The Waiting Game.

Hey fam! 

It's your girl Julie, back with another post for you all. This week, I want to talk about the topic of waiting. More specifically, I want to talk about the idea of waiting during singleness. Looking back, I realized there were lots of issues in my past relationships, but thankfully Abba has been guiding me through the process of learning, so I won't have to endure them the next time I enter a relationship. This may be different from what I am used to sharing, but here's a moment of my vulnerability to hopefully help you where you are. Before I dive deeper, I do want to pray. So let's do that.

Abba, thank You for redeeming my story and even empowering me to share my story with other people. Would You remove my fleshly desires and help me share everything You've been doing in my life. To those who may be going through something similar, would my words encourage them and would You meet them where they are, like You've done for me. I know You will, and I thank You in advance for that. I love You. Amen.

Lately, God's been bringing up the idea of relationships for a while. Something in me wanted to ignore it, but God again knows my desires, so it makes sense why this kept coming up. God knew that I always wanted to be in a relationship, even if I pretended that I did not need a man in my life to support me. But the thing was, the desire was good, but the reasoning behind it was not. In the past, I wanted to be in a relationship because I wanted to feel wanted. I wanted to feel noticed by someone for the first time. I wanted to have someone publicly declare their love for me. While these desires were valid, I was looking at the wrong people for that: only God was able to do these things for me. In fact, He already did these things for me. The truest declaration of His love was sending His only Son to die on the cross for me. Honestly, I don't think I would ever do that for someone. But God did. And He was reminding me that these desires that I had were already accomplished through His love for me. And I needed that reminder because if I didn't have it, I would be having high expectations for an individual that was completely aimed at the wrong person.

Because God showed me this error, He did not leave me empty-handed. In fact, He has been changing my desires to know why I truly want to be in a relationship: it's because I want to be reminded of the redemptive work God has done in my life. I haven't had the best relationships in the past, but for some reason, I am still clinging on to hope that God isn't going to fail me. And I know He won't because God is not a man that He should lie. I've heard Numbers 23:19 (the passage where that phrase is found and also referenced in Hebrews 6:18) so many times, but this time, it serves as the passage that keeps my faith going in this area. And even if I don't end up in a relationship, I'll be okay because God is good, and His plans are much better than my own plans.

So for that, as I'm waiting for what God has planned for me to be revealed, I'm not pressed anymore to find everything out. He has plans to prosper me, not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). And what is required of me? Trust (Proverbs 3:5). Trust that He knows what He's doing, and He's got it all under His control. Initially, it was hard to do because I like to have things under control, but honestly, God is such a gentleman that He did not get angered or upset when I did not surrender everything to Him in a particular moment. He walked with me to uncover the wounds that I've accumulated over time and offered me true healing, so that when the time comes for me to enter in a relationship, I'm not harboring any unhealthy emotions from my past experiences and projecting that onto the other person.

As much as I thought I was ready, God was reminding me that I wasn't, yet. But He's also saying that I am better than I was before, which has been a beautiful thing to hear. I'm not saying that there won't be painful moments because there definitely will. However, as someone who is on the other side, it was all worth it.

And for those who have never been in a relationship or a true one at that, I know Someone who desires to be in one with you. His name is Jesus, and I referenced Him earlier. He was the One that died for you because He loved you so much and wanted you to experience life in Him and with Him. He's not going to hurt you because He does not desire to do so; rather, He wants to show you what love truly is because that's who He is.

How do you get in contact with Him? Just contact Him. Say that you want to experience this love that's always been talked about. You envisioned something like it, but you want to experience it for yourself. He's waiting to hear from you.

For those who want to go deeper with Jesus and even make a decision to follow Him, I just want to let you know that this is one of the best decisions you could ever make in your life. In fact, it's the best decision you could make in your life. To go through with that, tell Jesus that you want to follow Him. You recognize that there are things that you are still holding onto, but He wants to take it from you and replace it with things like His joy and peace that surpasses all understanding. He loves you and will meet you wherever you are in your life.

God has redeemed my story in regards to relationships, and I know He will redeem yours too, as long as you let Him in, but before I sign off, I want to say a quick prayer.

Abba, thank You so much for who You are. Thank You for loving us, even when we didn't love ourselves. Would You continue to reveal Yourself as love for everyone reading this. And for those who decided to accept You, thank You for sending Your Holy Spirit to dwell in and live within them. Lord, I thank You again for all of these things. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Well, that's all I have for today’s post! Thanks again for reading, and don't forget that you are loved, salty, and lit! Talk to you soon! 🧡