Watching for the Morning Candace D

WFTM #7 (Excerpts from Summer '09 Issue)

December 24th, 2009
Grace’s Garden
By: Barbara Smith 
Do you ever look around and think that you the only one who is not married? Do you see mothers happily surrounded by their children and wonder why this has not happened to you? Don’t lose heart, and don’t give up on the plan God has for your life…..He has not forgotten you!
Once I was invited to a friend’s church. At age 37, I had spent some years quite like Solomon – searching. I had tried to find the purpose of my life through enjoyment, education, and work, but like Solomon, found that I was chasing after wind (Ecclesiastes 1:14).
So it was no surprise upon arriving at church that Sunday morning, that God had placed me exactly where he wanted me to be. Open and hungry, I remember hearing the closing words of the pastor’s prayer: “free us for joyful obedience!” My heart was stirred! Was my soul free and clear to do what God had planned for me? No, I thought, I have spent many years on my plan!
The following Sunday as I left the church service, one of the pastors stopped me. “We’d like to start a new ministry here,” he said, “a vegetable garden that would allow our children to be in mission serving the hungry in our community. I understand you have experience with children and farming.” Wow, I thought, could it be? Someone was asking me to do the thing I loved the most and had spent the last seven years doing!
From the center of what came to be called “Grace’s Garden,” my journey of joyful obedience began! There, the seeds would be sown that guided the rest of my life, for by that simple ministry God offered me the opportunity to see what He indeed had planned for me. As I would learn later, I organized the garden, but He was in control! (Proverbs 16:9)
Over time, not only did Grace’s Garden grow, but my own fruits of the spirit, as well. I was growing to love God’s word, His Son, being around His people, and especially serving Him!
So many people volunteered their help in Grace’s Garden, I was overwhelmed! And each time there was a job to be done, there was a quiet, kind man who always came – willing and able to help where he could.
During the three years I served in Grace’s Garden, this man worked beside me. We were rarely alone, and because of that, I was able to observe his character, listen to his words to others, and watch the decisions he made when things were difficult. We seemed to show up at the same Bible studies, the same church work events, the same volunteer projects.
There were no fireworks or flashes of light, but in a slow and steady turning of days, I came to admire this man and eventually, to love him. We married three months after my fortieth birthday, on an unusually warm December day. As we stood in our wedding clothes beside the worn wheelbarrow in Grace’’s Garden, surrounded by dried summer plants and compost piles, the photographer asked us in a rather perplexed tone, “Does this place hold some special significance!?” My new husband and I looked at each other and smiled. How could we ever explain everything that grew in Grace’s Garden?
Three months before my forty-second birthday our first son was born, and at age 43, God allowed me to give birth to twin boys. We now had a farm (much larger than Grace’s Garden!) and the blessing of children to enjoy!
Over the almost ten years since my husband and I married, I have often thought of what God allowed me to see and learn in the garden. I now remember the stay-at-home moms who seemed so content (wow, it DOES feel good to stay home and not feel the pressure of the workplace!), their faithful husbands lovingly discipling them (YES, it’’s great to feel the wisdom and security of a godly man who truly loves me!), the older couples who tended not only the plants but also each other (I have seen my husband’s commitment through some very difficult times!). As I walk through this part of my life, I clearly feel their example and appreciate the way in which our loving Father allowed me to learn what the future would hold for me.
Don’t ever think that too much time has passed for you to marry or to have children! It is possible as the song says,“if we trust and obey.” 
Our children are now aged five and seven, and we continue to grow in the spirit along with them. The boys work beside us – with the same worn wheelbarrow we used in Grace’s Garden! Now, we look so forward to the ways in which God will plant seeds of joyful obedience in all of us!
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Praying for your (future) Husband
By: Candace Davidson
Over the years, I have prayed for my future husband many times. I’ve prayed for many different areas of his life. I’ve pulled his “name” unknowingly out of my prayer jar at specific times. And sometimes, I’ve felt a deep urgency in my spirit to stop what I am doing and pray for him. I can remember when my prayers for my future husband went something like this: “Dear Lord, please bless my husband today. Please touch him and help him. In Jesus Name, Amen!” That was a long time ago, but I know God heard and honored even those simple prayers. I believe one day I will get to see just how beautifully He answered them all. But, as I have grown in the Lord and stood more firmly in the convictions He has placed within me, He has helped me to pray more specifically for the one I will someday know and love. One morning, when I was younger, I briefly and routinely prayed the above prayer without a lot of thought or enthusiasm, when I heard God say to me, “Candace! Won’t you pray like you believe your husband is real?” Wow! “Yes, Sir!” was my answer and from then on, I’ve been able to think of all kinds of things I can intercede for on my dear husband’s behalf. Some may think it would be difficult and perhaps even silly to pray for someone you have not yet met, but it is FAITH, dear friend, that is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen” (Hebrews 1:11). Think about it, dear sister. “Evidence of things unseen.” Many doubting, finger pointing families and friends have been given evidence through a beautiful God-ordained marriage of the unseen faith of a dear godly woman or a dear godly man, committing all to God, leaving the “pen” of their love story in His hands, withstanding negative comments and graciously declining “fix-ups” in total abandonment to Christ, waiting steadily for His best.

