God is There... Through All of It

I was driving home from a babysitting job on Friday night and the radio was on. God really spoke to me in the song that had come on and I felt inspired to write a blog post, only to come on here and realize that it has been three months since I last wrote a blog post. The song that had come on the radio was Colton Dixon's "Through All of It." The gist of the song is the fact that through everything we go through in life, God is constant and has been our God through all of what we have gone through. There is also a line that says "life's been a journey," which spoke to me and the title of my blog.

Through my journey as a single woman, God was constant and He had a plan. I may not have felt that things were ever going to change and that I might never find someone who showed interest in me enough to start dating. There is one verse in the song that I feel speaks to where I was once at in my journey through singlehood. Here is that verse:

        You were there when it all came down on me
        And I was blinded by my fear
        And I struggled to believe
        But in those unclear moments
        You were the one keeping me strong
        This is how my story's always gone

Those unclear moments of when I felt hopeless, when I felt that I would never find a guy who was interested enough in me to pursue a relationship with me. God was the one who kept me going, kept me strong. The last part of the verse that says "this is how my story's always gone," speaks so true to me. There are so many times when I was at a point of struggling to believe things could get better, that I would fulfill my dreams and deep desires. This song was a great reminder of who God is and how, no matter what, He will always be our God... through all of it!!

I love the message that this song speaks and how it can speak on so many levels to people. This is just the way that God has spoken to me on the song. I wanted to share these thoughts with all of you because it is a message that I believe everyone needs to hear. We may not think things are going "our way" or that things will ever get better, but be encouraged to know that God is constant and will continue to be our God no matter what our circumstances are or what it is we are struggling with. You can always turn to God to be your solid rock, to be your stability. God has a plan and His plan will be fulfilled and completed. It may not be our plan, but that is okay. God's plan will always be better than any plan we could come up with. Be blessed and encouraged, friends! :)

Blank Pages...God's Word!

Blank pages can be so daunting at times. I felt the need to begin a new blog post this morning and just sitting here staring at this blank page has been a bit overwhelming. I thought something would come to me, but nothing is coming. So here I am writing about a blank page and how overwhelming a feeling it is to see a blank page. Maybe now that it is no longer a completely blank page I will think of something to write.

I started a Bible reading plan where I will read through the Bible over the course of the year. It takes me through part of the New Testament, Psalms or Proverbs, and then part of the Old Testament. It has been very good so far. I am a bit behind at the moment, but I am still keeping at it and, surprisingly, it has not bothered me so much that I am behind. I have started this type of plan a couple of times in the past, but then soon got overwhelmed by the vast amount of reading that I ended up quitting. This time feels different and I get excited every time I read. I guess we'll see when I get to Numbers and Leviticus. ;)

I always thought of Genesis as the book that contains the creation story and several other stories that I know so well that how could I possibly read through it again to learn anything new? However, God has shown me this last month as I read through it that there are many interesting things and that His Word is the Living Word that will always speak new things because God is right there when you're reading.

I always start out my time with God in prayer (honestly, sometimes I forget and pray during or after, which is not terrible), and that is a great time to ask Him to speak to me through the Scriptures and place on my heart the things that He wants me to know and learn. I do not always "gain" something from the time, at least nothing that I am aware of at the time. The act of being in Scripture and prayer, especially when you feel you are not "gaining" or "learning" anything, is much more meaningful than skipping it because you feel that you won't be paying attention or learn anything new. God desires for us to be in His Word as much as possible and reading even when it seems dry, even when we are struggling and don't have that desire. It is important to read the Bible every day, even if it is just a verse or two one day and a chapter the next. Read the Word of God all the time!

This is something that I have been learning the importance of lately and it is so, so good! God is so good and awesome and every other synonym for those words that I can think of. =D I love Him so much and am so excited for this journey that He is bringing me on. I cannot wait to see what else God brings along in this journey and cannot wait for God to reveal to me what He has in store for me next. Will I know this soon? I don't know! I know that I am waiting for His perfect timing because I have learned that when I am impatient, I cannot think anything other than negative thoughts. God will reveal to you His plan one step at a time, when He knows that it is the perfect time. It may not be when you think the time is perfect, but just remember that God has everything under control and He will bring about His will for your life when the time is right. Be blessed, friends! =D

The Waiting List (Part 2)

As I thought about my blog post "The Waiting List," I got to thinking of a few more things to add to it and how I felt that it was left unfinished. God was speaking to me about a few things that I feel need to be shared.

