FINAL thoughts on singleness: HOPE

I think when other believers emphasize a life of contentment to singles, they often devalue hope....afterall, if you are hoping for more, you most not be grateful for what you have or content with the life you are living.

Quite frankly, thats not true. Even Adam lived in a perfect world and was content, but God said it wasn't good for him to be alone. You can live a full life and still strive for other goals and other hopes.  Otherwise, no one would apply to med school or have a baby, because they would just think the life they were living was so full that they didn't need to add anything or anyone else.

Additionally, there is this percentage of people that are "nervous" to encourage hope because they don't want to feel too dissapointed if it doesn't work out their way-- it's almost as if we need to discourage hope because encouraging hope and then those hopes not coming to fruition doesn't exactly portray God well, does it?  It's easier to NOT GET YOUR HOPES UP then to deal with the possible NO at the end of the tunnel.

We don't really believe God can come through, that He can answer a longtime prayer or heal the sick or goodness, even bring about marriages or babies for those who are waiting.

The thing is God doesn't need us to "make it easy for him" or "let Him off the hook" - if His answer is no, it will be No, but that's because for whatever reason, that answer brings glory to Him and good to you.  It is not because God can't answer prayers.

Also, a failure to hope is a self fulfilling prophecy.  A failure to hope prevents fixing the things we need to fix about ourselves.  As long as I was hopeful that I would meet someone, I willingly gave guys a chance, said yes to dates I might not normally say yes to, went to parties, presented myself well, tried to stay in shape, etc. Hoping encourages us to be our best, to fix our flaws, to constantly reevaluate areas of weakness, to give people a chance and to generally put out good friendly vibes into the world.  This attracts people,  maybe not Mr. Right, but it does cause people to want to be around you!

Lastly, why hope? because scripture is full of references to hoping in the Lord!! We are told to do so! My all time favorite verse is Romans 12:12: Be Joyful in Hope, Patient in Affliction, Faithful in Prayer.

There you have it, Hope in the Lord brings Joy, and in a Christian life that requires patience due to affliction, we need all the Joy we can get :)

So, hope in the Lord. Hope that He provides. Hope that He heals brokeness. Hope that He changes circumstances. Hope that He provides comfort!! Hope that He sustains and encourages and reminds you that He is our primary need, not relationships. Hope because He says to do so.  He knew life would be broken and painful and dissapointing at times and right there in scripture's command to be patient in affliction and faithful in prayer, we are told to joyfully HOPE!

(SIDENOTE: Just like yesterday, this really isn't specifically about singleness, just about something I learned during singleness. Being Joyful in HOPE is really something to strive for all the time, single or married!)