I believe I’ll find a prayer penned in my journal for my dear husband-to-be which date matches his own journal entry where he wrote about struggling, or persecution, or even being protected from potential danger. Only God knows.

So . . . HOW can we pray for a man that we have possibly never met? Below, I will share with you some of the areas in which God has shown me to pray for my future husband. I pray they are helpful in exhorting you to daily pray for your future husband if you do not already. You can faithfully pray for these areas in your husband’s life every day, as well as other areas that the Lord shows you! Changing your prayers from routine to specific will help your own faith to rise and it won’t seem like you’re praying for a man that doesn’t exist anymore!

This list is by no means “conclusive.” But, hopefully, it will stir your heart and you will be able to think of many more things to add to your husband prayer list. There are also times when God will alert your spirit to pray for him, and perhaps even what to pray about. Keep your spiritual ears and eyes open always so that you don’t miss a special opportunity to pray for your beloved. :) Godly, single men need to be COVERED in prayers!

Pray for his Day

Each morning, I pray that God will bless my husband’s day. I pray that it will be a good and productive day full of the knowledge of God’s blessings. I “commit” it to God and ask Him to use my husband to glorify Himself and to share the Gospel. I pray God will bless all he puts his hands to and meet all of his needs. I ask God to allow him to feel His comforting, awesome presence throughout the day, and that he will have joy and peace. There’s something special about daily praying (in the morning) for your husband. I do this at the same time I commit my own day to the Lord. It has now become a habit for me and just comes naturally.

Pray for Strength & Perseverance

In a world (and much of the Church) where a man waiting on God for a wife is looked down upon, our future husbands need lots of prayers for strength and perseverance! Strength to withstand in persecution, strength to be steadfast and single minded in the convictions God has given them without bending, strength to victoriously overcome temptations, strength to continue to obey God, and strength to simply stand. My prayer is that God will always keep his precious feet firmly planted on the narrow path of His perfect will – that he will not waver or shift, but be like a tree planted by streams of water. He needs strength and perseverance that only God can give in order for this to happen. If I’m not praying for him, who is? Hopefully, his family agrees with his convictions, but we never know! It is an important responsibility to be interceding faithfully for our dear husbands. I also pray for physical strength and endurance to accomplish what he may have to do that day, and for strength to endure any trials he may be faced with presently. I pray that God’s power would be made perfect in any weakness he may be struggling with.
Pray for Guidance
Because I know that my listening and obeying the Lord’s direction as well as my husband’s, will play a part in bringing us together in God’s time, I pray for guidance for my dear husband. I pray that God will guide and lead him as a shepherd leads his flock. I pray that He will give him keen, sharp spiritual eyes and ears to see and hear clearly what God is revealing to him. I pray against confusion and fear. I pray that God will give him the grace to obey what He is calling him to do, and to draw him into such intimacy with the Lord that he readily “acknowledges Him in ALL things” so that He will surely “direct his path.” I pray that every tiny detail of his life will be worked for his good because He loves God.
Pray for Wisdom
I pray for wisdom and discernment for my dear husband in everyday decisions as well as larger, more substantial ones that he must make. I pray that he will have wisdom to discern spirits. I pray that he is full of the fear of the Lord, for that is the beginning of wisdom.
Pray for Protection
In this day and age, how important it is to pray for God’s protection for our godly husbands! I pray for his physical protection, for God to dispatch His mighty angels to shelter him. I pray for God to protect his mind (where the largest spiritual battles often take place), his emotions, and his precious spirit man. I also pray that God will protect his eyes from excess immodesty and stumbling blocks, though I know it is impossible to live in the world and not be somewhat exposed to the things in it. I pray that God will protect his heart, and keep it pure, and that my husband will daily offer up his heart to the Lord, inviting Him to have it all, every piece of it! I also pray that God will remind him to put on the full armor of God daily that he may withstand the wiles and fiery darts of the evil one.
Pray for Preparation
It is usually with blissful, awe-filled tears that I pray for God to prepare us both for each other. To take our seconds and minutes and days and use every little and big experience He has allowed and ordained to make me a godly, loving and worthy wife and mommy. I pray God will prepare my darling husband to be the husband God created him to be and a wonderful daddy! I ask God to preserve our fertility for a full, healthy quiver of children. I pray that He will do works within us and use circumstances around us to truly prepare us for the season that we will enter into oneness. I get quite excited when I pray for preparation. It causes my faith to rise to new heights and I am so blessed! I realize, however, that the process of making us prepared is not all a bed of roses. Most of the time, God uses trials, tests, hardships, and “stretches and bends” of our present character to make us more like Himself. And because I know that being a Christian that is not lukewarm, but “hot” comes with a price (actually, a very small price compared to the price our Savior paid for us), I pray for grace.
Pray for Grace

