As I scrolled through each month, I recognized the
entries into which I had poured myself. Each
moment seemed so far away, like the pages of a diary from someone known years
ago—like an old friend, but yet just as crisp and clear as yesterday. While reminiscing down memory lane, I also
googled ‘one year challenge andy stanley’ and found several sites of people who
had also committed to the One Year Challenge.
It was interesting to read their journals, each compiled in a different
way, form, and fashion. And so here is a
summary I share of my journey thus far:
November What am
I doing? Is this for real?
December Yup, it’s
for real. I’m kind of lonely.
January
Heart prepares for a trip home as a Christian.
February For
the first time I experienced a love for my family I had never felt.
March OYC
took a backseat to sorrow as I mourned being separated from them.
April
Experienced a few crushes, offering growth; God granted a few deep women
friendships.
May
Trips began to change my perspective; really saw there’s more to life
than marriage.
June Healthy
balance between longing for a husband and satisfaction in Christ; how do I
focus less on marriage?
July How
do I focus less on me?
Eight months in, it seems like the focus continues to
change, always narrowing just a bit more.
·
To focus on God and God only as the satisfier of
my soul.
·
To train myself on being a woman of God and a
Godly wife.
·
To relearn and navigate friendships with men as
brothers in Christ.
·
To find joy in every-day life.
A lot of people say, “I’ve been single a
year…two years…three years…all my life.”
Married people, tune out now.
This isn’t for you. You’re
married, happy—great. Anyway, back to
single people—it’s not that it isn’t admirable in today’s culture, but I ask
what have you done with that time? How
have you focused? On what have you
focused? How have you trained? Prepared for marriage? Where is your heart? Are you happy single? Or are you struggling through it? It’s all
about where your heart lies in Him.
I want to make this clear, being purposely single and
being single because there is no one to date are two very different paths with
two very different sets of intentions.
Being purposely single is a conscientious decision to close doors—not to
wait for the right one to open. Every
day life changes in this one decision.
And victory—if I am victorious in this challenge it is not that I have remained single 8
months, but it is because my heart has grown intertwined with His, and I have
found the joy that comes with letting myself be loved by Him.
To my readers who have remained with me throughout this
trip, it is an every day battle in more ways than one. I make no claims that it is easy, but it is
worth it.
In fact, the more difficult it is, the more blessed you
will be at the end of it. God is shaping
you. Let Him shape you and DO NOT GIVE
UP. You will be tempted. It’s the devil’s responsibility to do that,
but don’t waiver. Be encouraged. None of what is accomplished is by our
strength alone. The only thing we can do
is open ourselves up to God, relinquish our lives, and hand ourselves fully and
irrevocably over to Him, and He will do the rest.
The most beautiful gift is that even while you may start
this challenge for you, the farther along you go, the less it becomes about
you. The challenge of being single is
present, but unlike before, it fails to take precedent, freeing up space, time,
heart, and energy to help in the lives of those around you. A life lived for you is lived in vain, but a
life lived for others is never stale or wasted.
A life lived for others is a life worthwhile – Albert Einstein
