Another Jesus Whoopin'

I have no husband. I have no boyfriend. I have very few single guy friends, and none of them are husband material (for me that is). I don't even have any single coworkers to flirt with. My life is a prime example of what being single means. I'm fairly certain my picture is next to the definition of "single" in Webster's Dictionary.

For a while I was okay with that. I really was content knowing that someday I would meet Mr. Right. Honest, I was content with singleness. I trusted God with my future.

However, that contentment has dissipated. Entirely. I don't want to be single anymore. I'm sick of being alone. I'm tired of answering the question, "Why aren't you married?" What I want is to meet someone special and fall in love. I long to get married and have babies and live happily ever after.

So I pray and pray and pray. I pray that God would lead me to Mr. Right. I pray for the Good Lord to make me into the woman my future husband needs. I pray for the meeting of my husband to come someday soon. I fervently bring my request before the Lord.

But nothing has happened. No dates. No phone calls. Not even any flirting. There's not a glimmer of hope on the horizon. It has become increasingly difficult to trust that God has my best interest in mind. I've been waiting my entire adult life for this and God hasn't given me my life's partner. Faith that God will provide a godly husband is quickly fading.

Enter Pastor John and his sermon this morning. The title of the message based in James chapter 1 was "Speed Bumps of Life: When Our Faith is Stretched." He explained that God tests our faith through a variety of means with the goal of growth. His last point was that God often tests our faith through delays in answer to prayer, at which point the Holy Spirit whispers, "Sound familiar, Britney?" Pastor John continued to say the Lord doesn't always give us the answer to our prayers immediately because he wants our faith in Him to grow. Waiting on the Lord causes us to make a decision: will we continue to trust that he is Lord living by faith or will we try to take control?

Pastor John pointed us back to some people who waited a looooonnnnnnggggg time for the answer to their prayers: the Israelites who wandered the desert before going into the promised land. Their faith was tested in numerous ways during those years. In Deuteronomy 8:2 God explains that he tested his people for FORTY years "in order to know what was in (their) heart(s), whether or not (they) would keep his commands." I am no different than the Israelites. God tests my heart to see if I have faith in him and if I will follow his commands.

So today I am returning to living by faith in this trial of delay. I will learn to wait patiently on the Lord and allow him to stretch my faith that I may develop perserverance and lack nothing in character.

Because more than a husband, I want to please the Lord.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

James 1:2-4

"Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands."
Deuteronomy 8:2