God’s grace is the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. It is really just an extension of His perfect love. The two could almost be interchangeable. God has blown me away so many times with His amazing grace. I will think I know all about it, and then BOOM! He hits me with a fresh understanding of it like a huge tidal wave, and I am overwhelmed. If we do not understand God’s grace, then our relationship with Him can become works driven and we end up thinking that we can work our way into God’s heart, rather than receiving His free gift of love-motivated salvation. We must have good works and good fruit, but they must come from the heart. The knowledge and full understanding of God’s grace is necessary to live an abandoned life in Christ. I pray for this understanding of the fullness of God’s love and grace for my dear husband every day. The grace is already there. It is just hard for us to receive it at times. I pray that when he has had a rough day, or when he is struggling with a certain issue that only God knows about, says something that he perhaps shouldn’t have, forgot a piece of equipment in his “armor,” or just plain fails, that God will bring him to repentance through His kindness (Romans 2:4), then pour the understanding of His love and grace all over him like oil so he can get up and carry on in his walk with the Lord without guilt. I also pray for grace to carry out the things God leads him to do and for the love of Jesus to be perfected in him. He needs this in the world he lives in, but is not of.

Pray for Faith

I pray that God will cause his faith to rise when it is running low, and that He will give him the power to stand firm to the end without compromising. I pray he will stand strong in what he knows to be God’s plan and vision and never waver even when he may not see anything happening in the natural. I ask God to give us both the faith of Abraham. I also pray God will use our faith to touch and encourage others.

Pray for Encouragement & Godly Fellowship

Dear sister, as you wait on the Lord, you KNOW very well how much encouragement is needed when the path you walk out of obedience to God is one that you often feel you walk alone on. I pray that God will encourage my future husband’s spirit daily and send Scripture during his Bible and prayer time that will be just what he needs that moment to be lifted up. I pray that as He worships the Lord in spirit and in truth that God will allow him to feel His mighty presence and be filled with joy. I pray that He will send special people into his life, older godly men, other godly men that are in his age range that will encourage him in his walk with the Lord and in his convictions. I pray that God will plant resources that will bless him and challenge him and confirm what God has already told him. I pray he will not grow weary in well doing. I also pray that God will sprinkle his life with babies and children of all ages, because honestly, how can anyone spend time with God’s little lambs and not smile and be encouraged?

Pray for his Health & Healing

Since I never know these days if my sweet husband has a cold, the flu, or more serious symptoms that may require a medical procedure or medication, I pray for his health each day. I ask God to heal him in body, mind, emotions, and spirit if there is a need for it that day. I ask God to keep him healthy in all aspects, most of all spiritually, that he would be a strong man of God and a blessing to his future family. I don’t know when he may get a nasty cut that my naturally nurturing spirit longs to clean and bandage. I don’t know when the enemy may be attacking him from all sides and he is vexed in spirit, or when there is a battle going on in his mind. I don’t know when he’s had so many negative comments or bad news that he is emotionally drained … but God does! And when I pray for him every day, God honors that and He hears me and answers! No prayer is ever wasted!

