I recently listened to a sermon by Bro. Jason Cooley, pastor of Old Paths Baptist Church in Minnesota. The title: A Single Christian's Duty. Now, grant it if you live at home under your father's authority/ protection(1 Cor. 11) as I do as an unmarried young woman then technically you are not single because you are part of a family unit.
The sermon was a real encouragement to me even though I had already asked the Lord what it was He wanted me to do. And the Lord showed me that I am to be a faithful daughter. My duty is to serve others, to be a blessing, to encourage girls and other young ladies to be faithful daughters and even faithful sisters, to give their hearts to their dads until it is time for the dad to give it to someone else. To encourage young ladies in the spiritual walk with the Lord. There are so many ways to serve the Lord even in the daily domestic chores. Every day gives opportunities to serve the Lord. I recently had a friend tell me they didn't feel like they had served God enough. I told that friend that there are many opportunities all around them to serve Him even in the smallest ways. It could be helping their parents with something or encouraging their siblings, etc. God wants us to serve Him right where He has us. My first ministry is as a daughter and a sister then helping others in one way or another.
And to touch on the fact that yes, the Lord hasn't brought me the one He has chosen for me, yet. The Lord has some more refining to do in me to prepare me spiritually. We don't need to wait to get married to be complete because the fact is if we are in Christ then Christ completes us. I encourage you that when you struggle with an overwhelming desire to get married to keep giving it up to Christ and keep asking Him to take it away until He sees fit to give the desire back...this is what I do. I came to the end and started asking God to remove it. You see I almost made a most horrible mistake out of rebellion and to escape problems by marrying the wrong person. 2013 WAS a HARD year. My dad wasn't where he should of been in his walk. He was coasting in his relationship with the Lord at that time. He lost my heart. I struggled. It was terrible. My dad knew me well enough to know the relationship would of been bad in the long run if I had married the "guy". He could see how we weren't even a good match. Something just wasn't right in the whole thing. I turned 25 that year and it is hard the older you get when family members keep putting the pressure on you (well meaning but it is inconsiderate) as if that's the only thing in life that matters. As if that's what life's about. I hate to break it to everyone but IT IS NOT WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT OR WHY WE WERE/ARE CREATED. The Lord created us for His good pleasure. The chief end of man is to glorify God. End of story! Anyhow, since I broke it off in 2013 the Lord has repeatedly shown me how bad of a match it would of been! There were so many things wrong with that courtship. If only I had heeded my dad's warnings and let him interrogate the guy, yes I said interrogate. It's the dad's duty. And if the guy's the right one then he will handle it well and the Lord will show him how to respond. It's a dad's duty to protect his daughter (and daughter's need to let their dad's be protective rather than resist his protection) because he will have to give an account to the Lord someday for it.
Well, I learned so many things from that. I have given my heart back to my dad and it doesn't matter if you think your dad deserves it or not. It's being obedient to the Lord (in the spirit of Malachi 6 of children's heart turning to the fathers and the fathers to their children). You see one of the problems I was having was that I expected my dad to be completely perfect...expectations ruin relationships. The key is to accept our parents for who they are. We can pray for change but it is only God who can truly change them. Praying for them to have a tender heart towards the Lord is a start.
I can't say enough how grateful I am that I chose to follow God and my dad's good/right counsel. The Lord showed me truth and I heeded. When you need to know the truth about someone all you have to do is ask the Lord to reveal the truth of what's in that person's heart and He is faithful to do it. Sometimes we may be scared to find out but it is better to do that than to find out later when it is too late.
So, my last words are lean on and trust the Lord. Let Him do His work in you during this time Ask Him to show you what it is that needs work and then ask him to change you in those areas because only He can do it not you.
Here's the sermon I mentioned at the beginning by Jason Cooley: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12815233400
The King Reigns & His Son, Jesus Christ!
Karla
