Here is the final installment in our Single-Minded series–for the present! Thanks to your wonderful outpouring we’ll be resuming it in April, after our jam-packed March of Books. We have many more fabulous ‘singleness sketches’ queued up, and I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone of you who has joined in and shared your heart so willingly.
God bless you all. And now, enjoy another candid peek into the lives of some of our faithful sisters in Christ.
from Rachel:
What am I doing with my single life?
I am enjoying it… most days.
When I was 15 or 16 I thought I had my life all planned… I would finish homeschool, work for Daddy on our farm, and “someday” my prince charming would come riding in to sweep me off my feet and carry me away! (Preferably by age 21!) But God had different ideas. Now, at 24, I’m still at home, farming and ranching, but Daddy is in heaven. When he died 7 1/2 years ago, my world got turned upside down.
I have spent this time learning to redefine who I am. I couldn’t define myself by only human standards anymore, I had to be who I am in Christ, and look to Him for guidance and comfort. I’m not just “so-and-so’s” daughter, I’m a child of the King!
I have spent this time learning contentment. However, every time I think I can say, “I have learned in whatsoever state I am…” I am presented with a new way of practicing it.
Yes, there have been plenty of tears in my pillow, or cried in the milk bucket. There has also been opportunity to reach out to others who are hurting as well. What Joy!!!
from Victoria:
My situation is slighty different as my parents are divorced and I am not yet 18. I have been done with highschool for almost a year. Right now, I am spending my time helping my mother in her home. Between my two siblings, three step-siblings and two other girls with disabilities (one with cerebral palsy, the other with downs syndrome) who live currently with us, we usually have eight kids staying in our house. I spend my time helping with cleaning, cooking, and helping with schoolwork. Outside of those duties, I love to spend time reading and learning new things, fellowshipping with friends, and going and helping out wherever else I am needed. I have a wonderful relationship with both of my parents and I go and visit my dad as often as I can as they do not live too far apart. =) I almost took college courses online which would have started this month, but the Lord told me that it was not part of His plan for my life. Now I am learning serve Him better day by day, and waiting to see where He leads. I cannot say how freeing it is to simply rest in Him.
God Bless!
from Jordan:
I was just thinking yesterday how fast my life to date has passed. Watching 6 children ages 1 to 10 will do that to you! It has really made me re-evaluate and realize how much I should be enjoying my current time of life. I’m only 17, so I haven’t had to learn to be content single, but I have struggled with putting my life in God’s hands. This verse in a song by Casting Crowns pretty well sums up my constant prayer:
Here at Your feet I lay my future down.
All of my dreams I give to You now and I find peace!
Here at Your feet I lay my life down
For You, my King, are all I want now and my soul sings!
I am spending my “single years” doing whatever God leads me to do. A couple months ago He gave me the opportunity to drive 9 hours to stay with a friend of a friend who has three boys 5 and under and a baby on the way. I was able to help prepare meals and make a few quilts while I was there.
When I was 13 I started a sewing ministry at my church. It has grown and changed, but it’s still going strong! It has given me a good opportunity to practice being an “older woman” to girls other than my sisters.
Around that time I also started sewing for ladies in our homeschool group, making modest dresses for their daughters. I have grown that into a business over the past 4 years. My vision is to keep the modest clothing that I make high on quality and low on cost since I know many homeschool families live on a single income.
D L Moody said, “It is better to say, ‘This one thing I do’ than to say, ‘These forty things I dabble with’.” The things above are really just things I dabble in. My “one thing”? Abiding in Christ: Living in Him, Learning of Him and Loving through Him.
from Vanessa:
Sometimes I am not sure I even know what it is like to be single – even though I am. My “single” years so far have been filled with so many children, so much activity, and so much love that loneliness has not been a huge issue for me. I have almost always had something to do. Right now I am a private duty nurse for a child. It’s very fulfilling work and I am learning skills I hope to use in the future.
My single years have been filled with extremes. I have had some very unique experiences, such as being a caregiver in an orphanage. That gave me years of parenting experience. Since entering the nursing field, I have dealt with births and deaths and everything in between. I do not fit into any sort of mold. I do not feel like a “sitting duck” – my life has not involved a whole lot of sitting around! My goal is to let the Lord Jesus Christ be the center of my existence. Even though choosing to follow the Lord sometimes brings personal pain, I do not regret the path I have chosen.
from Sarah:
When I was sixteen I thought I was ready! Ready to have a boyfriend, ready to get married very soon, ready to quit attending the churches valentines banquet alone. But my Prince Charming still hadn’t shown up. What was wrong with him? Didn’t he know I was ready?! Now, at the young age of twenty, I look back and laugh at myself. God is using these single years to chip away at some things in my life that He needed to get rid of. And it would be so much more painful were a young man in the mix. Do I want to get married? Yes! Am I ready? No. So, I’m using this time to draw closer to the Lord. I’m using it to be a missionary to my family, to my neighbors. Those things won’t stop when I become a “Mrs.”, but I can devote more energy and time to it now. And I’m actually thankful for this time of singleness. Right now I live with my sister as a “live in nanny”, as we like to call it. It’s very practical training for learning to be mommy, cook, housecleaner, teacher and organizer!
And we’ll close for now with a good word of encouragement. Though not technically a comment on singleness, every one of us can benefit from the joyful perspective of a new bride:
from Regina:
Thank you so much for sharing! How well I remember the days of tears and longings, wondering when (if ever) God would bring a husband and trying my best to trust the Lord and grow close to Him through that time. Now as I look from the other side of the spectrum as a new bride (having married my beloved in September of 2009), I just want to bless each of you for yielding your lives to the Master Potter and allowing Him to shape you in His ways. I was so encouraged as I read how the Lord is using you in His kingdom as you faithfully follow Him! I discovered that learning trust – contentment – patience does not end at the marriage altar. In a way it only becomes more real as the sweetness of marriage unfolds.
God is continuing to work in my life – teaching me to trust Him, find my contentment in Him, rest in His care, and to be patient for His perfect timing. I am so grateful for the foundation that began in my single years.
As you follow the Lord and serve him faithfully in the little things remember that what you are learning now is becoming a foundation for what the Lord will continue to teach you through the coming years, as He unfolds His plan for your life.
Blessings to each one of you – married or single – Let us continue to lay our lives at the feet of the Father and trust Him in every situation we find ourselves in.
If you happened to miss the previous entries in the series, take a look at Single-Minded, Part Two and Single-Minded, Part Three.
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