A friend of mine wrote a post not too long ago and I thought it was SO great that I wanted to post part of it on my blog as well. I hope she doesn't mind :). Her name is Abby...you should check out her blog if you want to see the rest...
http://abbycheatham.blogspot.com/2008/08/speaking-of-speaking-in-church.html. I just love this post because it describes everything that I feel about being single. And I think that most woman feel about single. Enjoy!
"...I am painfully aware that there are simply not enough righteous men to go around. I know that many of the wonderful sisters I associate with will not have the opportunity to marry. That I may not. This is a hard reality. But there's no use hiding from it, pretending I don't know. The challenge for me is finding the balance between developing my own strengths and talents as an independent woman, embracing and finding the joy I know God will provide in the single life, and striving for, hoping for, preparing for life in a family. Sometimes I feel like pursuing "worldly" goals like professional achievement and community involvement is a lack of faith- that I could perhaps be telling Heavenly Father that I'd rather have that path. Sometimes I feel like throwing everything I am into searching for and preparing to marry an eternal companion would break my heart- like it's just setting myself up for a disappointment I can't handle.What I am striving for is to somehow find the strength and grace to keep and nurture that most tender part of my heart- the part that desperately wants to be a wife and a mother- to keep it open and soft, protect it from getting hard or closed off by all the disappointments of dating, or not dating...while still pursuing worthy goals, developing myself as a person and as a productive, contributing member of society- finding joy in whatever role I'm in, making the most of it and loving it. It's a very difficult balance for me.It's easy to be the strong one- to pull the handcart alone so to speak- not to need anyone but me and the Lord. If that's all I had to do, I think I could face it without so much as flinching. The women around me are strong, capable and good. We know the Lord, we love Him and trust Him. We have learned to be strong- we've had to. And some of us, through years of hurt and disappointment have learned to be hard, that it's easier to close off that tender place inside and learn to get by on our own. The hard part for me is not being strong- it's being soft, staying open to love through all the hurt and frustration along the way. "
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