Pray While You’re Prey Weekly Devotions for Singles
People who know me now would never know that, for more of my life, I struggled with self-esteem issues. If I am being honest, when I look back at my relationship mistakes and failures, many of them stemmed from the fact that I undervalued myself. Growing up, I was tall and lanky. In kindergarten, I was scolded by a teacher because she thought I was supposed to be on the big kids’ playground, not the kindergarten playground. It seemed like I was about a head taller than everybody else. To exacerbate the situation, I had some health problems and was quite sickly, so I was ridiculously skinny. And, I had eczema, so when my skin wasn’t dry and flaky, I had scars from scratching all my itches. I was quite the awkward child. I had no fashion sense whatsoever. I was smart, but I quickly learned as a little girl (from my peers, not my parents) that intelligence is intimidating, not attractive. By fifteen, I had glasses and braces, and, needless to say, no boys were knocking down my parents’ door to try to take me out on a date. I made up for feeling inadequate by trying to outperform and out-achieve others. I was an honor-roll students, participated in plays, represented my high school on the mock trial team, and placed in our school’s pageant. I won scholarships, got into every school for which I applied for entry. The list went on and on because I thought that doing all of these things would make me feel like I was good enough. My parents made every effort to tell me how great I was and that I could do anything. Unfortunately, their praise and pep talks were drowned out by all of the negativity that perceived was coming from my peers. When I got older, and out of my very long awkward phase, the pendulum swung in the completely opposite direction. I went right past self-esteem into pure, unadulterated conceit. I was pretty and I felt pretty and people (meaning guys) started to notice. But, that inner awkward girl was ill-prepared to handle the attention gained by her cocky counterpart. I did whatever I needed to do to keep the attention because I thrived on getting attention. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered that the only One I truly need love from is my Heavenly Father. He is the only one that I should be working and living for, and not so He can give me praise, but at a testimony of praise back to Him for all He has done in my life. The reality is that, regardless of what we look like, how smart we are, how accomplished we may be, God, the Father, knew that spiritually, we were not good enough to receive His love. And yet, while we were still not good enough, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as a sacrifice for our sins to unite us with Him. He does this so that those who believe in Him can be good enough and live lives that are more than enough through Him, here on Earth and for eternity in Heaven. If He loved us that much, when we really were not good enough, who is anyone else to say that once we are His, we are not good enough? Is there really anyone’s opinion that matters more to you than God’s? Who said you were not good enough? Family? Friend? Enemy? You? Well, I have news for you, friend, God says, “You might be all messed up, but I sent My Son to clean you up before you even asked or accepted it, and I offered it because I love you.” You don’t have to get better, live better, or do better before you come to Christ. He accepts us as we are and heals and delivers us into being better. No one who claims to love you should ever make you feel that you are not good enough, including yourself. God does not lie and He said that you were good enough to love when He sacrificed His Only Son. Prayer Thank You, God for loving me before I knew how to love You or even love myself. Please forgive me for placing the opinions of others higher than Your opinion of me. Lord, please help me to know that I am loved and lovable despite what my circumstances look like. In Jesus’ Name, Amen *Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©1984, unless otherwise indicated.
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Pray While You’re Prey Weekly Devotions for Singles
It was a normal day off from work, and I planned to go grocery shopping with my mom. I drove to her house, threw my keys on the counter and got in the car with her, so that we could pick up groceries. Our trip was pretty uneventful. We came home, unloaded and separated the groceries. I grabbed my bags and my keys from the counter and headed to the car. I had to visit some other stores because I hadn’t found all of what I needed. I made three more stops, grabbed lunch and headed home. I pulled in the garage, reached for my keys, which I naturally and subconsciously almost always throw in the cup holder, but they weren’t there. I had no worries. I had a spare key to get in the house. I knew the keys had to be in the car, so I unloaded my bags, ate my lunch, watched some television, and then, I remembered that I had never looked for my keys. So, I went back down to the car looked to see if the key ring had fallen in between the seats. I saw nothing. I thought maybe they fall out of my hands as I was hugging my nephew goodbye. Then, I tried to remember if I had actually grabbed them or if I had just thought to grab them. So, I called my mom. She did not see the keys at her house, or in the driveway. We tried to think of where they could possibly be. I revisited the parking lot, called all the stores I had been to, but none had my keys. I searched through the empty grocery bags, in the refrigerator, everywhere. Now, I should mention that I prayed about this. I asked the Lord to help me find my keys. And, each time I came up empty handed, I asked again. I did start considering what the loss of keys meant. First, I felt a tiny bit of paranoia because my name is on two of my key chains, so I didn’t want an unwelcome guest at my house. Then, I thought about an order that I had coming in the mail, so I needed the mailbox key. So, I went on about my day and when I got home, I started searching again. I still found nothing, but my car is really clean. I went to bed, said my prayers and asked God to show me the keys. I woke up to a phone call from someone who had found some keys, but they were not my keys. I called and asked my mom to look again, so she said she would. I called the post office to see how I could replace my mailbox key and the woman said it would be $25. I did not want to pay that much, but I would have to if I didn’t find my keys. Plus, I started to wonder about my safety again. Then, I started reading the devotions for the day. One was about resting in God. The other was about being specific in prayer. So, I prayed again. I said, “Lord, I really don’t want to pay $25 for a new key and I am trying to feel safe, even though, there is a small chance that someone could break into my house, but I know You will protect me. Can you please show me where the keys are?” I went to the car to search again, but found nothing. I came upstairs and looked in a bag that I had brought in days earlier (I was just grasping at straws at this point), but in the bag, there was an ornament with the word, “Hope,” on it. I looked through the grocery bags, and then, it hit me I hadn’t emptied all of the grocery bags, some things were put in the cabinet still in the bag. I threw open the cabinet door and pulled down the first bag I saw, but no keys. I looked up and saw another bag, as I pulled it from the shelf, I heard my keys jingling. I started jumping and shouting and dancing. So, what is the point of all of this? I have read and heard of mustard-seed faith, but I never really understood the concept. How could faith so small, a tiny glimmer of hope, yield results? I found out that mustard-seed faith is a lot like lost keys faith. It is holding on to the minute bit of hope that you have left that there is Something greater and Someone bigger than anything your eyes can see. How does that apply to singleness? Well, there is nothing in my life right now that indicates that I will ever have another relationship or that I will have the children and family I desire. Nevertheless, I cling to the little hope that I have that God does not mean for me to be alone and, in His appointed time, I will have the desires of my heart because He promised me that. By the way, I often try to figure out why things happen the way they do and I truly believe I went through this just so that I could write this devotion. So, whether it is mustard-seed faith or lost-keys faith, never let go of it. You will not ever regret believing that God can change your situation! Prayer Thank You, God for showing me what just a little faith can do. Please forgive me for every time that I have doubted that You are able to come through for me. Lord, please help me to quiet the voice of unbelief and to cling to my faith in every situation and circumstance. In Jesus’ Name, Amen *Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©1984, unless otherwise indicated.
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