"I'll stay awake"... Some thoughts on Christmas

This Christmas feels extraordinarily peaceful for me. It follows a hard semester, in which I was transplanted into a new situation of life and a new mindset. I'm still in the middle of making some tough decisions about my future (because current society requires me to make decisions at the measly age of 19 that will directly affect the rest of my adult life). But yet, there's this huge sense of peace in all of it, and I've realized that it's specifically related to the Christmas story. God has been planting some interesting ideas in my mind, through Christmas carols and through very vivid images. Today, I want to share these carols and word-pictures with you. They all deal with a specific theme: light.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."
~I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

The ideas of peace really all began when I saw some chalk letters written on the sidewalk at my school a few months ago: "God's not dead". Yes, the movie and the song have made this saying sound cliche. But just the vision of God working under the surface of my public university was a striking and beautiful picture. Admittedly, there's a lot of junk on my campus. But, there's also so much life and hope, as there probably is in every place. No amount of darkness can squelch the evident presence of God. Seeing these words on the sidewalk brought a verse to my mind. Since then, it has become my current favorite Bible verse.
"In him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."
John 1:4-5

Son of God, love's pure light,
Radiant beams from
Thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace
~Silent Night

This verse led me to my next image. It started with a question: what does darkness truly feel like? Several years ago, I visited Mammoth Cave with my family. At one point of the tour inside the cavern, our guide led us into a huge, cathedral-like chasm. We all stood inside this huge space and he asked us to turn off our lights for a minute. As all of the people in our group flipped off the switches on their flashlights and lanterns, the entire area fell into blackness and a cold chill ran down my spine. It takes first-hand experience inside a cave or other completely enclosed space to really understand this sensation of total darkness. Your eyes cannot adjust and begin to see after a few seconds, as would happen in a mostly dark place. There is no light for your eyes to use; even after they try to adjust themselves, switching from the sensitive, light-responsive cones to the night-vision rods, nothing happens and the darkness cannot be corrected. Standing in a place of complete darkness was equivalent to blindness. My remembrance of the dark cave is so similar to our world, before Jesus Christ was born to save us. The people tried to adjust themselves, just as our eyes attempt to work with the darkness and find sight in it. But, nothing works in complete darkness. This is exactly why we needed Jesus; he came to fix our darkness, our sin problem. A phrase in "Silent Night" is strikingly relevant to this darkness/light comparison: "dawn of redeeming grace". Jesus's birth was a new beginning. Let's not forget just how significant His arrival was; it was the dawn of redeeming grace: a new plan, a new Light, as never seen before. It's just as John Newton wrote in "Amazing Grace": "I once was lost, but now am found; was blind, but now I see."
It also ties back to the writing of Matthew the disciple:
"The people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned."
Matthew 4:16

"O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above your deep and dreamless sleep,
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light,
The hopes and fears of all the years,
Are met in thee tonight."
~O Little Town of Bethlehem

So in the end, it all boils down to one statement: Jesus is the Light of the World. Yeah, I assume that you've heard that one before. "Jesus is the Light" is a fact so overstated to any American who have lived around Christians or been inside a church that it's probably like someone telling you that "dogs bark" or "you have ten fingers". But, it means so much more than that. It means that we, as Christ-followers, are also the light of the world (Matthew 5:16). This is so very difficult in a world that continues to live in darkness and reject Jesus's gift of grace.
Now, please follow my train of thought for a second here. Whenever I hear the word "darkness", it reminds me of one of my favorite songs ever: Ode to Sleep by Twenty One Pilots (a non-Christian, alternative band that tackles deep issues of darkness and depression). The song has one line that stands out, through its melody and its repetition: "I'll stay awake, cause the dark's not taking prisoners tonight."
Here's a rhetorical question for you: what does darkness do to us as human beings- literal darkness I mean? Well, it causes us to feel sleepy (see the connection to the TOP song...?). The spiritual darkness surrounding us does the exact same thing; it tries to put us to sleep- into apathy, self-absorption, and status quo.
There's another image that illustrates this "spiritual sleep" beautifully; It's a verse in a song from my early childhood, "This Little Light of Mine".
 "Hide it under a bushel, No! I'm gonna let it shine. Hide it under a bushel, no! I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine."
After I learned what a bushel even was (it's a basket), my child brain decided that hiding a candle under a bushel was the dumbest concept known to humankind. What's the point of a light if it's hidden away? But now that I'm older, I realize that metaphorically, I've done it so many times. That's exactly what it looks like to fall asleep: putting our light- our hope and trust in Christ- on the back-burner or in a forgotten desk drawer. Ultimately, when we are apathetic about our faith and our belief in the significance of Jesus's birth, we're hiding our lights under a bushel. And yes, a light hidden under a basket is pretty darn useless. As if I hadn't referenced enough random songs already, I also imagine the carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem" when I think about the "sleep" concept. The people of Bethlehem were in a deep, dreamless sleep when Jesus arrived. The Light of the world was literally within their reach; they were within a minute's walk from seeing the Savior of the world in person and worshipping Him. But from what we know, many of them simply missed it as they slept on. Ugh, that's awful, isn't it? As already discussed in this post, this Light matters so much more than any of us can comprehend. So consequently, each of us need to decide to make it matter in our lives.

