Confession 2: I am a Teenage Girl's Nightmare

If lonely describes Sunday’s for me as a single adult then Monday is the complete opposite. I wake up Monday morning feeling confident and sure and of course completely exhausted. I mean who are we kidding, it’s still Monday and they aren’t exactly “magical” for any of us. But, the point is that 6 days a week (Sunday’s really take it out of me!) I live a very fulfilled and satisfied life because there is a joy in knowing that I am living in accordance to God’s plan for my life. You see there is no Plan B.  Just because I didn’t meet and marry during Bible College doesn’t mean that God had to quickly find the backup plan. God’s call is still there no matter what box I check on a form – M/S/D/W.

I am a teenage girl’s nightmare.

Some years ago I was preaching at a youth service and had challenged the students to truly surrender themselves to the Lord and be willing to say, along with the prophet Isaiah, “Here am I; send me.” Following the service a teenage girl came to me and said that she had felt a call to be a missionary for some time now. I smiled and said that was great. She, however, looked at me with something akin to the look a deer has on its face right before being struck by a car, and said, “But, I always thought I’d go with someone.” It was evident that my willingness to go alone had rocked her world and she was a little petrified. It’s nice to know I’m such an inspiration! I calmly replied – in a tone that I hope said I’m so not offended by what you’ve just said – that I’m sure God would bring someone into her life and when and if He did that she should cherish that person as a gift from God. Then I said to her – but if God doesn’t bring someone into your life remember that there is no Plan B. God called YOU to serve Him. Never forget that.

I left that service knowing that I had needed to hear those words that night myself. It seems that I need constant reaffirmation of central truths in my own life. It was a great reminder that regardless of who God brings in to my life the truth remains that God called me as a teenager to serve Him. At the end of the day I don’t get to stand before God and say – well I would have served you better or actually gone as a missionary if you’d sent me a spouse. I kept waiting for him but he never came so I wasted my life working part time jobs so that I’d be ready to go when my real life started. My fear in this scenario is that God will say – really, because I was waiting on you to do what I told you to do.

Being single or being married and having children is never an excuse for why we can’t serve God with every ounce of our being. Either God has called us as individuals or He hasn’t. And if one can put one thousand to flight and two can put two thousand to flight then married couples should be doing more and not less. All of us following our call, regardless of marital status, is what it will take to win our world. So let’s start or keep doing what God has called us to do and let Him worry about bringing others to work alongside us.