Oh, Emily. As always, your words find me right when I need some extra consolation. 🫶🏼 I first read The Catholic Girl’s Survival Guide back in 2012 right after it came out on my Kindle when I began my Honduran missionary journey! I appreciated it back then, but my 26 year old self had so much HOPE thinking I had SO much time left to find my husband.
*cackle* fast forward these 12 years and I’m 39 and wondering, where the heck has the time gone?! What have I actually done with my life?! And still deeply desire marriage and a family. 😔
But, the Lord is using this time. I know it and see it. I share with my many single friends and clients that we ARE making a choice here! It’s not something that’s just willy nilly happening to us. We *could* date and marry anyone from any app, ya know? But we don’t. We don’t bc we value and honor ourselves and the sacrament of marriage. So we choose to wait. We choose to not settle. We choose to endure and try our best to see that THIS life IS refining. It IS where the Lord has us today, right now. It IS possible to get to Heaven if we never get married (or enter religious life… I have a friend living a parallel single life who desires religious life and yet that hasn’t happened for her either).
And that this life isn’t less than. This is what keeps coming up for me recently. Try as I might and I’ll preach to others far and wide the truth, but there is still this sticky, stupid thought/belief that my life is less than bc I’m not living out the thing that I desire most. And it affects… everything. It’s not a matter that I think life will be sunshine and rainbows if/when I get married. No no, of course not. But, it’s that I saw my life looking SO different at 39. I had different expectations… and with those expectations not coming to fruition comes disappointment and, quite honestly, moments of feeling life a failure. Which almost proves that my life is, in fact, less than. Can any other single ladies relate??
I know it’s not true. I’m not sharing for pity here, but just a raw, honest look at the struggles of the single lady! In talking with a friend just yesterday, what I heard the Lord whisper to me, “is this life enough? Right now, today, with the people I’ve placed in your life, the work you do, the ministry you serve… are they enough? Am I enough?” Oof, I’ll be sitting with that for a while. Bc I’m of course I want that to be a resounding and emphatic, “YES!” But I hesitate.
Oooooh man. I have just gone ON and ON! I’ve got THOUGHTS! 🫣 thanks for reading/listening. *leaves quickly now*
Thanks for sharing your heart, Jen! I love me a good ol' "stream of conciousness" comment, which is what I percieve this to be. :) God bless you on your journey. I'm proud of you for making the difficult choice for the good (and not just any guy off an app, ya know?) every day!
Oh, Emily. As always, your words find me right when I need some extra consolation. 🫶🏼 I first read The Catholic Girl’s Survival Guide back in 2012 right after it came out on my Kindle when I began my Honduran missionary journey! I appreciated it back then, but my 26 year old self had so much HOPE thinking I had SO much time left to find my husband.
*cackle* fast forward these 12 years and I’m 39 and wondering, where the heck has the time gone?! What have I actually done with my life?! And still deeply desire marriage and a family. 😔
But, the Lord is using this time. I know it and see it. I share with my many single friends and clients that we ARE making a choice here! It’s not something that’s just willy nilly happening to us. We *could* date and marry anyone from any app, ya know? But we don’t. We don’t bc we value and honor ourselves and the sacrament of marriage. So we choose to wait. We choose to not settle. We choose to endure and try our best to see that THIS life IS refining. It IS where the Lord has us today, right now. It IS possible to get to Heaven if we never get married (or enter religious life… I have a friend living a parallel single life who desires religious life and yet that hasn’t happened for her either).
And that this life isn’t less than. This is what keeps coming up for me recently. Try as I might and I’ll preach to others far and wide the truth, but there is still this sticky, stupid thought/belief that my life is less than bc I’m not living out the thing that I desire most. And it affects… everything. It’s not a matter that I think life will be sunshine and rainbows if/when I get married. No no, of course not. But, it’s that I saw my life looking SO different at 39. I had different expectations… and with those expectations not coming to fruition comes disappointment and, quite honestly, moments of feeling life a failure. Which almost proves that my life is, in fact, less than. Can any other single ladies relate??
I know it’s not true. I’m not sharing for pity here, but just a raw, honest look at the struggles of the single lady! In talking with a friend just yesterday, what I heard the Lord whisper to me, “is this life enough? Right now, today, with the people I’ve placed in your life, the work you do, the ministry you serve… are they enough? Am I enough?” Oof, I’ll be sitting with that for a while. Bc I’m of course I want that to be a resounding and emphatic, “YES!” But I hesitate.
Oooooh man. I have just gone ON and ON! I’ve got THOUGHTS! 🫣 thanks for reading/listening. *leaves quickly now*
Thanks for sharing your heart, Jen! I love me a good ol' "stream of conciousness" comment, which is what I percieve this to be. :) God bless you on your journey. I'm proud of you for making the difficult choice for the good (and not just any guy off an app, ya know?) every day!