Pray for Boldness

I pray that God will give my husband the boldness he needs to proclaim the Gospel where he’s at, whether it is in a distant land, at his work place, the grocery store, or even in his home or neighborhood. I pray God would help him to speak the truth in love and to disciple those in his life that may be young in the Lord with no one to shepherd them. I pray that he will also have the boldness to tell others about the “radical” convictions God has placed in his heart, and never be ashamed. I pray he will touch many lives by the example of obedience and surrender to God he is living.

Pray for his Family

I pray that God will meet the needs of and bless all the members of his family. I pray He will deepen their relationships and give my husband a consistent servant’s heart toward them, and help them to be an encouragement to him. It’s always neat to pray for his family because one day they will be my family too. :)

Pray for a Fresh Anointing

I love the word, “anoint”! It means “to pour or smear with oil to set apart.” The word “Christ” which comes from the Hebrew form of Messiah literally means, “covered in oil, anointed.” As a servant of Jesus, I want to be like Him, and I want my husband as well as myself to be anointed by God! I want everything we put our hands to and every word that comes out of our mouth to drip with the oil of the precious Holy Spirit. If I do something that is not anointed, I’d rather not do it all. I want my entire life and his, to be continuously anointed. I believe God has set us both apart and “anointed” us for His good pleasure and I pray that we both will have the strength to always walk in it. I daily ask God to give my husband a fresh anointing and a fresh filling of the precious Holy Spirit, our Comforter and our Teacher. I ask Him to remove any barriers within that would hinder the flow of the gushing rivers of Living Water. I pray that He would enrich his “closet time” with the Lord where he reads the Word, intercedes, shares his heart with the Lord, listens for the Lord to speak to him, and worships. I pray that he would daily love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and that he will continue to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, never going back, never standing still, but always marching on.

These are, again, only a few of the many ways you may wish to pray for your dear husband. What a gift to give him one day! The gift of sincere, specific prayer before you ever met him. When I pray for my husband, it makes me feel closer to him than I did before. It is a true blessing! I pray nearly all the same things for myself in my walk with the Lord, so as I pray for him and say, “and for me too, Lord,” it makes me feel united with him in a peculiar sort of way even though we have yet to be physically committed.

Some may say, “But what if Jesus returns before I have the chance to get married? Why waste all these prayers?” And to that I would say, “Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus!” The fact is that prayer always does our spirit good, and draws us closer to our True Groom. No prayers are ever wasted, even if they are not answered in the way we had wanted. Every dream I’ve ever dreamed, even the “big” ones that took my breath at only the thought of them, will all be captured and fulfilled a trillion times over with just one look into the fiery eyes of my Jesus, which burn with perfect love for me! Oh, to take the remains of my worthless earthly dreams and lay them at His feet as a sacrifice and to be escorted into the wedding banquet hall of Heaven where the Marriage Supper of the Lamb is being held! Oh the joy that consumes me at the mere thought! HE is coming! Let us make ourselves ready! And let us long for the sound of His trumpet more than the sound of our earthly wedding bells!
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Thirty & Waiting