So this Christmas, what will you do with the Light- the living, undefeated light that miraculously came down to earth and brought a dawn of redeeming grace, then bestowed some of that brilliant light on you? Don't just hide it or forget what it means for you and to the entire world. Even in the darkest nights, when God doesn't seem to be responsive or when He doesn't make any sense to you, trust in His unending love- the very love that sent His son on Christmas night to die for you. Don't miss the beauty and life at the real root of this crazy commercialized season, and the remaining 11 months after it. Stay awake. Cause the dark's not taking prisoners tonight.

God and I Have a Conversation

When I was in my early teen years, I read a magazine that published conversations between God and the magazine's author. Today, I was thinking through many of the scattered talks I've had with God in the past few months and I decided to compact all of them into one, hypothetical conversation- similar to the articles I used to read. Please note that when I write out what God says, it's through the lens of my own humanity, so obviously, I'm not being a prophet or anything mystic like that. Also, I wanted to clarify that I've never literally heard a voice of God before. These conversations mainly occur in my head. When I'm thinking through some of the problems that you are going to read about, I will often get a clear train of thought, bursting through the noises of worry and frustration. These sudden and seemingly spontaneous thoughts will remind me of some truth that is very consistent with verses that I know or have read in the past. So, this conversation is a reflection of those trains of thought, which I know to be God, as He overthrows my anxiety and inhibitions.




Me: God, I’m fretful right now. In fact, I’m feeling so fretful, that I don’t really find meaning in Your word anymore. 

God: How so?

Me: Well, my feelings right now, my emotions of being unsettled and ungrounded, seem so real and so strong. When I try to read scripture, it seems bland and inapplicable in comparison to my feelings.

God: But, it was written for you. It was written for every situation that you face in your life.

Me: Yeah, I know. But right now, I have a hard time even trusting You. I’m so torn right now. My future is a complete question mark. Do I stay here, or do I move? This is a huge question that You’re posing in my mind right now, and I don’t like it. God, I’m in limbo! I’m stuck between my past and my future and I don’t know where I’m headed next. I’m not only fretful; I’m scared. 

God: Do not be afraid. I am with you.

Me: I know, I know! I could probably recite all of the “Do not be afraid” passages from the Bible in my sleep! But, I can’t feel it.

God: You don’t have to feel it.

Me: Why not?! I don’t understand.

God: I am so much more than your feelings, child. I am infinitely bigger than them.

Me: Well then, why are all of my emotions fighting against me? Why do I feel so confused and lost?

God: Emotions follow a state of mind. You say that you know Me, but do you truly know Me?

Me: Of course I do. I read my Bible every night. 

God: Why do you read it? 

Me: Because I feel guilty if I don’t? I don’t know!

God: That guilt that you feel isn’t from Me. I am a God of love and grace, not of fear. 

Me: I know. But, this still doesn’t answer my questions. Can You help me? I still feel afraid.

God: I already helped you.

Me: Um, I still feel scared of the future…

God:  …I sent My only Son to save you and cover you with grace. I have written your name on the palms of My hands. My thoughts about you cannot be numbered. I go before you; I protect you from behind. 

