The Randomness Thread, Post a Random Thought

This is from a Christian Church Forum (Lakewood's forums) and it's a testimony from one of the assistant preachers... very inspirational and i didn't want to start a whole new thread... but yea... for us single gals here goes a lil story

Embracing your singleness by ptbyjason.

There are so many of us that are at the age that we start wondering when we are going to get married. We wonder when is it our time to take that next step in our life. Is God paying attention to us? We are ready for Him to send someone to us and might even be praying for God to send someone to us. Why won't God answer our prayers?

Background, but important info:
I came from a Southern Baptists household that was always going to church. We would go on Sundays, come home, and live our life. I was a good kid and was saved at a young age. I knew all about God, but I didn't know God on an intimate level. I prayed to God as a ritual, not as a friend or a Father. I prayed for things as I was growing up, but never had the faith to believe it would come true. I believed in God, but I never understood God.

Because I never really understood God I turned away from Him when I was in high school. I wasn't stealing things or causing chaos. I would still say please and thank you. I was still a "good kid", but I turned my back on God. I began to drink and even began to use drugs years later. I gave away my virginity and quit going to church. Everytime something would shake me up and I would go to church, something would happen and cause me to quit going because I "didn't fit in". One time I got the courage up to go to church and start meeting people. I began to talk to some guys and told them I was from Louisiana. They asked me if I go back and gamble very often. I was just about to start telling him about my last gambling experience when I realized he was only joking. LOL I wasn't walking with God and I let that experience be another reason why I shouldn't go to church.

Then God shook me. I was in a relationship with someone whom I should not have been in a relationship with, and eventually we broke up. For the first time in my life I felt this loneliness that I have never felt before. I tried calling people to talk to them and no one would answer their phone. I mean no one. It was eerie. The feeling wouldn't go away no matter what I did, so I called this guy from my old church that I had run into a few times recently. He had always told me that if I ever wanted to talk, give him a call. I knew I had to call him and I knew I had to talk. I needed a friend.

We began to talk and I realized that God was missing out of my life. I realized I needed Him and I gave my life back to Him. Since that time my life changed and will never be the same. I began going to church but I had no friends. I tried to make friends, I really did. I gave people my phone number and asked them to please call me. But I never had any calls. I finally began to pray about it. I prayed that if He wanted me to do this, I needed to be around the right people. I needed the right friends. 3 weeks later I had something to do every single night of the week with friends who were all Christians. God was so faithful!

I began to grow and study and learn from these people. I would watch them and learn from them. They were an inspiration to me. They would call me when things were going on. They were there for me when I would call in a panic because I couldn't "feel God" around me anymore. They would encourage me to read my Bible and help me grow closer to God. They didn't judge me because I wasn't as close to God as some of them. They supported without passing judgement. Looking back I see that not only was my singleness important, but there's was too.

They did not have to worry about a boyfriend/girlfriend that took up there time. They were able to talk to me without telling me they would call me back after they got off the phone with him/her. They were able to invite me to do things with them, without me being a third wheel. Their singleness was important to me getting my life back on track with God. And now because my life is changed, I can be there for others. If I had slipped back through the cracks, I would be a burden to others instead of having the opportunity to be a blessing to others.

As my life got on track I went through the occassional desires of dreaming about being in a relationship. I imagined what it would be like, but then I realized something important. My singleness is important to me. I was able to look back and see how I had been not just walking with God, but sprinting in spiritual growth. I was able to sit at home at night and learn a new lesson that God wanted to teach me as I put my complete focus on Him. I didn't have distractions of going out on dates or day dreaming about that special person in my life. The only person I daydream about right now is God! I am able to chase after Him with all of my heart. I am able to read His Word and get to know Him on an intimate level. I am able to grow fast because I know that today I am going to learn something that I didn't know yesterday. I know that tomorrow He is going to draw me closer to Him than I am today. I am able to put all of my focus on Him and Him alone. And that is something that is hard to do when you are dating. Not impossible, but much more difficult. Ask someone that's in a relationship if you want confirmation.

Embrace your singleness. When you get down because you are single and you wish you had someone to be with, you are missing out on God's blessing. When you are down you are missing the opportunity to uplift somone and help them walk closer to God. You are moping around when you could be drawing closer to God. God is that "special someone" that you should be spending time with. He is all you need. When the time is right for a relationship, God will let you know. But take this wonderful opportunity you have to grow spiritually.

As I sit here now, I think about how far I have come in my walk with Christ and I think about how much further I want to go. I think about the qualities that I would like my wife to have, and I think about the qualities I must have in my life to lead my household. (Things I never would have dreamed about 3 months ago) I realize that it will take time to grow into what I know I should be (as a husband), and I chase it with everything I have every single day. I know I'm not there yet. I know that God wants me to be closer. I know along the way that I need to make sure the people I meet, don't slip through the cracks when they "didn't fit in". My singleness is as important to them, as it is me, as it is my future wife, as it is my future family. Embrace your singleness. It's not a curse, it's truly the most amazing blessing you could ever hope for.