For starters, we all need to realize that the one we marry is not going to be perfect and fit everything we desire. What I failed to mention in my post is the fact that this list is meant to be the things that you will not compromise on, things that would be a deal breaker if your significant other did not fit those things.

I mentioned that the things on my list are things that I would not make an exception to. This was telling me that these are the most important things I am looking for. With that being said, I think it is also important that you make a list of things that are attractive to you and that you would like to find, but are not necessarily deal breakers. This will help guide you in finding someone who you can get along with and enjoy spending time with. It will give you an idea of the type of person you'd like to spend the rest of your life with.

For instance, you can put things on the list such as "likes playing board games" or "plays sports." These are things that you think would be nice if he/she enjoyed, but if they did not you would not be disappointed and could look past them. I am finding that these are good things to do when in a relationship, now that I'm in a relationship myself, and it helps you think more deeply about whether the other person is someone you enjoy spending time with because of who they are, rather than the fact that it is a person who says they like you just because they want to have a girlfriend/boyfriend.

Since I think dating should be something where there is the intention to determine whether marriage is for the couple or not, it is important that the couple is pursuing each other in a way that helps them determine whether that person could fit who they are looking for in a future spouse. Is this someone you, honestly, could spend the rest of your life with? Look past the feelings and think logically about it, asking yourself if the traits this person has align with what works for you.

God has someone special in mind and we have to wait in His PERFECT timing for everything to fall into place. Feelings can be a difficult thing to control when trying to determine whether the person you are dating is "the one" or not, because they make you feel happy around the person. While that can be a great thing, it is best not to let them overtake the relationship and begin to think more deeply about the character of the other person and whether that is what you are looking for in a spouse. This is why I highly, highly, encourage each and every unmarried person to create a list of things that will not be compromised in a relationship to help guide you into the relationship that God has meant for your life.

I hope you have found this to be encouraging and that it helps to finish off the last blog post that I feel was unfinished. I pray for all of you out there who are searching for that special someone and trying to determine what God's will for your life is. Be encouraged and blessed, my dear friends! :)

Abundant Blessings from God

God is so good. I cannot say that enough. There may be times when I feel like I'm in a rut, but He always comes through. It is in those times that we learn so much and grow in our faith, if we continue to seek Him through those times. I believe that it is so very important to look at what God has blessed you with, even in those tough times.

A week and a half ago when I was sick, I didn't feel good at all, physically or otherwise. I couldn't think straight or anything. All I wanted to do was sleep and make the body aches and sore throat go away, but nothing seemed to help. After I had gotten to a point of feeling well enough to function, I told myself to think of the ways I have been blessed through the experience. It sure was hard to think of things, since all I could think of were the things I had wanted to do on my day off but couldn't because I was so weak I couldn't get myself off the couch to do anything.

It was in that moment that I realized I need to remind myself daily of the blessings God has provided me with. Here is the list of blessings I saw in that time:

• Internet was installed, allowing me to relax with Netflix on my laptop and TV rather than my phone... the morning I was sick!! :)
• Quiet time to think and process things
• I was sick on my day off, so I did not have to miss work because I was sick.
• The day after I had my fever and body aches, I was able to make it through a long day of work, even though I wanted to call in sick.

It may not be a long list, and it doesn't have to be. Just the act of counting your blessings and realizing that, even in tough times when you don't think anything is going your way, God is with you through it all and continues to bless you. A lot of times those blessings go unnoticed because we are so focused on the negatives and not on how we are blessed through those times.

Think about the toughest time in your life. Just think about it for a minute. You made it, you survived. What are the ways that God has blessed you through that time? It can be hard to think of good things in tough times, because the negative always seems to overrule the positive.