Me: Then, can You at least tell me what’s going to happen next? I want to know so badly.

God: It’s not time for you to know yet.

Me: Why not?!

God: I know you better than you know yourself, My child. And remember, I am outside of time. I understand your ways perfectly. I have an amazing plan of what will happen to you and how it will be revealed. 

Me: It’s all head knowledge. All of this is. But, I can’t snap out of these emotions. I’m scared. This fear has built up in me for months now. It’s like a dark cloud over me. 

God: My grace is sufficient for you, dearest.

Me: I want answers! Please!

God: My grace is sufficient for you. That is the answer. 

Me: Where will I be in a year? In six months?!

God: Where are you now? Today, you’re protected from all sides by My love. Today, you’re exactly where you need to be. You are strategically surrounded by the right classmates and friends for this moment in time. Right now, you are soaring on wings like an eagle and you are continuing in the beautiful story I am writing for you. My grace is sufficient for you. 

Me: But, what if I have to move? What if I have to leave where I am right now? I’m not ready.

God: You will always be ready for whatever happens next. I’ve always made sure of that. Look back on your past. Every moment of your life, you were in the right place at the right time to meet very specific people and to experience very specific events. I have you exactly where you need to be.

Me:…

God: Can you trust Me? Can you open your hands instead of grabbing onto what was and what could be? 

Me: Yes, LORD. I can. I do. 

Who am I?- a testimony

Circa 2011, 9th grade

If anyone tells you that transitioning from high school to college is an easy process, they are wrong; I’m just saying this straight out. These last few months as I’ve transitioned into life as a full-time university student have been rough- emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But, why were they so hard? What was so painful about transitioning and changing? I’ve pinpointed it: the difficulty was my identity. Today, I want to share my last few months and some breakthroughs I’ve had, in a testimony-style of writing. In other words, this is a very personal blog post, with a focus on what God has taught me as a person. I hope that it will benefit you all, as I’m sure that what I’ve felt and experienced over the last few months is not unique to my situation.

At every stage of life for as long as I can remember, I’ve had a very specified identity. In elementary school, I was the crazy animal-loving girl (my brother and I owned more pets than we can even comprehend as we look back). Middle school years, I was the upcoming entrepreneur, videotaping and taking pictures of my classmates, editing it all into videos, then selling them DVDs of themselves. Early high school, I was the “Asian”: I learned how to write Chinese characters, wore all sorts of Japanese pop culture accessories (hair bows, animal hats, etc.), obsessed over Hello Kitty, and even “dated” a guy who was part Japanese (another story for another day, yes).

My identity in late high school is the most vivid memory for me, obviously. At the end of this May- my senior year- I was at the top of the leadership program in my school, known there for my clerical skills, strong spiritual life, and ability to start eccentric trends amongst my friends. In marching band, I was one of the only girls in the drum line, which were considered the “cool kids”. I took great pride in my position there, as the friend of every well-liked guy in the drum line and an influential force in the trends that went in and out of band.

But, this year, everything changed. When I look back at the emotion of the past few months, I get a mental image of the saying “I got the rug pulled out from under me”. I was standing solidly on my identity as a strong leader and a popular, but capable teenager. Then, the rug was pulled away and I fell onto the ground, having to start from scratch. None of my previous identities would work for college life. I obviously couldn’t be an outspoken spiritual leader in the classes at my public university, I couldn’t be the cool drummer kid when I really was terrible at playing percussion compared to the other talents at the school, I couldn’t start eccentric trends because I didn’t have any solid friend groups among which to start them. There was nothing left.

On top of all of this, I was (and still am) a little fish in an ocean of people. I hardly ever saw the same people in more than one class and I was coming into contact with hundreds of people every day at school. So, this gave me little to no leverage in forming a projected identity to others, since they only saw me for two hours per week, in the context of a classroom.

Since I based so much of my life on my identity, I felt lost for the entire summer (while anticipating the start of school) and for most of August. I actually used to sit in my room after I got home from school, crying and longing to go back to my marching band and leadership days, more than anything in the world. Nothing felt constant anymore. Marching band and the leadership program simply continued on without me, so I began to feel replaced and unneeded in that way too.

