Ring by Spring?

           My heart has been swept away into a single girl epidemic. You want to know what that epidemic is? Having a boyfriend. I have come to realize that this “dilemma” becomes intensified the first day you step onto a college campus. You meet new guys (oddly enough looking for girlfriends) and new girls who have boyfriends or who are desperately looking for one. I know, I know, you probably are already making assumptions about what kind of blog post this is going to be. You may think that I am going to talk about how terrible it is to be single or how I am going to rule dating out completely. Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, but it is going to be neither of those options.

           

           Every girl dreams about being swept off her feet by the perfect boy. And yes, I am guilty of this. And I don’t think it’s necessarily bad to dream about meeting a guy who respects and loves you for you. But I do think it’s bad to idolize the boy or the idea of it.  I bring this up because coming to college I have constantly heard from people, “You could meet your husband in college,”or “Think, you could be married in a couple years,”or the worse "Ring by Spring!" Wow, talk about pressure.  So hearing this more often than usual started to take an effect on me. To be honest, I began thinking about relationships so much I started to forget about the most important one of all. But it wasn’t to long until I was reminded of it.

So, I decided to a quiet time the other day, and before I started I prayed that the Lord would reveal to my heart the right perspective on boyfriends. And so I began to read in Isaiah, and lets just say sometimes I underestimate the Holy Spirit’s willingness to speak. I came across verse 54:5 that read:

For your maker is your husband—

The Lord almighty is his name—

The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer.

I don’t think it can get simpler than that. God is my Husband and I am blessed to be His wife forever. So what more could I want? I mean, what if some boy put together a book full of promises about how much they loved me, wouldn’t that mean something? Well, God has already done that; it’s the Bible! Just reading a chapter about Jesus Christ’s resurrection in Matthew is enough evidence that I’m so intimately and passionately pursued. There is no need for me to worry about if I have or need a boyfriend. All I need is complete faith and satisfaction in the love of my Redeemer.

So let me reintroduce myself. Hello, I’m Karlie Tipton and I am perfectly content in being the bride of Christ. I am not ruling out the boyfriend idea nor am I idolizing it; I am just waiting on God’s timing.

Thanks for reading!

Karlie