All of this talk about thinking of the good things and blessings reminds me of the old Disney movie "Pollyanna" where Pollyanna talks about the "Glad Game." I found a clip of it on YouTube to share. It is a great reminder to always think of the positive things, even though it can seem tough. It really helps to put things into perspective and help turn your mood around. Be blessed, dear friends!

The Waiting List

When I was younger I wrote up a list of the qualities I was looking for in a future husband. This has been on my mind lately and I feel it's time to write about it and make myself an updated list. I lost the old one but I still remember some of the main items.

Here is my new list:

●We must be good friends
●Loves children
●Strong relationship with God
●Close family relationships.. values family
●Shares the same values
●Fits right in with my family

Each of these things are equally important and my future husband must fit every single one of these things. No exceptions. I feel this way because if I were to make an exception I would be settling for less than God's best. 

**NOTE: the above paragraphs I wrote a couple of months ago, and now I am finally getting around to finishing this post. :) The following paragraphs will have been written now.

I want to encourage all of the single women, and single men, to create a list of qualities that you desire your future spouse to have. This helps keep your focus on the right things. Having them written down makes them a physical document that will become something you come across often. This is way to make sure the person you start dating is someone who will fit those things, and is something that you will be looking for as you get to know that special someone even more. Before making your list, be sure to pray and ask God to speak to you about what qualities are important to you in your search for a spouse. 

When you have a list of qualities you are looking for it is important to take some time to set aside your feelings you may currently have for someone (like, for instance, if you are already in a relationship) and really begin to determine what qualities are important for you to find in a husband. I believe that dating should not be about just having fun, dating should be a time where two people pursue a relationship with the potential of marriage being on their minds. This is why I believe that dating in high school is not necessarily the best decision, because is marriage really on the mind of teenagers? Sometimes, yes, but that is not always the case. 

Before I continue on this topic much longer, I will stop. I am going to write an entire blog post on the topic of dating with the intention of marriage, rather than posting it in here with the waiting list. :) Be blessed, dear friends! :)

Now Available: the World Wide Web =D

I wanted to write a post now that I have internet in my apartment. It is nice to have this luxury again, especially since it makes blogging so much easier. :) I am excited for what this is to bring.

So I sit here typing this blog while I am sick... yes, that's right. I don't know what I have, but it is some virus that is preventing my body from doing much of anything. About half way through work yesterday I came down with a sore throat that I thought was simply from not drinking enough water, so I drank more water. It continued throughout the night. I must have had a fever because I had chills and could not seem to get myself to warm up, even though I was under a really warm blanket in sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

My night was a bit rough. When I was able to fall asleep, I slept for a few hours and then was up every couple hours fighting with a dull headache. I'm feeling a bit dizzy and everything is just a bit cloudy, it is not real fun. I am just hoping I'll be able to make it to work tomorrow. I praise God that this happened on my day off, but at the same time I am upset because I had many plans for how I was going to spend this day. I was excited to go out shopping and take a trip to the library, but now I'm sitting on the couch hoping and praying that my sore throat goes away so I can easily swallow some water.

I have been learning a lot about patience and wisdom in the past few weeks. I feel that God is always teaching me more about patience, but more so since I've started a relationship. There are so many exciting things that happen when you enter into a relationship with someone that it is hard to hold back all of the emotions and excitement. What God has been teaching me is to hold tight and let His timing play out in my relationship. It is hard to keep myself from daydreaming about what the future might hold, and it is dangerous to do so. I need to keep my mind in the here and now and let God plan out the future. I know that God will tell me when the time is right to continue to go deeper in my relationship. It is all a fun adventure to be on, and patience is something that is definitely needed.

So this is a quick and simple update on what is going on. I am excited to write more blog posts in the upcoming days and see where God continues to lead me on this journey. :) Be blessed, friends!

A New Chapter :)

It has been a very long time since I’ve last updated my blog, and I have recently felt the need to update it. I have been without internet since I moved to my new place on December 3, so just over a month now. I have data on my smartphone, but it makes some things a bit more difficult to do, such as typing out blog posts. I am now typing this on my computer and then I will transfer it to my phone using my memory card. I have my ways around some of these things, as the internet is an expensive luxury that I can live without for now (especially since I now have unlimited data on my phone at half the cost of internet in my apartment).