A Testimony by Amber Moran
Amber is a dear “far away friend” and sister in the Lord. She is still faithfully waiting on the Lord for the husband He has chosen for her in His perfect time. I asked her to share some of her testimony, her journey of waiting on the Lord, and to offer words of wisdom and encouragement to the WFTM readers. So get your cup of tea, sit back in a nice cozy chair or porch swing, and enjoy!
My name is Amber, I am 30 years old, deeply in love with my Savior, and desiring to live my life for Him every day. I became a Christian at the age of 12 through my sister and really began growing in the Lord when my parents became Believers in my early teens. I was attending the public highschool at that time and the Lord made it clear to my heart this was my mission field. That He wanted me to shine His light into the darkness of those hallways and classrooms. Then when I went out of state to college that first year and found myself terribly homesick and feeling very alone, I truly fell in love with my Jesus as I poured over His Word from cover to cover and relied on Him as my everything. How I hungered and thirsted for Him that year like never before. It was around that time I made a commitment to God to wait faithfully for my future husband, the one He Himself had chosen and set apart for me. The one He would bring into my life in His perfect timing. I vowed to the Lord to remain faithful to Him, and not date any other man but my future husband. To save my whole heart and self for him. And then I began praying for this man, and in my waiting and praying, and daydreaming about knowing his love and serving our Lord by his side, I came to love my future husband with all my heart, even though I had yet to even meet him. Many things led to my making this commitment to God. Mainly it was Jesus Himself, His Holy Spirit speaking to my heart from a young age, calling me to be different, to be set apart, to not go along with the world’s ways but to live a radical life of surrender to my Lord. And that meant not dating like everyone else did. But instead, trusting God had a plan for me and living like I believed it. He just made it so clear to my heart that He had one man He had fashioned and chosen just for me (amazing!!) and that He had written a love story for us that was so perfect and beautiful that He would unfold in His timing IF we trusted Him and waited on Him to bring us together. I came to only want His plan for me, not anything else, not any story I tried to write, because I knew only He could make it perfect, and that I would only mess up if I tried to find love on my own. I think you need to fully know and understand how great and deep God’s love is for you, how much He treasures and adores you, to really trust that He has a wonderful plan for your life, that He, in His mighty love, has written a story just foryou that will blow you away and leave you in complete awe of His goodness and faithfulness. Only then will you be able to surrender your whole life, even this part that we try to hold on to so tightly, finding our one true love, to your Creator and the Author of your life, the original Author and Creator of Romance. Woman created for man, made from his own rib, to be a companion and encourager for all of his days, to be loved, protected and cherished by him, to create new life through their love. God, You are so amazing! Something else that God used to speak to my heart about waiting faithfully for my future husband was a young adult fiction series called the Christy Miller series, written by Christian author Robin Jones Gunn about a young teenage girl who finds the Lord in the first book and through the next 11 books grows in her walk with Jesus. The main character dates a lot of guys through her teen years but the man she has always loved who she ends up marrying has waited faithfully for her and never given his heart to any other, and in the final book, Christy expresses her deep sorrow at having kissed and given pieces of her heart away to other guys. That really impacted me, as well as my sister’s own testimony of how after meeting her now husband and knowing they would be married, the thought of him having kissed other girls killed her inside, and she deeply regrettedhaving given her own heart and kisses away to many other men she’d dated through school, realizing later that she had given away what God had wanted her to guard and save for her husband. They both entered their marriage with feelings of hurt and resentment that the other had not waited for them. This too helped me develop the strong conviction that I would not do things the world’s way but God’s way. I didn’t want any regrets, I only wanted to give my heart away to the one God had for me and I’d wait as long He wanted me to, no matter how lonely I might feel at times, because I knew deep in my heart that doing things any other way than God’s way, would only leave me hurt and full of regrets. On my own I could only make a mess of things. But if the One who created me and loved me more than I could imagine wrote my love story for me, then I knew it would be perfect and beautiful. (Not that my husband would be perfect, but the perfect one for me :) . And once I made this commitment to God there was no turning back. Like the song says,”Though none go with me, still I will follow, no turning back, no turning back.” Have I ever been tempted to try and find love on my own, or to enjoy short term romance to ease the feelings of loneliness that sometimes surface and to feel special and cherished like I long to be? I can honestly answer no to that question. I am so certain if I were to ‘find’ a husband on my own, if I were to make it happen, I would end up in a marriage like so many countless couples I know, void of joy, peace, unity and love like the Lord intended. So many of my friends over the years pursued romance due to a deep loneliness inside and a fear of being alone forever. These friends dated and then married men who either weren’t believers or else lukewarm and not living for Jesus, and without exception found out in time that this wasn’t at all what they had dreamed of, what they thought it would be like when they got married…and hearing over and over my friends confess, “I wish I had trusted God more and waited for the one He had for me,” I thanked God that He had made His voice so clear to me and brought me to this place of absolute surrender, that He gave me the grace and strength to wait, even during times of great loneliness. It really hasn’t been hard to wait for this one who I already love with all my heart. Partly, because of just that, I already love him. :) Waiting and praying for someone (kind of like the baby growing in your womb) causes you to come to love them in a very special way. And partly because I would rather be single forever then marry the wrong man outside of God’s will and be so unhappy, knowing I had missed His wonderful plan for me.