But, God taught me something through this process, as He always does. As Christ-followers, we’re always told something that goes like this, “we change, the world around us changes, but God will never change.”
I used to take this as a trite statement, until this year. See, I was creating a problem for myself in high school; I was basing my identity on movable, changeable things. That was why it was so devastating for me to lose them. But now that the rug has been pulled from underneath my feet and I have no other fallback, I’ve learned to rely on the only thing that won’t change: Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord.

Last night, I was reading through Colossians and one particular passage showed me what it looks like to apply the concept of relying on Jesus to identity. In other words, what will it look like when my projected identity is Jesus? Here’s the passage:
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience…And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Colossians 3:12, 14

Everything makes sense now. I can’t just go into a college classroom and be known by my music skills, my friends, my trend setting abilities, or anything like that. But now, it doesn’t even seem worthwhile to have my classmates and acquaintances know me as “the Hello Kitty girl” (heaven forbid) or the “percussionist girl”, as I was once known. Now, I want them to know me by something different: my LOVE. I want them to look back on me, maybe just as a classmate that they only knew for one semester or maybe as a longer term acquaintance/friend, and remember me as being compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, and full of love. I want them to see me as having an unearthly ability to do all of these things, outside my own nature and dependent on Someone who transcends understanding and means more to me than life itself.

And when my feet are firmly planted on God’s unchanging grace, I will be able to go anywhere and do anything, because I’ll know that He’s there, every step of the way.

The Desert of My Mind

This blog post is about to reveal a lesson that I learned over the summer. But, I learned these lessons the hard way. So, the point of today is to warn you all about a danger that I ran right into, that way, you will be able to take preventative measures and avoid my mistakes.
Here’s what the problem is: thoughts. Now, you may be wondering why this is such a big deal, since thoughts just stay in your head, obviously. Well, I have discovered quite the opposite: thoughts are the roots for absolutely everything, both good and evil.

A good friend and I are currently studying Jeremiah and we came to an interesting conclusion while reading Jeremiah 13:15-27, which is entitled “A Warning Against Pride” in my NLT Bible. First off, in this passage, we realized that God’s biggest “pet peeves” were not outward displays of evil, but seemingly subtle things, like arrogance (v. 15) and lust (v. 27). These sins that God seemed to despise so much were in the mind, not outwardly displayed.
Then, my friend and I started to discuss an interesting idea: God hates these types of sins because they are the roots to all other sins. To continue exploring our idea, my friend and I flipped to a yucky passage, Galatians 5:19-20, that I like to nickname the Anti-Fruits of the Spirit.
Here it is,
“When you follow the desires of your sinful, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these.”
Did you see what all of those have in common? My friend and I did, and we got pretty excited, because it’s a whole new angle of looking at God's word.
All of these sins have a common root: the mind. And that’s the reason why the Bible has SO MUCH commentary about pride, lust, jealousy, and other sins that don’t seem to be “visible”; God knows that we need to aim for the root first to conquer our sins. This is why thoughts are so vital.

 Jesus also discussed this phenomenon in this infamous passage:
“You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5:27-28
If adultery can start in the mind, what else can? The possibilities are endless and it’s terrifying. But, how do we defeat Satan’s weapons of mass destruction within our brains?

Well, while I was facing my own mind battles this summer, I began to think about a fantastic song by one of my favorite bands, Twenty One Pilots. This song actually presents a very clear solution to the problems at hand. First, here's a bit of background: I had known about this song for about a year, but about a month ago, my brother shed new light on the lyrics, explaining how they seemed closely connected to concepts about God and His saving grace in our thought lives. This isn’t a surprise, as the lead singer of the band, Tyler Joseph, is a professed Christian. The song is entitled “Addict with a Pen” and it comes from Twenty One Pilot’s self-titled debut album. The chorus starts out,
“Hello
We haven't talked in quite some time
I know
I haven't been the best
Of sons
Hello
I've been traveling in
The desert of my mind
And I
Haven't found a drop
Of life
I haven't found a drop
Of you
I haven't found a drop
I haven't found a drop
Of water”

