loneliness: a love story

I had no plans for a special Valentine's post, other than perhaps throwing up a few quotes and a pretty picture. While I don't approve of holidays created specifically so Hallmark can rake in more money, I do enjoy holidays, so my plan involved making a nice dinner to celebrate, but nothing more than a mere token on my blog. And then I woke up this morning with itching fingers and a single-flowing thought in my brain (aka, I need to write something).

To all of you single ladies out there who have given up hope: don't. God has a plan for you, and if it's anything like mine, your "Prince Charming" will walk up beside you when you're least expecting it.

Don't go chasing after love in places that it isn't, don't give yourself up to someone who doesn't truly care, don't ever ever ever think you're worthless. Or unloved. Or ugly. You are a beloved creation of God, worth more than you can ever imagine, and that makes you beautiful no matter what society tells you. You don't have to have a boyfriend/fiance/husband for people to respect you.

Let me tell you a story.

For the first 19 years of my life, I had no boyfriends, no admirers, no dates. Nothing. I wavered between fearing dying as an old maid--never feeling a lover's embrace--and delighting in the idea of a life flying solo, with nothing to tie me down. But there was always the nagging question in the back of my head, "What's wrong with you?"

By my sophomore year of college, I had decided to forget about relationships and focus completely on my life and what God wanted from it. I stopped worrying so much about what was wrong with me and why guys didn't seem interested at all. And at the beginning of spring semester that year, I realized that I considered a certain guy to be one of my best friends at school. We hung out so often that people started asking if we were dating. As Valentine's Day approached, I hoped maybe this would become true, but the 14th passed without incident. I was crushed, but I hung onto a thread of hope. I'm too stubborn to give up that easily.

Ten days later, we went horseback riding at my parent's house. He stopped at one of my favorite views (he couldn't have known, I hadn't told him), and asked me out in the most beautiful way possible. I nearly fell off my horse.

And, as they say, the rest is history.


Live your life. Don't worry what others think, and don't let yourself believe there's no one out there for you. Maybe you're 16, maybe you're 26. Keep waiting. In many times of my life, when I've prayed fervently for answers, sometimes the only response I hear is a whispered, "Have patience, my child." God loves you, and He has great plans.