I was talking to the lovely Miss W the other day and I realized something amazing: I have changed! It's not often that I can look back at myself at a specific point in time and realize that my heart and/or attitude have grown in some significant way. In fact, it's happened like twice that I can think of. If this blog is good for nothing else, I am already grateful that it is giving me the opportunity to see the way the God is molding me.
Now, on to chronicling these changes! After talking to Whitney, I was inclined to go back and read my previous blog post about being single and realized that I wrote that post for a reason: I was unhappy with my single state and I was unhappy with my heart. My sisters read that post and they were inclined to discuss it with me, which gave me new things to think about and new things to pray over. And in just over a month, my attitude and outlook has been completely rewritten. I am not sure when it happened, but I am so, so glad that I became aware of it because I need these tangibles. I need the evidence that God is working with me because most of the time, I wouldn't blame Him one tiny bit if He decided to just start ignoring me. Here's where I am at now:
I still want to be married. I still desire a partner, someone that I can share my life with and someone that will challenge me as a person and a Christian. A man that will father my children. A husband that will teach me how to love and care for him and someone that I will teach how to love and care for me. I want that- and I really do believe that that is somewhere in my future. But right now, I am content. Rather than praying for a husband, I am praying about my husband. I pray that he is using this time to grow and mature. I pray that he is practicing at being a good man, because I know it isn't easy. I ask God to lighten his burdens and send people to help him when they become too heavy. I don't know who my dude is, but I know that he is out there and that this is the way that I can best care for him right now. I no longer beg for the guy to enter my life, because I recognize now that that's going to happen, ready or not, when God deems it time. I also spend a lot of time praying for myself (shocker, I'm selfish even in prayer!). I pray that God will continue to mold me so that when it is time for me to be married, my heart and spirit will be prepared for the emotional upheaval that will cause. I pray that God will aid me in eradicating my selfish desires and my self-centered thoughts, because those probably won't make marriage easy, and they're certainly making my current life much more difficult. I spend the bulk of my time, though, praying that God will use me in the way that He sees best now. That I can focus on the now and how I can be a servant to Him.
I've also realized what an amazing life I have right this very second. I'm sitting here, typing on my personal laptop, playing on facebook, and watching television. I have money in my bank account. I have no fear of diseases, or being shot, or walking around in the dark. I have a car outside on the driveway, and an amazing education under my belt. I have family- biological and spiritual, both of whom are amazing. I live in a place where I practice my religion freely and love my God openly. I have a God that satisfies my every need and want, and that calms my whimsy. I have a job that I am in love with and that challenges me and keeps me fit and tan (which my future husband will probably appreciate). I am, simply put, blessed. And I want to spend my time focusing on what I have, rather than what I want. God will satisfy my needs, in His own way, and in His own time. My time is better suited to taking care of the here and now and becoming the best person that I can be.
So that's where I am at. I'm far from perfect and typically not as content as I am right at this moment, but I no longer ache with want. I crave God, and God alone. Have no fear, though, I still have lots of other issues to be sorted through. The blog shall continue. I'm glad that I took the time to read back through my posts, though. Even though there's always something new to struggle and worry over, God seems to be movin' and shakin' in my life!
Two hands! I was getting ready to go back and leave a comment on your other post, but now I can post on this one.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that the Lord brought you to that point. I agree, just like you realized, that contentment with God's plan and provision for you RIGHT NOW is the key. If you don't work at mastering it now, you'll always be wanting more. I struggle a lot with that. I wanted to be done with school, be married, be in a house, have children, have more children. Having Debby really changed that because now I just want to freeze time right in this moment to keep her from growing!
I'll be praying that you can learn to be content in this moment.
And I will be praying for your husband. Whoever he is, wherever he is- I know he's awesome because you are! I remember how hard it was to wait patiently, but his timing really is perfect. It will be so fun to look back ten years from now and see how God was working in both of you.
Mike tried to date me a few years before we actually did and I remember someone saying maybe he was the right guy and it was the wrong time. And I replied that he was the wrong guy and the wrong time and just wrong, wrong, wrong. God has a funny sense of humor, but his purposes are so good. We both grew so much in those extra two years and were better spouses for what we learned in that time. God never wastes anything and is using your single season mightily.
I love you, little sister.
I read this quote this week that I loved, too:
ReplyDelete"The providence of God is like Hebrew words- it can be read only backwards." -John Flavel
(No idea who he is, but the saying is so true.)