That line, “traveling in the desert of my mind” is such a potent image. You’ve probably felt it as I have. Not only are destructive thought patterns dangerous, but they also engulf us, become a horrible, addictive reality for us, very comparable to a desert. In many ways, thoughts can become an idol. We can build various “mind shrines” in our brains, ultimately worshipping our sin-filled, unbridled thoughts by obsessing over them.
 So, we end up wandering through the deserts of our minds, looking for some type of sustenance. But, sin is death, so naturally, we won’t find “a drop of life” or “of you” (God) amongst it all. Towards the end of this emotion-filled song, TOP presents us with the ultimate solution of it all:
“But you specialize in dying
You hear me screaming
Father
And I'm lying here just crying
So wash me with your water”.
This is the solution that will conquer the darkness in our minds: being washed by God’s grace and love. More specifically, the solution to the thought battles is cleansing our minds with Him. Notice that at the beginning of “Addict with a Pen”, Tyler Joseph says, “Hello, we haven’t talked in quite some time. I know I haven’t been the best of sons…”
We cleanse our minds by doing what the hypothetical speaker in the song didn't do: spending time with God (“talking” to Him). "Spending time with God" could involve delving into His word to renew our minds (Romans 12:2) or even serving others for His glory and our fulfillment (Proverbs 11:25). If we are doing this, then we won’t resort to wandering in the deserts of our minds.

Yes, this is all so cliché. But, it makes perfect sense, as God's ways always do. See, if we develop a deep relationship with God and stick with Him, even when we aren’t “emotionally inclined” to do so, He will present us with mini-solutions along the way, that are specific to each of our unique problems. In response to my personal struggles, He prompted me to cut out certain TV shows and habits. Often, these things weren’t even inherently bad, but they were triggers for me to turn inward, to my “mind shrines”.
Even though these decisions in my life appeared to be acts of deprivation, in the end, they weren’t. Making choices as God prompts us aren’t His ways of punishing us or taking away things that we enjoy. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. He wants us to have lives full of joy and purpose (John 10:10), so He will give us the conviction and strength to remove anything that inhibits us from living the lives He wants for each of us. And that makes the difficult and often painful removal process all worth it.
But, at the end of the day, even when we do mess up or get lost in the desert, we don't need to be afraid. He will always reach down and pick us up again with endless grace and love, when we call out to Him, our Father.

Misconceptions about Being Single

Being single in today’s culture can be a difficult and lonely road. Often enough, the mentality in Christian culture can actually make this even…worse. In fact, a few opinions shared within the church to pre-teens, teenagers, and young adults about being single have the potential to harm us, rather than help us. On top of this, the devil injects even more lies into our heads, making things even more convoluted.

 So today, I’m going to present you with a few misconceptions that we collect from others and from ourselves about being single. Here we go…

1. Just “wait”, and the right person will come to you.

While this is probably a true statement, as most people get married in their lives, the mentality behind it doesn’t seem at all helpful for us.

See, if you are a poor, lost princess stuck in a tower and your only way to leave your confinement is to be rescued by a prince, then this statement applies to you.

If you are a young, dashing prince and your only way to ascend to your rightful throne is to get married and you insist on waiting for true love (as all of them usually do), then this statement applies to you.

But, I don’t think any of us could fit one of these two descriptions. In fact, we fit an opposite description. 2 Corinthians 3:17 tells us that we are already free. Romans 8:17 reminds us that we are already joint-heirs to the kingdom of God. So consequently, there is absolutely no reason for us to be stuck inside our towers of waiting, singing “When Will My Life Begin?”, because our lives have already begun. We live through Christ and through all of the incredible things He has planned for us TODAY.

2.  If you’ve managed to stay single, despite culture and peer pressure, then you’ve shown yourself to be stronger than those who aren’t.

