I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine from church today. Our conversation took place on Facebook chat, and it sparked some interesting things in me. We were talking about dating. He is single, in his early 20′s and a Godly young man. He was talking about dating, whether he should or not, which lead me to these thoughts.
In a conversation we had a few days ago, we talked about this issue and I’ve talked about dating and waiting on God with others too, so I thought it would be good to talk about it here.
It seems that so many people, young and older, get so caught up in having to have a significant other. They spend a good majority of their teen and young adult years searching for “the one”. They are so afraid of being alone (and I don’t blame them!) that they miss the forest for the trees, so to speak.
God says in Psalm 37:4 that those who delight in the Lord, HE will GIVE them the desires of their hearts. That means that YOUR desires ARE HIS desires. What does delighting in the Lord mean? It means trusting Him, having faith that He will fulfill His promises for your life. So, when we are in His Word, talking to him and relating to Him on a continual basis, OUR desires become the desires HE has for US. Are you tracking with me? Let’s put it this way; when you are in a relationship with someone, say you are married, often your desires as a couple become the same. Your dreams for your children are usually the same as your partners as well as other desires like where to live, where to go on vacation, financial dreams and so on.
It’s the same with God. When we are in relationship with God, our desires line up with His desires for our lives. And who knows us better than God? No one!
So, how does this apply in the area of dating? When you are “delighting” in the Lord, then you TRUST Him enough to wait patiently until you and your future spouse are ready to be together. I hate to use the term wait because it seems so tedious. What I told the young man above is to think of it as growing instead of waiting.
When I was single, I wanted a relationship more than anything! I wanted to meet a man that was Godly, would love me for who I am and who would love my children for who they are. It was in my singleness, at a woman’s leadership conference that I learned what Psalm 37:4 meant. And that scripture stuck in my heart, head and soul and I learned to TRUST God in the area of relationships and in every other area in my life.
As I began to grow in my trust of God, I began to grow in other areas too. I began to see that there were areas in my life that I needed to change and work on if I was going to be the woman God created me to be. One of those areas was learning to be a good wife and a better mother. Having been sexually abused as a child, I did not understand what true love meant from a man, and there are a whole bunch of other messed up things that happen in a girls head, heart and soul when she is sexually abused. So, I needed to learn first of all what kind of man I really wanted! I had to learn what a truly Godly man looked like. I also had to learn what a truly Godly wife looked like and then work on becoming that.
I also had to learn to be content where God had me at the time. I think that is something a lot of people need to learn. I’m not saying don’t grow in God, that would contradict everything I said above. Let me explain. If you are single right now, learn to be content in your singleness. Do everything you can to learn about yourself, through God’s eyes, and grow to be the person He created you to be.
I often hear from various people that they don’t have any clue where God is taking them or what God wants from them. Take this season of singleness to find out. And be praying that your future spouse is doing the same! You cannot be complete with another person if you are not complete in God first. Learn to let go and let Him guide and direct your path.
Another thing I often hear from others is they are afraid of where God might take them. I personally don’t understand this thinking because I’m so excited to see where God is taking me! I can’t wait! LOL. But I know I must and I trust that God will take me where he wills, but it will only be when I’m ready. So, in the mean time, I’m learning what I need to change and work on in my life so that God can take me there.
Now, don’t get me wrong here either. God can use ANYONE, no matter where you are in life, no matter what disabilities you may have, no matter where you live, no matter what your skin color is, no matter WHAT. God can, will and does use anyone who is willing and open to Him. Heck, He even uses those who aren’t willing to fulfill His purpose. After all He is God. I just am trying to grow more, as much as I can, so God can use me more.
So, to sum this all up, in your season of singleness, grow in God and Trust in Him to bring you the right person when you are both ready.
Now, some of you might be asking, “where did you learn how to become a better wife and woman?” There are a lot of books I read in my singleness which are listed below. In addition to reading those, I also journaled about my feelings and my prayers. Then as I grew in God, when I went back and read what I had written previously, I could see how God moved in my life and the prayers He answered and how he answered them. It was awesome!
On to the list of books:
Wild at Heart by John Eldredge
Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris
Choosing God’s Best by Don Raunikar
Battlefield of the Mind by Joyce Meyer
A couple of other books I didn’t read in my singleness but highly recommend are:
Captivating by Staci and John Eldredge
The Confident Woman by Joyce Meyer
It is my prayer that this blog will help someone who is in their season of singleness. If you have questions or comments, don’t hesitate to leave them in the comment section. God bless you all!

Ok so it took me 2 or 3 times before I could actually sit and read this post with an open mind. You know how I feel about people telling me to continue to wait on God for the ‘one’…I’m tired of hearing it. I’ve been hearing it for years now and it hurts people to keep saying it.
Anyways…it was really hard reading this, probably another reason it took me a couple times before I could be open minded about it – because I knew what it was going to say about learning to be content and trusting in God.
My thoughts are all bunched together in my head so I can’t even type what I’m trying to say because I don’t know how to get everything out so it makes sense.
But I do know all this stuff in my head. It’s just a matter of learning to make my heart not get so caught up in my dream of being married and thinking that because God hasn’t fulfilled the dream yet that I need to take matters into my hands. Because obviously that isn’t working! It’s just so hard when you want something so bad and have wanted it for soooooo looooong.
Anyways….great post Mary.
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Awe. Tishia, I know how you are feeling. And you are not the only one feeling this way…thus the post. It’s my hearts desire to help others, especially in their singleness! I hope and pray that it does just that.
AMEN girl…I didn’t find Jesus until late…so I knew all about the wrong things in life…oddly though, when I was in high school…I had this thing about pleasing my MOM-and didn’t have sex..refused it everytime…whether dumped or not. After I got married and stumbled into all this accepting Jesus-I knew nothing about-I began to grow dark-probably just out of being scared of letting go of who I was-for who I could be thru Him. But instead…I lived this life of adultery-my now ex ran off and cheated on me-which killed. As for I lived thru that with my parents. So I just lived a life of finding someone else..we broke up so many times. I never felt so numb in my life. Now that I am in love with Jesus and look back. I was so careless about others. But I did…and it led to a lot of learning in so many trials..in which, oddly I am thankful..or I wouldn’t be walking so tightly with Him today..nor have this amazing husband He blessed me with! I learned while I was dating him..the life of purity..and we had to date for 4 years…due to a long divorce…talk about Him teaching me! But so worth it…I feel so blessed!
And it is so much a permanant gift when you wait..feels like we are always newlyweds! His blessing..
Love you all!
In His Love,
Hetty Siebens
http://www.twitter.com/hetty4christ
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These is very interesting. I am now married and did spend lots of time dating and trying to find the one for me. However I do think that through living a balanced life, religion, work, play and exercise is how happiness comes about. I do think that you need to put effort into dating, but that should not be all that you do – balance in dating or anything that you do is the way to live a happy life.
Thank you for this post it really has made me think that I am not balanced and I do need to get back into a more balanced life.
Great post!!!I really wish I had paid more attention to God during my single years. I would’ve saved myself a LOT of heartache. I love the books you listed at the end of the post. My favorites are Battlefield of the Mind and Captivating. Thanks so much for how you share your heart.
I have included you in my first ever blog award called “The Painted Life Award”. Please check it out here – http://paintermommy.com/blog-awards/947 and feel free to pass it on to other bloggers who might deserve it as well.
God bless you! DAWN (Painter Mommy)
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