“They’re leaving you behind,” she told me.
A very good friend of mine got engaged this past Sunday. Her fiance proposed in front of the entire church! In the midst of the congratulations, someone said THAT. Someone told me I’m being left behind.
I’m being left behind.
Being left behind isn’t something a Christian wants to hear 🙂 Don’t want to go through seven years of tribulation, right?
But being left behind because I’m single???
THAT, my friends, is NEW to me. I have never ever heard that before. Like. Ever.
How do you respond to that?
I laughed. In my defense, she was laughing too, although I don’t think she was 100% joking.
The idea is ridiculous.
If you are single, you are not being left behind. Do you hear me?
You have not been left behind.
God doesn’t leave his children behind. He is with them. Always. In every trial, pain, and joy, God is beside you. He promises it (Isaiah 41:10, Joshua 1:9, Deuteronomy 31:6).
Through all the romantic love part of life, God is with you.
God is with you if you are dating or not dating.
God is with you when your faith is strong and when you’re fighting through doubt.
God is with you when your friends have someone to hold hands with while you’re feeling a bit cold.
God is with you through the 4 weddings you’ve got to attend this year…well 1 down, 3 to go, in my case 🙂
Single ladies, we have not been left behind.
That’s a cultural idea. Culture wants to dictate what happens to us and when. Move out at 18. Finish college in 4 years. Get a job. Get married by 25. Have kids by 30. Live the rest of your life like this or like that. Then you’ll be happy.
Life doesn’t happen that way. We all know that. We’re all thrown curveballs. And checking off somebody else’s to-do list won’t make us happy. Achieving it all won’t make us happy. We all – everyone who’s lived this messy life – know that.
But there will still be people who say you’re screwing up the timeline. You’re not living life right. Look at your friends, younger than you, getting married before you. Look at your friends, they have this amazing great-paying 9-5 job complete with a corner office. Look at your friends, they have 3 kids while your biological clock keeps ticking.
And even, look at your friends, they’re leaving you behind.
Lies. All of it. The greatest commandment, the first thing required of us, and the only thing that truly matters is this: to love God with everything we’ve got.
Do that and you won’t ever be left behind. You’ll be right where God wants you to be, in His love.
Linking up with The Single Life, Fellowship Fridays, and Faith Filled Friday.
People sometimes act like I would feel upset when one of my friends gets married, but I never do , I am always so excited for them that I can’t feel upset at all, and I don’t know how anyone can be upset when a friend is getting married (I don’t understand it, but it happens, when my little sister got married it happened to her.). I am not left behind, and have never felt that way. I have an God, and I am blessed to have great relationships with all of my married friends and their families.
I feel the same way, Lauren. I don’t get upset at all. I’m very happy for my friends. I don’t feel left behind or feel any pressure to catch up. When people ask when it’ll be my turn, I do believe it when I answer in God’s time.
What a great message to ladies who are single AND married. I had to wait until into my 30’s and my husband until into his 40’s to get married. Life did not go the way the world told us it should/would. We had to remind ourselves daily of God truths vs. the world’s “truths”. God has his own timeline for our lives for sure and He is with you…you’re not left behind. Marrieds need to hear this as well because they need to be sensitive to how words and expectations can hurt those who are still waiting. May you thrive with God during this important season of life!
And God’s timeline is way better than ours. He has a purpose for everything!