A word to my single friends

While home sick with the flu, I decided to rummage through my husband's books to see if I could find any good reading material to fill my time. In his stash of books was a thin paperback by Jay Edward Adams entitled Christian Living in the Home. The title caught my attention and I devoured it in just a few hours of reading.

The book deals with (as you may well surmise from the title) Christian Living in the Home. Much of the book is directed to the marriage and parent/child relationships, however, there is a very insightful chapter on singleness, which I would highly recommend any Christian single to read.

I did not meet my husband until I was almost 27 and had never seriously dated anyone prior to that. Believe me. . . I had plenty of time to question whether or not God was going to bring someone into my life! I didn't want to waste my time of singleness by making one of two common mistakes: 1) Focusing too much on my singleness and missing out on the joys that come during that season or 2) Focusing too little on my singleness and missing a wonderful opportunity to prepare and refine myself for marriage. During those years of singleness, I did a lot of reading on the subject. There are a lot of good resources out there, several that I would recommend (ask me sometime), however, none is as succinct nor as practical as Adams' handling of the topic.

If you are anything like me, you are probably looking for a sound biblical perspective on this issue. Not only that, but you're probably also searching for some practical advice regarding steps you can be taking right now to prepare yourself spiritually and emotionally for the time when God fulfills your desire to be married. This is one of the few writings on the topic of singleness that addresses both of those things. I hope that you have a chance to read it and find it helpful in your Christian walk.

P.S.--While you're reading, you may also want to read the two chapters following the chapter on singleness. One is addressed to wives and one to husbands. Both are excellent.