For My Good and for HIS Glory!

In a basic 1700’s home, the mother was known as the weaver. She taught her daughters who were called spinners. The mother would pass her trade down to her daughters. When one of her daughters would marry, that daughter would become the weaver in her home and pass the skill onto her daughters. A daughter who remained single beyond the conventional age for marrying was known as an old spinster. Spinster is not a term we hear often in our society and even the term old maid isn’t often used. However, in Christian circles today marriage is the highest of callings. At Christian Colleges, women are prepared to make good wives for their husband; while the men prepare for the ministry. By the time a girl is ready to graduate at the age of 22, she should be ready to settle down and marry. And a ring should presently reside on her finger, while she prepares for that big day. The day she has waited all her life for. Yet if this young woman is still single at 22, she begins to regret her circumstances. She sees the “good” of all her friends around her. Couples are constantly lined out her window “talking” and yet she sits sadly inside waiting for her prince charming to come her way. By the age of 24, if this woman still remains unmarried, she begins to question what is wrong with her. She finds herself discontent and uneasy. She has remained at the college, hoping and waiting for some man to notice her. She constantly feels as if she is getting older and time is not being kind, stripping her of beauty while younger beautiful girls constantly are entering college and taking away her chances of ever finding true happiness. She pines away, discontented with her life and in truth discontented with the path that God’s has given her. She has regrets. She regrets being now 26 and unmarried. She has spent what she feels is a life time waiting.... waiting.... waiting. But then one blissful and happy day, he comes! They get married and now at 27 she is married and.... content... Or is she? She has spent the past 10 years wanting nothing but this. Yet now that she has what she has wanted all this time, she doesn’t feel the sense of contentment. Maybe she thinks if I have children, I’ll be content. She feels that she is getting older and needs to have children now because she doesn’t want them when she’s in her 40s. If only she had gotten married sooner... if only.... She has regrets. As woman today, we are encouraged to marry. It is our highest calling after all. Or is it? How does a woman wait on God’s timing and still be content with her life? How does she wait and yet have no regrets with what God has put before her. Why is it that we must wait patiently for the LORD to do what He desires in our lives? What is His desire for our lives? Is it to get married? Is that His ultimate goal? At college it was stressed, that this is God’s plan for every young lady’s life. However, that is a wrong thing to stress. Revelations 4:11 says, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” God created us for His pleasure. He has a glorious individual purpose and plan for our lives. The LORD is making us to be more and more in His image. He takes us through purging and fiery trials to root out wickedness in our lives. We need to accept that God is up to something in our lives and that is ultimately for our good and His glory. Romans 8:28-30 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” God’s not done working on us. In God’s timing, He will bring the right man into your life but only when God knows that it will bring you closer to being what He has you to be. So how can I say at 31 and single I have no regrets? I know that God has guided my life. I can look back on my single season and know that I couldn’t have done anything different to change the state of my singleness. This is exactly what God has planned for my life and it is for My good and for His glory. How about you, dear friend, do you have regrets? Do you regret where God has brought you and what He has or hasn’t put into your life? Remember that no hurt is too deep that God can’t reach down and heal you. God’s love doesn’t always keep us from trials but it is a love that keeps us through them. Apply the healing ointment: The Word of God – Psalms 107:20 says, “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.” God’s Word is true – God keeps His promises. God’s Word is the truth that we should live by. I love this quote: “A Bible that is falling apart usually is in the hands of one who isn’t.” So my dear friend, don’t worry if by others’ standards you’re an old spinster. By God’s standards you are exactly where He wants you and it is for YOUR Good and HIS Glory!