So I have an update in my life to share, hence the title of my blog “A New Chapter.” I started dating someone a week ago today. I want to share a quick story of how that came to be. This blog began as my journey as a single woman, and it still remains that, a journey, but now I have a special someone who is on this journey with me. I plan on continuing this blog and sharing how God speaks to me either on the topic of dating or the topic of singlehood. My journey in life is not to find a husband and start a family, that is simply one of my hearts greatest desires. My journey in life is to seek God’s will and follow His lead as I navigate this world. It has been a journey with many ups and downs that I know will be a continued pattern. Now for the story. =D Make a cup of tea or coffee, this will be a long story.

The story begins on Christmas day when I was spending time with family. The day started out great, I woke up early to pull the cinnamon rolls out of the fridge so they could begin to come to room temperature to rise. I crawled back into bed and allowed myself to sleep a bit longer. By 7:00 I was up and showering, getting ready for the day. It was nice to shower and crawl back into pajamas, knowing the day would be a relaxing one. I packed up the car with gifts and the cinnamon rolls, making sure I had everything. I drove out to my parent’s house and when I pulled in I noticed the car of my sister’s boyfriend. I wasn’t expecting him to be there, so I knew it must have been a surprise for my sister as well.

I brought everything into the house, which was still very quiet. My sisters came down and greeted me and soon after the day’s festivities began. My mom and I got breakfast ready and then waited for the rest of my siblings to arrive (my brother and his wife, my sister and her girlfriend, and my sister and her son) so we could get breakfast started. The morning went well and I thoroughly enjoyed myself and loved spending time with my family. By the time the gifts were all opened and everyone began playing games, I started to feel a bit lonely. I knew that I was making a choice not to play the game that my siblings were playing, which was okay, but it turned into a few games that I didn’t care to join in on. I wanted to play a group game where we could laugh and have fun, not a game requiring as much thinking. My mom and sister-in-law played Skip-Bo with me and I started to enjoy myself.

Within a couple of hours the cold I was suffering from was creating a headache and I was not feeling the best, which was not helped by all of my emotional feelings. I decided that it would be a good idea to make some nice, hot tea, and see if that would help the way I was feeling. As soon as I found myself alone in the kitchen making the tea, tears began to form around my eyes and I was so overwhelmed by the feeling of loneliness, which was not realized at the time. I could not keep myself from crying and knew I had to find some place to be alone and talk to God about what I was feeling and process through everything. After my tea was made, I headed down to the basement to get away from the busyness of things. My sister-in-law had come into the kitchen and saw I was crying and asked if I was okay. I told her I just needed some time alone to think. Mere seconds after I had gone to the basement, she followed me down to try encouraging me, knowing somehow that what I truly needed was someone to listen and encourage me.

I explained that I was feeling lonely and was not 100% sure where these feelings were coming from. I told her that I was feeling overwhelmed by the fact that it seemed everyone in my family had someone to be with. My brother had his wife, my parents had each other, my sister had her girlfriend, my sister had her boyfriend, my sister had her son, etc. Then there was me, what did I have? I had myself, and it made me feel extremely lonely like I had never felt before. My sister-in-law told me that God would not keep me from finding someone if this is the way I was feeling, if one of my heart’s deepest desires was to find someone to spend the rest of my life with. She encouraged me to begin the search of finding places where I could meet someone. I immediately felt better and the rest of the evening went so well and I was able to fully enjoy myself.

The following Saturday I went to Starbucks to get some things done on my computer over the internet. While I was there, I decided to look up ways to meet people. What I decided would be best for me, as an introvert, would be to find a place online to meet someone. I decided to join eHarmony and began my journey of finding someone. The very next day, I started communicating with someone who responded very quickly to my questions and answers. There was an immediate connection and by the next day we were talking on the phone, getting to know so much about each other.

I took Friday night that week to spend time with God and seek His will and wisdom for this relationship. I felt such a great closeness to God that night and was able to put my emotions aside and really think about whether I really am ready to pursue a serious relationship. Everything kept pointing to yes and I was so in love with God in those moments. I had been struggling with prayer and reading my Bible up until that night, and when I felt that closeness to God, I knew that He was right beside me through everything, even in my loneliness. God spoke to me in those moments and I began to see how my period of singleness is coming to an end, and that God will answer my prayer with a yes to bless me with a husband and eventually a family. I am ready for this new chapter and see what God brings along the way.