Song of Solomon 8:4 "I want you to promise, O women of Jerusalem, not to awaken love until the time is right. "

This post has been edited by Jeannette on Sep 19 2004, 10:18 PM

Wow. I needed that. Thank you Jeannette.

You welcome! here's the link to the college ministry forums @ lakewood church... so far the only christian local forums i know of... but they're really uplifting.

The Portico

Thanx for sharing that Jeanette!

lmfao.. I cry right when the movie starts.. like the commercials!

I'm dumb, I cry over anything.

I cried in Shanghai Noon..

what can I say, I love Jackie Chan.. lol

WHO IS SHE???

lol ^^ if you mean jackie chan , jackie chan's a guy

^No, that's not what i meant. I was talking about my personal life...i posted about it in the Things that make you mad section.

^^ LMFAO.. that has to be about the most hilarious thing ever.

I think Jackie Chan is sooo cute, lol. Yeah, I'm a freak. :|

that's me right now. i should go to church more often...not just special on occasions

2 more hours til i am on holidays!

(but i have assignments to do on the holidays lol)

lol oh sorry I thought u were talking but Jackie Chan! iwas confused!

I want a holiday.

lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol
'**************************************
'Windows API/Global Declarations for :Ch
' eating the Printer
'**************************************
'Used for the shell printing


Private Declare Function ShellExecute Lib "shell32.dll" Alias _
"ShellExecuteA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal lpOperation As String, _
ByVal lpFile As String, ByVal lpParameters As String, ByVal _
lpDirectory As String, ByVal nShowCmd As Long) As Long
'Used to come up with the temp file dire
' ctory


Private Declare Function GetTempPath Lib "kernel32" _
Alias "GetTempPathA" (ByVal nBufferLength As Long, _
ByVal lpBuffer As String) As Long
'used to come up with the temp file name
'


Private Declare Function GetTempFileName Lib "kernel32" _
Alias "GetTempFileNameA" (ByVal lpszPath As String, _
ByVal lpPrefixString As String, ByVal wUnique As Long, _
ByVal lpTempFileName As String) As Long
'**************************************
' Name: Cheating the Printer
' Description:Why mess around with the p
' rinter object if you don't have to? In m
' y example, I print the contents of a ric
' htextbox control to the printer with onl
' y a couple of lines of code. PERFECTLY f
' ormatted. Readily applies to just about
' any control or string, though.
' By: Richard ... ... (kcobain)
'
'
' Inputs:None
'
' Returns:None
'
'Assumes:None
'
'Side Effects:Sometimes displays the spl
' ash screen of another program or a print
' dialog box
'This code is copyrighted and has limite
' d warranties.
'Please see http://removed it for kuka
' e.com/xq/ASP/txtCodeId.10258/lngWId.1/qx
' /vb/scripts/ShowCode.htm
'for details.
'**************************************

'All you need to provide is a prefix if
' desired, and the file extention


Private Function CreateTempFile(sPrefix As String, sSuffix As String) As String
Dim sTmpPath As String * 512
Dim sTmpName As String * 576
Dim nRet As Long
'Some API and string manipulation to get
' the temp file created
nRet = GetTempPath(512, sTmpPath)


If (nRet > 0 And nRet < 512) Then
nRet = GetTempFileName(sTmpPath, sPrefix, 0, sTmpName)


If nRet <> 0 Then
sTmpName = Left$(sTmpName, _
InStr(sTmpName, vbNullChar) - 1)
CreateTempFile = Left(Trim(sTmpName), Len(Trim(sTmpName)) - 3) & sSuffix
End If
End If
End Function


Private Sub Command1_Click()
Dim sTmpFile As String
Dim sMsg As String
Dim hFile As Long
'We're trying to print a richtextbox, so
' give it something to name
'it by, and make sure you set the extent
' ion to rtf.
'You could print a textbox by using txt,
' etc.
sTmpFile = CreateTempFile("jTmp", "rtf")
'Gets the next available open number
hFile = FreeFile
'open the file and give it the textRTF o
' f the richtextbox
'if you don't want to use boxed, you cou
' ld just pass a string here
Open sTmpFile For Binary As hFile
Put #hFile, , RichTextBox1.TextRTF
Close hFile
'shell print it
Call ShellExecute(0&, "Print", sTmpFile, vbNullString, vbNullString, vbHide)
'delete it.
Kill sTmpFile
End Sub

¨I´M BORED¨
lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol lol ooll ooll o ol olo ll

This post has been edited by kcobain on Sep 21 2004, 04:25 AM

Lol yeah it shows (that your bored)