These days we move strategically, chess pieces navigating the game. We have to know if he’s ready to spiritually lead and financially take on a family. We have to know where it’s headed because otherwise, it’s a waste of time – right? Dating is supposed to lead to marriage – right?
Not always.
You can’t know without a doubt that you’ll get married someday. You can’t get a guarantee that “Prince Charming” will come. But to the woman who follows God with abandon, those questions aren’t being asked. The question isn’t “What if he never comes?” but “What can I do NOW in case he does?” The reality is that marriage and children bring with them an enormous responsibility, and while these responsibilities have their benefits and their joys, they are a ministry in and of themselves. If you refuse to accept the ministry God has laid before you now, how will you be ready for the ministry of marriage?
If a girl makes herself the kind of woman God expects her to be, she will be the kind of woman a godly man desires. I found Phylicia attractive because she desired to be more like Christ, and she called me to a higher standard because I wanted to be worthy of a woman like her. If you make yourself beautiful in God’s eyes, you will automatically be beautiful (generally attractive) in the eyes of a godly man.
Godly men aren’t always as “cool” as some of the guys in the church. They might not have all the physical qualities Hollywood sets as the standard. But in the end, the man who worked and loved and fought for his God and his family will win and his legacy will last – and the guy with the great hair and cool car and shallow faith will be remembered only for those few things he possessed in, rather than contributed to, his world.
So how would you feel to know your future spouse hated waiting for you? That they were impatiently and discontentedly tolerating this season before meeting you? I think all of us hope for better from our future mate. We hope they make the best of this season, growing and changing into a person who will contribute positively to our future marriage.
With this in mind, are you embracing the temptation to give up and stop waiting, or are you embracing this season as God’s sovereign will, making the most of the time (Eph. 5:15-17)?