Pray While You’re Prey Weekly Devotions for Singles
The other day I went to get a pedicure. I arrived and was greeted cheerfully by the owner. She and her employee were busy with clients, but she told me to have a seat in the chair and one of them would be with me or another employee would arrive. I settled into the chair, a massage chair, and just relaxed and waited. The owner, realizing that I had been sitting for a while, called the employee who was supposed to be en route to see how much longer. She kept apologizing profusely for my wait, but I told her it was fine. I just closed my eyelids and got a much needed massage. It was about forty-five minutes before the employee arrived that was supposed to do my pedicure. I only know that because the massage chair runs in fifteen-minute cycles and I had to restart it twice. There were more apologies, and then, I got one of the best, most-relaxing, beautifully-done pedicures that I have ever gotten. I even got to continue sitting in the massage chair while my toes dried. After a while, it was hard to get up, but I had to eat dinner. In that moment, I realized that waiting patiently is not all that bad. There was a time when I would have been rude about the wait. I would have kept asking when I was going to be served. I will admit that there was I time that I would not have exhibited very Christian-like behavior. However, I have been a patron of this shop for a while now and I know that the owner meant no harm, nor did her employee. She did not want to stop what she was doing and rush; she wanted me to have a good experience, so I had to wait. I chose to wait patiently. The experience ended up being rewarding, and did I mention, relaxing. As I sat to write this devotion, I realize that I only used the word “patience” once in the book, Pray While You’re Prey, I never knew that. In retrospect, I would imagine that it is because patience has been an issue for me. Waiting on God has been an issue for me. When I want something, I want it when I want it and how I want it. But God has shown me that it is best for me to wait for what He wants for me, when He wants it and how He wants it because what He wants for me surpasses every expectation of which I could ever dream. It is not easy to wait patiently. It takes faith and courage. Right now, I have students who, with good intentions, are trying to think of people for me to date. They are teenagers and thirty-five seems really old to them, so they cannot wrap their brains around the fact that I am not married and do not have any children. To be honest, it is hard for me to wrap my brain around it at times. I look at my friends who have husbands and are having babies or even watching children graduate from high school and I wonder if it will ever be my turn. Yet I know that God has an amazing plan for my life, so I have to wait on Him, not just in my singleness, but for my career moves and for everything in my life. Others may not understand why I or you do not just step out and make something happen. That is okay. Trust me, I have tried things my way and I like God’s way much better. It is not always the easy way or the fastest way, but it is the way that is worth it! Because He is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE. Wait patiently on God. Don’t stop living your life; just surrender your life to God and allow Him to move. Waiting patiently is an act of courage and He will be with you. Prayer Thank You, God for being a God that may delay, but does not deny my desires. Please forgive me for trying to rush You into giving me what I want. Lord, please help me to wait with expectation that I will receive Your favor for Your glory 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
Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! When I was younger, I did not really believe that there was such a thing as a biological clock. I just thought that this concept of some annoying, nagging urging to settle down, get married and have babies was mythical in nature. Then, I turned 30; the age at which I had always hoped to be happily married and finished having children. Instead, I was in a failing relationship with no chance of a baby in sight. That is when the ticking started. Tick! Tock! Tick! Tock! Then ticking was followed by the following thoughts, “If you don’t get married soon, you will never have a child.” And, “You are going to be old and all of your eggs will dry up, so even if you do get married, no babies for you.” And, “Who wants a woman that is too old to have kids?” From the time I was a little girl, I dreamed of being married. The mom thing was not really my preference, but if my husband wanted children, then I was willing to have and/or adopt children. It was never a necessity for me when I was younger. Oh, but when the possibility that I might never have the option to give birth to my own children entered the picture, it was no laughing matter. People say to me, “You can have a baby anytime you want. Women are becoming moms all the time all by themselves.” And, that may be fine for other women, but my babies need a full-time father, and that father needs to be my husband. So why, I began to think, won’t God send me a husband, with whom I can have a family? His reply: Timing is everything. We think of time as finite. But God’s time is infinite. I know that I have allowed myself to get caught up in timetables, some set up by society and some that were concocted in my own mind. My first marriage was the result of an irrational timetable. I was 21 and unmarried, and I thought that if I didn’t get married then, I would be an old maid. Well, I did get married then and I am now, a maid -- not old, but definitely single. The issue with my logic was that God does not work on timetables. He simply says, “There is a time for everything.” And, God is so awesome in power that your time to love and my time to love may take place at different times. God knows how to keep track of the perfect timing for every blessing in each and every one of our lives. We have to stay patient and let Him work. I have had many accomplishments that have caused people to be impressed, but I am deeply saddened by all of the times I got in the way of God’s timing because I know I missed out on amazing blessings. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, got impatient and got in the way of God’s timing (Genesis 16). I think she had good intentions; she just had poor execution. I believe she thought she was helping God when she asked Abraham to sleep with Hagar and have the son they were promised; just like I was helping God move things along when I got married so young. The damage from not waiting on God’s timing for His promises can be catastrophic. The sons of Ishmael and Isaac are still warring to this day. And, I am still dealing with some of the consequences of not listening to God about not getting married. God is love. He wants us to know love and feel loved. He wants us to learn how to love His way because that is the only way we can experience the fullness of love towards one another. In a season of singleness, there is a unique opportunity to focus solely on loving God, and as a result, loving God’s way. In His timing, everything else will fall into place and it will be worth the wait. Prayer Lord, thank You for helping me accept that your timing is perfect. Please forgive me for trying to “help” when You never asked me to. Lord, teach me how to love Your way while I wait and when it is my time to love. 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 by Toni L. Wortherly is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. |