I've been away for a while, I apologize...but a TON has been going on! With only two weeks left until this life changing year comes to an end, I am simply left sitting in a fully packed room trying to figure out how the last 9 months have gone by SO fast. I can honestly say I with all of my heart don't want to leave, but I can also proclaim the fact that the Lord has fully prepared me to go out into the fallen world and apply everything I've learned! I'm so ready to be an example to youth in showing what it looks like to go against the grain, and authentically practice what I preach. I can't wait to set the standard for how young godly women are supposed to act, and yes... at times fail, but be ready to get right back up, dust myself off and keep moving towards the goal I have as a young woman of the most high.
With that being said, the pressure is on! With just about everything, and it really makes me think about this generation and the culture that has been molded and set in front of us. From college, to husbands... It's all mapped out. By who though? Does it say anywhere in the Bible to attend high school, then apply for college, most likely find your potential husband, get together, date for a couple of years, and get married? Heck no-techno!! And praise the Lord for that, cause I'm sure I'd be considered behind.
Everyone young woman in this day and age is seeking for a man, and vice versa for men. And my question is WHY?! I used to struggle probably like non other with the thought of NEEDING a guy, and I couldn't be more wrong about that statement. I was so afraid to be single that it completely took my mind off of things that were way more important. Including Jesus Christ! My relationship with the Lord became all about request, and selfishness. Jimmy Needham, a young pop Christian artist is married to a woman named Kelly Needham, who has an incredible blog at KellyNeedham.com. I stumbled across one labeled "My First Love" and I absolutely adored it! She made an amazing analogy of the relationship we create with the Lord when we are waiting for something, particularly a husband. She said we create God into this waiter. A guy we create temporary relationship with, but we are only really interacting with him because He has what we want. Pizza. So we go to the Pizza restaurant, and make small talk, laugh a little and tip the guy, but the second we get our Pizza and enjoy it, we're out of there! This is exactly how we treat God! We use Him. We get into our word, pray a little, and wait for our inmost desire. It is terrible to put it that way, but terribly true! Only a couple months ago, it hit me that this mindset was completely off! I never realized that the most important and most satisfying thing we could ever possess is Jesus Christ and His love, and I already have it! I was looking in all the wrong places, looking for all the wrong things... and my relationship with Christ was on hold. So many people misinterpret what it means to really seek the Lord. To completely give everything you have and want. Yes, including futuristic thoughts! And surrendering to Him fully, with no motifs other than to know Him more, and grow in your intimacy with Him.
Lately, it has been incredible. Yes, a constant process, to put my faith fully in Him and trust the fact that His timing is the best timing. I can't help but think about the fact that He is preparing a godly young man for me right now! I need to be taking this time to prepare myself for him, to continue seeking the Lord, in hope that one day we simply end up running towards the cross together. It's that simple! I was reading through Trip Lee's blog, (a famous Christian rapper) and loved it. The story between him and his wife was incredible to me. They were in college, he liked her and she knew it, and she liked him and he knew it, but he didn't pursue! Why? Because he wasn't ready. He waited, didn't act off of his feelings, and prayed about it. Once he felt he was ready to date, he asked her father, and made sure he was ready to MARRY! Yes! Get married! Before the first date. Why do I think that's so amazing? Because that is the sole purpose for dating. Is to get married! I think that if everyone approached dating/marriage this way, this generation would be a lot different. One of our speakers said "We don't have to let our feelings determine our reality" and I think that is so true. If I am interested in a young godly man, I don't have to do a thing about it. That doesn't mean a thing, and until I pray up and know for a fact that these feelings are even from the Lord, I have no job besides seeking the Lord, first because I am a young woman and initiation isn't my job, but also because if I am not 100% ready for marriage, there is no point in me moving forward with anyone! I fall so short and am beyond messed up! How could anything I find with my own eyes be near as perfect for me as the one God chooses! I want Him to write my love story, not my parents, not my friends, not even me! Him. 100%, and I'm finally resting in that. I don't need to go with the status quo... Who knows the plan that the Lord has for me, what I do know though is that I can absolutely wait. I can't afford anything outside of the will of God, and He is showing me more and more everyday that that's the only one that will prevail!
So yes, I can think, wish, plan and hope all I want, but at the end of the day. I am content! I sit here smiling because I know the Lord know's me better than I know myself, and I can trust in His timing. Not only with the man I will spend my life with, but my future entirely! So young women, and men if your reading... Continue to seek the Lord. The Lord only, and He will bless that for sure. Besides, only He has whats best for you, so why would you want anything less!?