My heart breaks for those girls who focus so much on their future dreams,pleading for the Lord to bring them their prince now, instead of joyfully and contentedly living out their purpose as single women. I think we often tend to make marriage, with all our dreams and fantasies about it, an idol. I think it’s so important to remember that marriage is not the answer to feeling complete, to feeling fulfilled or satisfied, to experiencing true joy. You have probably heard this before, but it is so true, that if you go into marriage hoping to finally find happiness and have all your longings and needs met, you will be bitterly disappointed, because only Jesus can satisfy, only a close, intimate relationship with Him can bring you true peace and joy, the lasting kind that no one can steal from you despite circumstances. Only knowing His deep, life changing love and following Him, living for Him with abandon will fill that emptiness inside you. And knowing Jesus like this is what will empower you and equip you to be the godly wife God longs for you to be one day. Having a close, intimate relationship with Jesus, will lead you to that place where you desire more than anything to love your husband like Jesus calls you to, to reflect Jesus daily to him, to die to yourself and put him and his needs first, to allow him to fail and disappoint you sometimes because you know he isn’t perfect, he can’t love you perfectly and meet your every need…only Jesus can.
The reason I am so content in my singleness is because I know marriage is not what life on earth is about (though it is a beautiful, sacred gift and something to be treasured), but life is about knowing Jesus and living for Him, living out His purposes for you, living with abandon for this One who gave you life and then died to save you. When you know this, it’s no longer about pining away for some future gift, it’s about knowing why you are here and living every day for the Lord. It’s about sharing all your hopes and dreams with your Best Friend Jesus, joyfully anticipating His wonderful plans for you such as serving God beside your husband one day, while realizing His plan for you now is serving Him as a single woman with no distractions, and embracing that and trusting Him completely for the future. How I thank God for these single years! I know without a doubt I would not be as in love with my Savior as I am now if my teenage years or 20’s had been consumed with courtship and falling in love. My focus would have been on that special man in my life and his love, but instead as a single woman my focus was on my relationship with Jesus, and He became my everything! I grew so close to my Jesus in my late teens and 20’s and have grown so much in emotional maturity, learning over these past years to die more to self and how to please God more in my relationship with others. I’m afraid I would have failed miserably as a wife, at least in the beginning, if I had gotten married 5 or 10 years ago. As I have waited for my prince I have grown into a woman who is yes, far from perfect, but who is greatly more prepared now to be the wife Jesus designed me to be when He does bring my prince along. I encourage you to go deeper with Jesus, to fall so in love with your God, the Author of your life, your Best Friend, your Savior, that your heart, your thoughts are consumed with Him. Let Him, as Steven Curtis Chapman sings about, be your “great obsession”. Ask God to show you what gifts He has given you to use to go out and change the world for Him, and then make the dive into a life lived with abandon for your Lord. When I was a sophomore in college the Lord showed me that He wanted me to work with children who were hurting, who desperately needed to know about Jesus and His perfect love. It all began in a Sunday School room of 4, 5 and 6 year olds. How I loved being with those precious kids and I soon found that I was drawn to the children who came to class looking sullen and beaten down and lacking that joy all children should know. I would spend much of my time talking with them, praising them, trying to make them feel special. A couple years after that Sunday School experience my home church announced they would be putting on a camp for foster children, children who had been severely abused and neglected, and when I heard the founder of the camp get up that Sunday in church and speak to us about how this camp changes lives, how these kids get introduced to Jesus Christ and are never the same again, how the whole week is about making these broken children feel like royalty and helping them heal, I knew, I KNEW that this was what I had been waiting for. This was my calling. To minister to abused and neglected children, to love them and lead them to the One who could heal all their hurts, the perfect Daddy who would never leave them or forsake them. I didn’t hear an audible voice, but it might as well have been, because the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart that day and said this was the work Jesus had called me to, to minister to orphans and widows in their distress. And so I became a camp counselor and loved those precious kids for the next six summers seeing many give their lives to Jesus and watching them heal before my eyes. I count it one of my greatest gifts from Jesus. After many summers of ministering at this amazing camp for foster kids God took me even deeper. He called me to start a prayer group in my home. At the time, I had no idea He would use this group to change so many lives, mine included. I simply answered the call and invited