Sacred Singleness

I just began reading "Sacred Singleness" by Leslie Ludy last night. It's actually funny how I got the book. I was planning to buy it on Amazon.com and I came home from college to find out that my mom bought it for me, along with Eric Ludy's "Wrestling Prayer." How amazing! I'm already halfway through the book and can't seem to put it down. I see my own self pouring through these pages and it makes me so happy! My eyes have been opened by Leslie's powerful words and Scripture. There are so many things that I'd like to post on here that I took notes on, but I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

Firstly, there are two quotes by Hananh Hurnard that are just fabulous . "God has made us for Himself, and our hearts can never know rest and perfect satisfaction until they find it in Him," and " Love is not a feeling. It is an overmastering passion, to cast ourselves down like a waterfall in happy giving, asking nothing in return except for the joy of loving. When we really begin to learn and practice that lesson we shall begin to feel at home in the eternal world of selfless love. It is not some special feeling one waits for, nor some special person to evoke it. It is an attitude of will. I will cast myself down in giving. The lower I go the more love I am able to transmit from God to others, just like the Lord of love Himself, who was not content until He took the lowest place in the universe." The opening chapters of the book discuss how Jesus is the only One who can fill our needs. Nothing like marriage, a husband, children, or fairy-tale dreams will ever take the place of Jesus. " And until we are content with Him alone we aren’t truly ready for an earthly romance that will stand the test of time. Why? Because it’s all too easy to start clinging to a human instead of to Jesus." How true! And I speak as someone who's been single my entire life-- and I see this happen with friends every day.

Secondly, our "emotions must become subservient to the Spirit of God—to His will, His agenda, His purpose, His direction. It’s not about doing what we feel like doing, it’s about what the Lord is asking of us Get alone with your King, meditate upon who He really is, allow Him to give you His heart and vision for the beauty of true surrender. It’s not a doorway into misery; it’s a doorway to abundant life, joy, peace, and strength." This is also true. We need to be able to die to self in order to experience God and who He truly is. Ian Thomas said " Death to all that you are is the only gateway through which you may enter into the fullness of all that Christ is." Well, I want that. I want to surrender all that I am to Christ this summer. I want to experience Him in a way I never have before. I want that fire back in my life that is Jesus!

The third chapter of the book talks about finding romance with Jesus. "Singleness is an incredible opportunity to be fully consecrated in body and spirit to Jesus alone—to be undistracted by any other romance and free to be consumed with Him." This is what I want more than anything. Given, of course, that I have already had my entire life to experience this, I want to experience it anew; not only being undistracted by other romances but anything at all that hinders me from God. There is obviously a reason that so many plans have fallen through this summer. I know God is speaking to me, and I need to figure out why that is.

Chapters four and five focus on the modern church and their criticisms of being single. So many young single women feel abandoned or pressured by the church to find a spouse and be "happy." They say, among many authors, that taking joy in singleness is almost a sin! "Endless pressure—both from outside and inside the church—exist upon single women to take matters into their own hands when it comes to love and marriage. "God created marriage. He is the only who gave you the desire to be married. So why don’t you just do whatever you possibly can to help the process along and find a husband? God wants you to go out there and meet guys, date around, and join online dating services. When you search for a man you’re doing what He created you to do!"

Many writers contend that if we are among those who actually believe God has a purpose and plan for our singleness, we are guilty of diminishing the importance and sanctity of marriage. Some even go as far as to say that if we choose to joyfully embrace our singleness as a gift from God, we have been touched by Satan himself. Some authors have even written that Men and women who are not connected in marriage are like the mutilated members of a mangled body. Well, then, I am in deep trouble. I have known nothing but. And you know what? I love it. I love my life. I enjoy where I am, wanting to serve God with my life. I look around and see that nearly all except for a countable number of friends (on one hand) are engaged or already married; some even have kids already. That is not for me. I know that and I am content with that. And heck, I thank God for it every day!