Waiting for God’s Timing
Any single lady will eventually come to a point in life where she questions whether the guy she is dating is the one she wants as her life partner. The same is true for guys. Unless you have the gift of celibacy, there will always be this aching desire within you to be pursued, cherished, needed, and loved by another individual of the opposite sex.
Here is my story.
You see, there’s this amazing Christian guy I met in church. I hadn’t noticed him before, but somehow, it all started one day. We would call each other at night, talk for hours, go on dates like other couples, but we were not officially together. I was the one who suggested to keep our relationship under wraps.
Yet, I knew this wasn’t right. I knew if I were to seriously pray about it, God would have told me to wait for His timing. After taking into consideration different aspects (including the guy’s character and my own immaturity to be in a relationship), I decided to call it off. I told the guy we should stop going out like couples and stop calling each other affectionate names. We both suffered through that period of separation. We became strangers all of a sudden. For almost half a year, he stopped going to church. And then I saw him one night. My feelings for him resurfaced. But weeks later, I found out through a friend that he was interested in a new girl. The hurt and betrayal consumed me. I questioned God, “I’ve done what You wanted me to do. I obeyed You. I gave up precious people in my life just to please You. You know if I were to choose, I would choose You, God. Why is this happening to me? Have I made a wrong choice? Was I stupid to let go of someone like him?”
Though it was a difficult experience, God gave me the grace and peace to accept what has happened. Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” While I have yet to see the shadow of my future life partner, I am not anxious about it. I know God has the best man for me in mind. He always has and always will. Until the right man walks in, let us focus on loving God and His people. There are much more important things to do for God’s kingdom as sons and daughters of the Most High.
Written by Edna Ho for YMI
Dear Edna,
Thanks for sharing your story and indeed to end a relationship with someone who you desire and like is always not easy. Persoanlly, I am struggling to stop a relationship that I yearn for because it doesn’t seemed to be working out. However,I am still praying for it every now and then. But, I want to share with you that in God, we have the freedom to like someone and also the freedom to stop liking someone. This is true freedom that is given to us as children of God. Let us pray for the patient to wait on God’s rigth time for us to meet our true love. Thank you Lord, in Jesus’ name I prayed. Amen.
Faith, Love & Hope
Ashley
thanks for sharing your experience with us. I have the same story with you. I struggle to let go the one who I love for 10 years. It doesn’t easy to do that, right? Until now I still pray for it. But one thing that I know God have the best plan for all of us. He has the right timing to unite us with someone who will be our husband/wife. Wait patiently and stay strong in God, girls 🙂
Warm hug and love from me
Linda
Thanks Ashley and Linda for sharing your thoughts. It’s indeed great to know that God has our best interests and heart and we can trust in His plans for our life:)
Thank you for sharing your experience with us. I’m going through a similar situation right now, though it’s a little bit different.
But it is relatable, and the betrayal part really hurts. And the immaturity part of entering a relationship, i think that applies to me as well. God will make our paths straight, we just have to trust in Him and all He has planned for us will come to past. 🙂
Trust that God is bigger than your worry & entirely capable of guiding you.
God Bless you.
I think you have to be careful with thinking along these lines.
God doesn’t promise marriage to any of us. So how can we really trust in “God’s timing”? Can we trust God to fulfill a promise that He never made us? And we all have decisions to make when it comes to relationships. God doesn’t make decisions for us. From reading 1 Corinthians 7, it seems like we have the freedom to choose a partner (see 7:39)
“Until the right man walks in, let us focus on loving God and His people. ” Well, sure, but you can live a godly life and also pursue a relationship at the same time. How else are you supposed to do it? You don’t feel like you have to choose between them.
And sure, there’s “much more important things to do for God’s kingdom” than dating and finding a partner. Doesn’t mean you can’t pursue dating. Why do some people seem to think you have to pick between the two?
“I know God has the best man for me in mind.”
How can we know that? God doesn’t make us any promises about romance or marriage.
The Bible doesn’t mention this concept anywhere. In Matthew, Jesus clearly states that some people won’t get married (19:10-12) The Bible has good things to say about both marriage and singleness. When Paul talks about this (1 Corinthians 7), he writes that, if you’re single and struggle to control sexual desires, you should try to get married. In this case, the Bible encourages marriage. It does not, however, promise that it’ll work out for you if you do decide to pursue it. He does say that not everyone has the gift of singleness. But I’m sure that there’s many who lack this gift who, despite everything, still don’t find mates.
Marriage is something we choose, I think. In 1 Corinthians 7:39, Paul writes that “a wife is bound by law as long as her husband lives; but if her husband dies, she is at liberty to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord.” Doesn’t sound like Paul believed in “soulmates” or “The One,” then.
I would advise against being passive, particularly as you get older. It’s possible that if you do nothing…well, nothing will happen.