to love one another by sharing in our struggles and in our joys as we are pursuing the Lord above all else. After all, we are His treasured possessions (Malachi 3:17 and Deuteronomy 7:6) and He is our light and salvation (Psalm 27:1).
Anyways, so before I get started I just want to introduce myself. My name is Sarah and I am a recent graduate of Loyola University Chicago (that's where Karissa and I met). I am currently on staff (well, support-raising this summer) with Campus Crusade for Christ and will be doing full-time ministry at Loyola and Northwestern this fall in Chicago! I became a Christian when I was eight but it wasn't until college that I really learned what it meant to walk with the Lord and put Him at the center of my life. Since then, my life has been transformed in tremendous ways by the power of Jesus and I am just crazy in love with Him. However, I wasn't always... which actually leads me into the topic on my heart today - singleness... and is it really a gift?
This is probably cliché and almost always overdone and perhaps you ladies are over this topic but I think this is a hard thing for single women to swallow (I know it was for me) and I don't think we as single women can encourage each other enough in this arena. Soo here goes nothing...
Four years ago I came to college looking for a boyfriend and a career (in that particular order, might I add) and man, was I surprised to find Jesus instead, but it was absolutely the best surprise of my life and I am beyond thankful for Jesus getting into my heart and diverting "my path" towards His. However, since then, I have always wanted a boyfriend/soulmate/husband/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, or maybe just a date or two... As I was growing in my faith, that was my biggest desire at the top of my "wish-list" for God. I would grow in one area of my life and then I would say, "Okay God I am ready now. Let me have him." You see, no matter what, I was not content in my singleness and thus I was not really content in my relationship with God. I was chasing after a boyfriend, not God. God was not my ultimate, like He should be, instead "love" was.
Love was my idol, the definition of which is anything that takes the place of God in our hearts. Fill in the blank: I will be happy when... For me the answer was, when I'm married. My married friends howl with laughter when they hear that one. Again and again they tell me how living with a man is HARD. (They also tell me how wonderful it is too, but right now that is not the point!) The point is, ladies, that once you are married, you are not single. I know you are probably thinking, "Duh, Sarah... And you have a college education?" Yes, it seems obvious but I don't think we actually think about it and we surely do not appreciate it enough while we have it. What's that quote about never truly appreciating something until it is gone? Well, not appreciating our singleness while we have it would be a mistake, a BIG mistake.
You always hear people tell you that "singleness is a gift," and when I was in college, I thought those people were d-e-l-u-s-i-o-n-a-l. By the grace of God, however, and after a series of challenging experiences (including traveling all the way to South America), the Lord tore down my idol and demanded that I surrender everything to Him. He is, after all, a jealous God (Exodus 20:5) - jealous after us, that is. And after that incredibly painful process of laying it all down on the altar for Him, He restored my vision and I was able to see my singleness clearly... as a wonderful opportunity full of freedom and adventure and beautiful friendships.
I think the woman in the Song of Solomon puts it perfectly when she says, "Do not awaken or arouse love until it so desires." Wait upon the Lord. For He knows the plans He has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). If we delight ourselves in the Lord, He promises to give us the desires of our hearts (Psalm 37:4). However, if we don't trust Jesus with everything, including our relationships, and if we try to seize control of the moving vehicle, we will drive ourselves off the road and end up in a big ol' mess. Trust me on this one.
In the meantime, enjoy your singleness. Do some things that you probably wouldn't be able to do (or at least do as easily) if you were married. Travel. Go. See. Do. Pack a bag, grab a friend, and go. Invest in your chica-relationships. Your husband more than likely won't be down to get in your "comfies," make popcorn, eat cookie dough, and watch The Notebook and other chick flicks all night. Embrace having substantially less responsibilities than if you were married. Your time is your time. Right now you don't have to think about the needs of your significant other. Enjoy your singleness. Because before we know it we may be married, with two kids, a mortgage, and a to-do list longer than the Nile...
An unmarried woman is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. 1 Corinthians 7:34
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