Yesterday morning the sermon at church was on marriage.
The minute I read the title in the bulletin I thought about exiting stage left. No thanks. Not interested.
I spent the remaining 15 minutes (before the sermon started) thinking about how I could gracefully leave without making a scene. Not that I was considering standing up and in a moment of crazy yelling, “What about us single people!?!” and then storming out to go home and feed my cat (or go to the pet store to buy one). Of course not…I would have tried to be as discreet as possible. Most people would have thought I was leaving because my nursery beeper went off alerting me that my child was having a screaming fit and they needed reinforcements.
Why was a plotting to leave in the first place? Because selfishly I want God to speak to me (reveal something to me) and I doubted He’d do that through a sermon about marriage. Hear that chuckle? Yeah, it’s definitely God laughing at me and my desire to control what He’s going to teach me and when.
I spent so much time having this inner debate with myself, I hardly noticed that Pastor Ken was approaching the stage to begin his sermon.
“Please stay.” He begins with.
I shake my head. Got it, God. Don’t worry, I am not going anywhere.
“I know some of you are considering leaving because this message is on marriage and you’re not married. But stay. I think God can use it to teach you something.”
He was right.
His message was a huge reminder that a Godly man is worth waiting for and fighting for. A man that will love me (serve me) like Christ does. A man that I will respect and encourage (submit to). I know this man won’t solve all my problems, or make me more complete, but I do believe he will draw me closer to Christ and serve me well. It was a reminder to wait for God’s best no matter how long the wait might be. A reminder that it’s better to be single than dating a man who does not believe in God and want him at the center of his marriage.
Thank you God (and Pastor Ken) for using a message on marriage to speak to this single girl.
Looking forward to next week’s message on…you guessed it…parenting!
I had that same experience and realization and a Mark Driscoll conference a few weeks ago on Song of Solomon. It reminded me that there are godly men worth waiting for. Hearing him talk about his wife made me cry! Such a great day of learning and I’m just saving it in my pocket until the time comes when I get to use it