“You mean you are going to travel the world… single?”
“How will you ever find someone overseas?”
“What about having a family? Will you move back home to have one?”
**insert long list of questions that I have no “real” answers to**
This is a blog that goes out to all those that are single and still full of joy. (even though the world says that that is impossible). I have faced these questions in past years of doing missions but they have taken front center stage since announcing my journey on the World Race and I’m positive that there are others that look these questions face-to-face everyday as well.
And before we go any further let’s just clear the air and state: It’s totally possible to be single and have joy in life. There I said it. Big deal. Go tell everyone that I said that it is possible! “Single” people aren’t carrying a disease or miserable with life (or they shouldn’t be!). There should always be joy.
Is there rough days? Does it feel like it’s you against the world sometimes? Do you have to regroup every now and again?
Yes. Yes. And yes. But that does not make being full of joy impossible. That doesn’t make where you are in life any less admirable than your friend that is in a relationship.
I am going to be real and say that the questions get old. They are worded exactly the same and the delivery with that pity look or rising of the eyebrow and enlarging of their eyes as people gasp at the thought of traveling around the world…single! As if security lies within the confinement of a relationship status.
There’s the end of that spill because what matters is that you (yes, YOU!) have a story. It’s not a surprise to God. In fact He wrote it in detail before you breathed your first breath. He knew your dreams, your struggles, your love story, your entire life long before you think you had a say in it. Will you be misunderstood at times? Most definitely. Is that okay? Absolutely. What happens to the person to your left or right is not your story, it’s theirs, just like your life is your own story.
When you face these questions, don’t doubt — just hold true to Him. When you don’t have an answer that satisfies their hungry questions just rest in Him and don’t feel pressured to answer in a way that lessens the place that God has you at. Because after all it’s the place HE has made for YOU. We are on a constant moving journey that bends and dips as we walk along saying yes to Him daily so who knows what our tomorrows look like. Trust is key to unlocking joy, no matter where you are in life.
I pray that God breaks through and gives you the freedom from timelines and cultural norms (like they are supposed to define us anyways). I pray that Holy Spirit blows a fresh wind, a wind that would reverberate in you and play the strings of your heart, letting you know that there is joy in the everyday. There is not a success ladder in Heaven to climb up that defines success as married, with kids, and a 401k. (These aren’t bad but they are not true fulfillment).
You are not in a hurry, you are not less than, you are not alone.
There IS joy in the everyday, no matter what your everyday looks like. He is your beginning and end. He is the steady hand that holds and moves the pen while your story is being put to paper. And even when you feel the pen has stopped moving and the writing has ceased remember He is still there just enjoying where your story is at. Don’t rush those moments. Enjoy them.
You are perfectly right where you are supposed to be — found in Him.
