How is she single?

This statement makes me simultaneously flattered and queasy. A good friend of mine told me that her fiancee asked this about me recently - "How is she single? She's so funny and nice and really pretty - I don't get it." I appreciate it, really, but it also creates this weird physiological response in the pit of my stomach. How am I still single? I just am - because God says so - it is hard to meet single guys who love Jesus and are ready to commit - you know, the usual rundown.

The truth is there are lies that fly through my mind - more often than I'd like to admit. Lies like - If they got to know me they'd know why I'm single -- I fell in love with someone who didn't want me and my attempts to get over it  have been weak at best thus prolonging my singlehood -- I'm working too much -- I'd rather not be that vulnerable again and risk another broken heart... these are the ugly lies that run loose in my mind. They are tricky because little threads of truth weave in and out getting twisted and mangled by my sorrow and ego.

It is meant as a compliment, I understand, and I took it as such - it just got me thinking about singleness. I don't know why or how I'm single any more than you do. What I do know is that God is at work - that he is faithful. I believe his promise that he has plans for my life and that they are not to harm me, but for me to have a future and a hope. My hope is not in a husband - or in children - though my heart aches in rebellion against that declaration. My hope is that tomorrow I will know God more than I know him today - my hope is that I will be comforted by Jesus and that my life will not be crushed by the brokenness of earthly dreams and desires.

"Then you will know that I am the LORD;
   those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” - Isaiah 49:23

"Then I would still have this consolation—
   my joy in unrelenting pain—
   that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.
 ¹¹ “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?
   What prospects, that I should be patient?
¹² Do I have the strength of stone?
   Is my flesh bronze?
¹³ Do I have any power to help myself,
   now that success has been driven from me?" -Job 6:10-13

"³ No one who hopes in you
   will ever be put to shame," - Psalm 25:3

"8 But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him,
   on those whose hope is in his unfailing love," - Psalm 33:18

"⁵ Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
   my hope comes from him." - Psalm 62:5
 
" Israel, put your hope in the LORD,
   for with the LORD is unfailing love
   and with him is full redemption." - Psalm 130:7


"the LORD delights in those who fear him,
   who put their hope in his unfailing love." - Psalm 147:11

"Know also that wisdom is like honey for you:
   If you find it, there is a future hope for you,
   and your hope will not be cut off." - Proverbs 24:14

"but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint." - Isaiah 40:31

"Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
   Do the skies themselves send down showers?
No, it is you, LORD our God.
   Therefore our hope is in you,
   for you are the one who does all this." - Jeremiah 14:22

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." - Jeremiah 29:11-12

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we^[a] have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we^[b] boast in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we^[c] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." - Romans 5: 1-5

"For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that^[a] the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
 ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
 ²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans." - Romans 8:20-26

"For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope." - Romans 15:4

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." -Romans 15:13

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 ⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away." - I Corinthians 13:6-8

"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[a] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength" - Ephesians 1:17-19

"May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word." - 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." - 1 Timothy 6:17

"Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." - Hebrews 6:17-20

"let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds," - Hebrews 10:22-24

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷ These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹ for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls." - 1 Peter 1:3-9