I know I told the following story a few years ago, but I’ll tell it again…

One of my friends teaches elementary school. Whenever one of her students says a phrase like, “that’s not fair!” or “why don’t I get what she has?” etc. etc, she will respond with a very powerful phrase: “you do you”. Here’s the thing, often enough, this misconception about being single comes from the same root as the complaints from those elementary-age kids: someone has something that we don’t have. So, we become bitter and jealous, and mask these ugly emotions by feeling superior to those who aren’t single. It’s a horrible cycle and it creates some terrible baggage, such as dogmatism and self-righteousness. I think Satan absolutely loves it when we get onto this slippery slope of superiority, because it completely cripples us from our pressing mission here on earth, which is to love others (John 13:34-35). And what if someone who is currently in a relationship needs you to show them Christ’s love just as much as someone who is single? If we are too busy feeling contempt against them, then we completely miss the opportunity. In the end, “you do you” applies for this too. Each person is different and each person is on a different path. If someone else’s path happens to have a relationship in it and yours doesn’t, then that’s perfectly fine. We as the body of Christ have been called to support and love everyone around us, regardless of their relationship status.

3.    You’re a martyr because you’ve continued to “wait”, so you deserve something to satisfy yourself while you’re waiting.

Again, this relates back to misconception #2; you don’t have something that someone else has. So as a result of this mentality, you try to find a substitution. We feel entitled to things that will “fill” the holes in our hearts that come with not having a someone. They become “fall backs”, or temporary fixes to camp on when we aren’t in a relationship. Here’s the huge issue: when we begin to lean on these “fall backs”, we start to idolize them. A few examples of them include: leaning on feelings of superiority (see misconception #2), binge-watching romantic movies or reading romantic books, visiting porn sites, letting fantasies run unbridled in your head, or the like. Okay, so I’m not trying to say that it’s inherently wrong to watch romantic movies. We just need to remember 2 Timothy 2:22. And I’ll be honest here before I quote the verse; this is a tough thing to think about and I used to hate it a lot. But, it has the potential to truly change us.

Here it is: “Run from anything that stimulates youthful lusts. Instead, pursue righteous living, faithfulness, love, and peace. Enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts.” (NLT)

We need to run from anything that stimulates the fleeting desires in this area of our lives. But, the important thing to realize: each person has a different “fall back”. So, we need to ask God to give us the wisdom to know what our “fall back” is, and the courage to take whatever actions are required to stop idolizing it.

4.    Jesus can be your “significant other”.

Maybe you haven’t heard this misconception presented in this exact way, but you’ve probably run into it in other ways. Have you ever read a book about relationships from a Christian point-of-view and heard the statement “God will fulfill your desires” or the command that “Jesus should be your everything”? In actuality, these statements seem to imply that Jesus can, in fact, be your “significant other”. Yes, the general ideas behind both of these statements are true; God can fulfill desires and Jesus should be our everything. But, when both of these statements are presented in response to the aching, consuming feelings of loneliness and frustration that accompany being single, they seem rather lame and unhelpful. So, here’s the real truth: God will never actually “fill” that hole in your heart. If you are hungry for a donut while you’re on a fast from sugary foods, God cannot literally fill your desire for that oily, powdery taste of donuts. I’m sorry to break this news to you, but God doesn’t taste like donuts. Instead, (assuming that you are doing said fast in response to a calling from Him) He will probably do two things:

1-Redirect your focus from wanting that donut onto bigger and better things

2- Give you peace while you’re at it

You will never fully lose your desire to eat a donut, but the desire will be VEILED and God will give you the strength to refocus. In the same way, your desire to have companionship in a significant other will never really be taken away by God. No matter how much you pray or read your Bible, you won’t be able to make it completely go away. Because think about it. God planted that desire in your heart Himself (go read Song of Songs if you don’t believe me). So He won’t just erase it all completely. He has plans to somehow use those wants for good, whether it be to teach you or to allow you to truly love someone else someday. But, as Psalm 29:11 says, “The LORD gives his people strength. The LORD blesses them with peace.” (NLT)

That’s what He’ll give each of us when we seek Him: strength and peace. And soon enough, the desire to have a someone will still be present, but it will feel a lot smaller in the light of His glory and grace.

And there you have it. Four misconceptions. Being single isn’t an easy road; that’s for certain. But, God didn’t call us to an “easy” life; He has called us to a full and joy-filled life. The less we focus on our “fall backs” and the more we focus on our mission right now as Christ-followers, the better we will feel about the whole entire thing.

Single or not single, life is good, y’all. Not because our desires are muted completely, but because we have our hope in Him.