We talked on the phone and exchanged texts for the next week and then on Sunday, January 4, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I prayed about the decision and felt God giving me the okay to say yes. Now it has been a week and I have met him in person (we went on a date this past Wednesday). We have so much in common and the thing that attracted me most to him in the beginning was that he, very much like me, is an introvert. His name is Mark and I am excited for this new relationship and chapter in my life. I would go into more detail, but this post is so long already. If anyone has any questions for me about this new chapter, please feel free to ask!

The Journey is Still Going

PREFACE: I wrote this on December 7 and have just now realized I never got around to posting this. So here is that post.

Hello, friends! I have had a lot on my mind lately and have felt God tugging at my heart to continue this blog I have started. This past weekend has been a weekend full of revelations into what I think God wants for me in my life. To sum it up, I took a class at my church called “Discipleship 101” which covered the church’s beliefs and the basics to becoming a disciple, and led to membership in the church. I took away a lot from the class and even more today with the sermon. The following is a bulleted list of what I will talk about in upcoming posts. I was going to cover it all in one post, but realized I had too much to say about each one. Therefore, I will make a post about each. :)

· A call to singlehood

· What baptism (immersion) is all about

· Stewardship – a process of faith

· Tithing

· The journey called life

Not only will I be discussing those topics, but I want to expand this blog to move beyond how this blog has been structured in the past. I have previously shared things I’ve learned in the Bible, and while I want to continue to do that, this has slowed me down in writing. The reason it has slowed me down is because I wait for inspiration to strike in terms of what the scripture inspires me with about singleness. Not every scripture will be able to inspire that, and that isn’t what my original thoughts about this blog intended.

I decided to look back at my first post to see what I had to say then. What I found is very interesting. The first couple of sentences say, “So what is this blog all about? Simple answer: singlehood. Complicated answer: only God knows.” I find this very interested. All along I was intending this blog to be about singlehood and every post to be about that. What I find interesting is the fact that I wrote “only God knows” and that this blog is turning into what I have titled it “A Single Woman’s Journey.” It is the title of my life. I am single and my life is a journey. God has taken me in a direction that I did not foresee. I continue to be amazed at how He blesses me and takes care of me.

Before I get carried away and ramble on, let me explain what I mean by this journey and where I feel God is calling me to take this blog. To make a long story short, I am a recent college graduate who is learning to live in the “real world” and make independent decisions. I have a full time job, my own apartment, my own car, and I live on my own. I feel that God wants me to not share solely about singlehood, but rather about my life journey and the things along the way to fulfilling His will. I am not on a journey to find a husband, I am on a journey to live out God’s will for my life. I don’t know exactly what that looks like, and I know this won’t always be an easy journey, but  I want to wholeheartedly live my life for God and follow His lead.

I want to share the journey of how I live on my own and make ends meet—this means including information about how I budget my money to live within my means, not beyond it. How to use my money for God and His Kingdom and to fully trust God with my finances. I have recently discovered that there are many things I spend my money on that are simply wants and not needs. I could be using my money more wisely. I am a thrifty person and want to be able to share tips and tricks with people that I have learned along the way and to share how eliminating many things eliminates distractions and creates a stronger desire to spend time with God. In the past few days, I have had no internet hook up. I have been using my smartphone to access the internet on a very minimal level. The only TV that I have watched has been DVDs that I own or have rented from the library. I want to live a life that is more focused on God and has Him at the center, rather than a life that has me in the center. When I am in the center, God has no control and I am doing other things before spending time with God or even thinking about Him.

God deserves our very best. I am going to begin each day in scripture and this will start before I get out of bed. I will be sharing in the upcoming days what this journey is like. I will share day-by-day in a journal type format where I discuss what happens on a daily basis. I am not doing this for myself, I am doing this so that God may use me to reach out to other people. I want to share of myself so that others may see or hear something that will help lead them to Christ and strengthen their relationship with Him. Be blessed, friends!