people into my home to spend some time in fervent, intercessory prayer as well as sharing with each other what God was teaching us and how He was working in our hearts and lives. A special, focused time of encouraging each other in our walk. Well, from that first day I saw that God was going to do big things in all of our hearts through meeting together to call on Him and lift Him up. Our group became like the first church in Acts. Together we shared, cried, laughed and rejoiced together, confessed our sins and repented from them, took communion, worshiped our King, and exhorted one another in the Lord. And we prayed fervently, Spirit Led prayers that shook the walls of Heaven and went on and on for hours. It was amazing! We saw prayers answered and our lives changed as we drew closer to our God and kept each other accountable to live each day for His glory. During that time God spoke to my heart again, telling me that He didn’t want me to live the “easy” life, to just sit in a pew on Sunday and worship Him and then live a comfortable life the rest of the week, but that He wanted me to live a life of sacrifice and worship. That caring for these orphans for a week during the summer wasn’t enough, He wanted me to rescue one of these children, and take them into my home full time and be Jesus to them. Wow! You can imagine, my being 27 at the time and very much single, how I doubted this was possible for me to do! But as I shared my heart with the prayer group and my family their overwhelming encouragement confirmed I’d heard the Lord correctly. And so they prayed over me and “sent me” to go and rescue a child for Jesus. So, though I had always dreamed, since a young age, of adopting orphans when I was married, now, as a single woman I ventured into brand new territory, territory clouded with shadows (not knowing what would come) yet landscaped with God’s grace and power and love, and I became a foster mommy. And through pouring out my life this way (it has been the most rewarding, fulfilling season of my life, loving these precious children…though not without it’s challenges of course.), I have seen the Lord’s faithfulness and goodness rain down in ways that have blown me away again and again. And it has opened up SO many new doors to share Jesus with others who He has brought into my life through my foster kids, who now no longer just hear me proclaim Christ, but actually see me serving Him in a radical way, out of obedience and my love for Him. It’s been awesome! Today I have a precious 7 year old foster daughter who has lived with me for almost a year now and who I love so very, very much. She is my joy and my sunshine and how I thank God for her every day. She now knows and loves Jesus with all her heart and teaching her about her Lord and Savior has been one of the greatest blessing of my life. Jesus has such incredible plans for each one of you! Amazing, wonderful, leave-you-in-awe plans that He will unfold if you just ask Him with a willing, surrendered heart. He has gifted each one of you in a special way. I encourage you, every day, whether you are single or being courted by the man of your dreams, or just dreaming about the possibility of a special someone courting you, embrace God’s plans for you and live for Him wholeheartedly with zeal and passion for He loves you more than any earthly prince ever could. And one day, in the midst of your loving and serving God with abandon, whether it be when you are 18, 27 or 33, the Lord will cause your path, and the path of the man he has been saving just for you, to cross and you will be left in such awe and wonder of the beauty of how He arranged it all. How deeply grateful you will feel that you waited on the Lord to make your dreams come true, and that you didn’t waste your single years but lived every day to the glory of God! Do I ever feel lonely and ask God to bring ‘him’ into my life now? Of course. It’s true that when you surrender your whole life
to God, giving Him full control, and trusting in His goodness, that the Lord fills your heart with this amazing joy and peace and contentment, which I have experienced in my waiting. But there are days when my heart aches to know his love, to know the touch of my hand in his, to be cherished and adored by this man I have saved myself for all these years. I can remember one time in my early 20’s, sitting on my bed late one night looking out the window at the heavens and crying silent tears, tears of missing this one I loved so much, of longing for his presence, of wanting so badly to be cherished and cared for by him. And I remember so clearly that night, just as it’s always been, in all those moments over the years of longing for my prince to come, and pouring out my heart to God, that Jesus lifted my loneliness and enveloped me in His powerful love and met my longings with Himself, and as He ministered to my lonely heart, and sang His songs of love over me, My truest Prince, I fell more in love with my Jesus and later thanked Him for those intense feelings of loneliness, because they drew me closer to Him then ever before. As a single woman waiting on God, the Lord has been faithful in blessing me over the years with relationships that fill my life with joy. God gave me two very special parents and an amazing sister, who is also my best friend, and 13 nieces and nephews who have been God’s greatest gifts to me and fill my life with such joy! He has not left me alone. Even in my father’s Homegoing (I miss you daddy!), I have not felt abandoned. Jesus has surrounded me with so many who bless my life in amazing ways. Jesus has proven Himself to me as the perfect Daddy and Husband and the way He meets my every need, big and small, blows me away again and again…and I find myself thanking Him constantly for His faithfulness. There are definitely moments, days, seasons, when I feel lonely for my future husband, sometimes my longing for him is soft, sometimes it is strong and painful, but though I may feel lonely for him, I never have felt alone. How could I when my incredible God is with me? He alone fills my heart with such inexpressible joy. He has walked with me through many mountain tops and through the recent valleys life will inevitably bring, and He has been my Rock, my Strength