I have decided to go on a pretty interesting journey. That is, I'm going to be taking one whole year off of dating. Here's some background information. I was in a relationship which ended about 8 months ago (in December 2013). Throughout that time I had really been trying to sort through my feelings of rejection, confusion, and doubt...among other things. I was waiting for God to either restore my previous relationship or bring a new person into my life. Somehow I felt that if either of those two things happened, it would give meaning to the whole situation and everything in my heart and mind would be settled once again. But neither of those things happened and I continued to carry the weight of it all every day. So...what now?
A few days ago I was taking a walk with my cousin and she told me about a sermon series she watched called "Love Sex and Dating" by Andy Stanley. In the series he talks about how we should stop spending so much time waiting to find the right person, and instead focus our energy on becoming the right person. He poses the question...are you the person that the person you're looking for is looking for? In other words, if you were to meet the person of your dreams today, can you say with all certainty that they would want you back? This whole idea was life changing for me. I want to be married at a young age and this made me realize that my time as a single person is VITAL to my time as a married person. We all need to make use of our seasons of singleness to invest in our future relationships and marriages.
In the series he also mentions taking a year off of dating so that you can renew your mind, walk through healing, and ultimately prepare yourself for the relationship God may have for you in the future. My cousin said that she had made this commitment, and feeling very convicted by her words and his, I decided that it would be a wonderful idea for me as well. I want to deepen my walk and my relationship with Jesus. I want to be healed, renewed, delivered, set free. And I also hope to be a really great wife one day.
This isn't me giving God a timeline to do his work. It's not me trying to bargain with him or even trying to say that this is a formula you can use to make your problems go away. We know that in this life there will always be tribulation. I'm more doing this to set boundaries for myself. This is a guideline to help me and something for me to stick to. To hear the whole thing, watch the video below. I will be doing an update every month on my YouTube channel, and in between I will come on here and give some tid bits about what God is doing in my own heart.
Love you always,
Lauren <3
Hello
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed your blog post on taking a year off dating. I have done that in the past and reading your post today has just made be feel like I should revisit this type of attitude in my life again., because that was an awesome time in my life. As a matter of fact I haven't dated anyone since that time but I feel like I should go back to that focus because I was more focus on my growth and was actively pursuing it and my relationship with Christ. Some of my goals at that time was learning how to cook, trying new recipes, getting involve at church, being friendly to others blogging, exploring the city with my sister and so much more including spending hours with God. I do those things now but they haven't been my focus and after reading your post, I feel a tug on my heart to recreate that experience again with God's help of course. Thanks for sharing!
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