Finally back to posting! :)I have been talking to a lot of people lately about exhausting your single years!
If you really look around VERY few people actually take advantage of being single! Basically you’re little, young, too young to date, then 16 or 18…sometimes younger than that and people start dating! Then break up, then drama, then find someone else and repeat the process until they get married!
If you look around basically every song, every movie, most ads are all about love or being in a relationship! It’s what our culture is driven by! People want to feel needed AND they need a time filler cause otherwise they don’t know what to do with their time!
I was listening to the radio the other day and really got so sad after listening to it because they were interviewing people and almost all of them said all they loved to do was go to parties, go to the movies, and hang out with their friends and boyfriends! What a waste of precious time! Now don’t get me wrong…I absolutely LOVE to do all of that..(except haven’t hung out with a boyfriend yet;)…but it’s not what I live for or what most of my time consists of!
You see once we get married, which I know a lot of you are looking forward to, you have a WHOLE new set of responsibilities..and your life is not your own! And that is for the REST of your life too!
Why not use these VERY few years before you get married to see the world, discover who God’s really created YOU to be, pursue your dreams for your life, and impact people’s lives! Then you’ll look back at those single years and won’t have regrets but will have exhausted every minute of it not waiting around for a guy or filling up the time with time wasters but living it to the complete full!!
I know that right now….I don’t care if I get married in 3, 5, 8 years or even ever! I’m so absolutely content in where God has me and in ALLLLLL that he has me doing that I’m such on a high right now! I KNOW that this is the way to be single…not desperate, lonely, or drama filled. But so satisfied with life and not having to be distracted with every distraction the world sends my way! It’s THE most fulfilling thing ever! HA…and I thought I wanted to get married when I was 18;)…LOL
8 comments:
Zowie, Sarah! Great post! Came out with both barrels blazing in true Barlow style! ^_^
I'm so excited to see the fruit that is coming out of your life! Love you, see you on Sunday!!
Sarah,
Thanks so much for the encouragement!! I'm 17 and have never dated. I don't know if I ever will. (And I know some girls that don't want me to...:) tell Lyssa to tell you the peanut butter dating story!!:)
You are very wise! I'm not kidding!
Thanks so much for starting this site!
Love,
Emma Jean :)
Emma Jean!! Thank you for the post!
I'll totally have to ask the girls about the peanut butter dating story! Too funny!
So awesome that you haven't dated! It can be such a distraction from all the potential that God can do through us beforehand! Hope to meet you someday soon!
This completely fits in with something a friend and I have been chatting a lot about lately. I want to share a verse with you. "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. I talked about it a bit on my blog http://aquietwordfromnatalie.blogspot.com/
Wow!
This is exactly what my pastor has been teahing on!!
(With emphasis also on once you're married)
sarah, thanks for posting it.
I TOTALLY AGREE.
it is the most precisious time in your life.
I mean, it is not easy to wait, even we as christians want to be loved and to be needed.
but there is GOD, who loves us so much and have plans for us..
thanks for the reminder. ;)
You know, I have come to the conclusion that the Christian life isn't about dating, making new friends, being apart of the latest trend, or even visiting as many hospitals as possible; it's about remaining faithful to God in whatever He has planned for you. Whether it be becoming a missionary, or serving in your church, God and His ways should always be our number one priority. When we make our walk with God, about Him, and not the things we can get out of Him, we are learning to be faithful, even though we may not see the end result or reward. The minute we take our focus off of God, that is when the enemy is more than ready to come in, and fill you with all kinds of lies... he is a master of deceit. "Susie is dating and look how happy she is!" "Justin just broke up with Roxy, now is your chance to talk to him". Satan is pretty good at bringing damaging situations into our lives and making them look pretty appetizing. When we lack the proper discernment towards certain situations, we are willing to throw ourselves into them without ever looking ahead at the consequences. Satan presents the "fulfillment" and "joy" of dating, but somehow "FORGETS" to show you the emotional, spiritual, and sometimes physical hurt the couples are usually left with. How many times are you willing to have your heart broken because of the emotional attachments you made while dating someone? Not only that, but how long are you going to continue stealing the hearts of other young men? Look at it from this stand point, are you willing to tell your best friend Lucy that a couple years before she married Richard, you stole his heart and gave him your own in return? See, faithfulness begins with God. If you are not faithful to the Lord, who is your Father in heaven, how are you going to be faithful to any man in your life, whether he be your earthly father, or future spouse? What you sow now, you will eventually reap. Really get that! The tiny seeds that you are planting, will eventually sprout into whatever you have sown. So, are you wanting a beautiful garden or a mess of unmanageable weeds? And this is something that the Lord is really dealing with me right now. And I have to say girls, it goes beyond the whole "not dating" scene. It starts with your heart. You don't necessarily have to date someone in order to give your heart away. What about the numerous time you do a little "harmless" flirting? We should really strive to help our brothers in the Lord, not tear them down or make their walk harder for them. Its always good to do a heart check, even if you need a new one each week or every other month. Search your heart, ask the Lord to reveal hidden motives that may be ungodly. He will definitely bring it to light, but you have to be humble and willing to accept whatever He may want to show you, whether you like what you see or not. Sometimes looking in the mirror can be pretty scary huh? :) And I know first hand that waiting on God can be difficult. It can sometimes get lonely, and when we see those people around us, our close girlfriends, or brothers and sisters getting older and finding their special someone, we can't help but desire that too. And it is NOT a wrong desire to want to be married, it is wrong though to let marriage consume your every thought to the point of where you are willing to give your heart to the very first guy who "melts" your insides with his smooth words. Ha! Come on, some of you know what I am talking about!! :) You'll know your desire is wrong when you fail to first ask God if it is His will, rather than your own will. Seek Him in everything. Be faithful and have a pure heart before the living God. He knows the specific spouse He has for you, and who knows, maybe God is just waiting for you to lay something at His feet, and root something out of you before He will bring that special person into your life. All I can say is what King David says over and over again in Psalms, and that is to "wait upon the Lord!" God Bless you all,
Brittney
And by the way Sarah, GREAT POST!!!
So this is exactly what I needed to hear right now in exactly the way I needed to hear it. I'm 18 and haven't dated before and until recently never really wanted to. But being one of the only people your age who hasn't dated or been kissed gets kind of old, especially in this world we are living. I've really been praying a lot lately about what direction God wants me to take as far as dating and have been feeling Him tell me to avoid it. I had a lot of reasons but was not really content with the answer because I didn't have much motivation. This just motivated me a lot. I can be doing SO MUCH with my life right now! I was just saying to my friend earlier tonight that I want to get married young...that literally just changed thanks to your post. Long comment sumarzied: thanks so much for your words of wisdom and encouragement!
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