and my Everything through each day of my life. Truly if it were just He and I on this earth, or if I were never to marry, I would feel satisfied. I love Him so! And yet I know He understands every longing of my heart (and yours) to know earthly love too…the love of a husband, of family, of friends, and so is His plan, why in His great love for us, He surrounds us with people down here who reflect His love to us in so many beautiful ways. In your singleness enjoy your family and friendships to the fullest! Cherish the close family relationships you have, treasure your girlfriends and ask the Lord to bring into your life dear brothers in Christ. Attend Bible Studies and other Jesus groups to grow in the Lord and to find meaningful fellowship. We all need it! And have fun with these friends the Lord blesses you with, remembering to honor your future prince in all you do and say. One thing I encourage all young women in waiting to do is to make a list of all you desire in a husband and then never sway from that list. Then when a young man comes into your life and you’re enchanted by his charm and thoughtful ways, you can go to your list and see if those godly character traits describe this man or not. The number one thing on my own list is: His love for God is the heartbeat of all he does, all he says, all he is. Also on my list: He is gentle, patient, humble, joyful, a man of prayer and peacefulness, desiring to grow in holiness, and has a huge heart for children who are hurting and others in need of love and kindness. Enjoy making your own list today if you haven’t already. Cover it in prayer, writing not a list of physical qualities but of heart qualities. Those you know Jesus desires your future husband to have. One last word of encouragement, for all of you out there faithfully waiting on God. When people ask you why you don’t have a boyfriend, or date, tell them your testimony with joy and confidence. Tell them you made a commitment to God to wait faithfully for your future husband, to not date anyone else but him, and to save your whole heart for him. That the only man you want to date is the man you are going to marry, the one God has chosen for you. That you don’t have to kiss a guy or hold his hand to get to know him. (I often use this line and it really makes people think. No one can argue with it and they always admit that it’s very true!) Tell them you have been praying for your future husband for (however long) and that you love him already and you are so excited to meet him! That for now, you are content right where God has you, enjoying this season to the fullest. Let them see you living a full life…serving God and living for Him! Not sitting around pining for a man to come into your life. When they see your amazing trust in God, they will greatly admire you for that. And when they see you joyful and content, enjoying all the gifts the Lord has given you, they will think,”Wow. This girl is special. She’s not out there like every other girl in the world searching for someone to marry…for her it’s not all about needing to have someone to feel complete and happy. Jesus makes her happy” It’s true. This is my experience. The fact is, sadly, most married people are unhappy and wish they had waited like you are doing, whether they admit that or not. So speak confidently as you, my dear sister, are doing it right! And if someone criticizes you or makes fun of you, let their words bounce right off of you, and realize that they are probably some of those very same people who are so unhappy in their relationships, and feel some resentment/jealousy towards you in light of your purity and contentment as a single woman. Or some will just simply not understand you, as their way of thinking is just so different…it’s the world’s way. I mean, even Christians are trained to think like the world in terms of dating. So don’t be discouraged. My mom did not understand my testimony for a long time, only in the last 6 or so years has she come to not only understand it, but encourage me in my waiting and commend me for it (thank you Jesus!). But I remember how terribly hurt I was when she just didn’t get it. One thing I did was just keep sharing from my heart and asking my sister (who is teaching her girls about waiting) to help mom understand, and we prayed for her and shared some of our books with her, and God did a work in mom’s heart! She wholeheartedly believes in waiting faithfully for the one now. So be patient with these people in your life and pray for them to have God’s mind on this subject, and thank Him for those people in your life who are supportive and encourage you in your waiting!
I thank God for all of you who have chosen to be ‘radical’ Christians, who have chosen to take up your cross and follow Jesus, who have chosen to live set apart lives, lives surrendered to the very One who created you and loves you more than you can imagine. All of you who have heard His voice and have said, ‘Yes Lord, I will follow!” and have not looked back, God will greatly honor you, protect you and bless you, and you will know true peace and joy like few others ever will. Those who have chosen Jesus first, He will reward you beyond anything you could ever dream. Those who are trusting Him with all their hearts, even when it’s hard and the world is shouting out one thing, but you, who know that following the world’s way will only leave you dry and empty, hurt and full of regrets, have instead chosen God’s way…you will know God in a way that changes your whole life. To all of you, I can trust God says, “I am honored by your life my precious one. Thank you for loving me that much.” Sit back (while you serve of course :) , and just watch as His beautiful plans unfold for you, His chosen one, and be ready to be blown away.
Amber lives in Oregon and welcomes your feedback at amberm4jc@juno.com
 
 
 

 

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 © Watching  for the Morning 2009. The material contained in this E-issue of Watching for the Morning may be shared for personal/individual encouragement/ministry purposes only, as long as it is done so in entirety and including this note.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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