100th Post Give Away!!

Yay!! This is the 100th post of Divine Dating!!

To celebrate this I decided to hold a little contest...

I want to know the COOLEST thing God has done in your dating life! This can be something he's showed you while you are single, dating, courting, engaged, or married--anything at all! The story doesn't have to be recent either, may be it happened last week, maybe it happened 15 years ago, it does not matter!

Just share a story of how God has worked through your relationship, and the one I like best will win a FREE Satin Hands Set from Mary Kay! The set includes everything you need for AMAZINGLY soft hands--hand softener, an exfoliating scrub, and hand creme! It works miracles let me tell you!

Anyhow, so submit your story via comment below within the next week, (from now until Saturday, May 7th) and let's glorify God through our stories! I can't wait to hear them. :) Thanks everyone for reading and supporting my first 100 posts! I'm open for ideas and suggestions :)

Encouragement to You, Princess!

Beth Moore has a wonderful message to all women in the video. Besides addressing relationship issues, she directs her focus towards reensuring us that we are children of God and our purpose is higher than the calling of those in the world. She encourages women to step up and live like the princesses they are.

And if you don't believe you are a princess, perhaps you should check out Pslams 45.

Verses 10 and 11 say this:

"Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear:

Forget your people and your father's house.

The king is enthralled by your beauty;

honor him, for he is your lord."

Forget your people he says! Go and be one with God, never mind what the world says, never mind what your horrible boyfriend says, GO and be one with God. Leave now and enter into the world of joy and love that God has graciously prepared for you. God almighty thinks you are a beautiful, breathtaking princess, who are you to say that you're not?

The creator of the universe himself, thinks you are a thousand times more beautiful and more precious than even Kate Middleton at the royal wedding last night!

John 13:34

"A new command I give you: Love one another.As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

Princess, you were born to live a life of purpose, passion, and power. But you have to trust God with your everything. You have to trust God with who you date, who you marry. You have to trust God when he tells you he loves you and thinks your amazing just the way you are.

Ephesians 2:10

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Princesses don't settle for scraps. They don't settle for an ordinary life either. Royal princesses were born to lead and be examples. So lead the girls around you and younger than you. Step out in faith and claim your role as a royal child of God with a purpose.

"Children of God, sing your song and rejoice

For the love that He has given us all

Children of God, by the blood of His Son

We have been redeemed and we can be called

Children of God"

--Third Day "Children of God"

Patience While You Wait

Psalm 40:1-5

“I waited patiently on the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and rear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not look to the proud, to those who turn aside to false gods.

Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planed for us no one can speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having trouble waiting again? What does the bible say God will do for us if we wait

patiently for him?

• Hear your cry
• Lift you out of the slimy pit
• Set your feet on a rock, giving you a firm place to stand
• Put a new song in your mouth, (joy and praise)

How do you know if you’re waiting patiently?

• Do you worry about what will happen in the future? (This weekend, next month, this summer, etc.)
• Do you often try to control situations? (Texting guys first, initiating situations, going to places where he might be, etc.)
• Or do you focus on discipling younger girls?
• Reading Gods word and studying it?
• Reaching outsiders?
• Loving and serving your friends?

If we will just trust the Lord and wait on his perfect timing, he will give us everything we need and more. Psalm 37:4 says if we delight ourselves in the Lord he will give us the desires of our hearts. In other words, if we put our main focus and attention on God and doing God’s will, he will first align our desires with his, so we will want the man he picked out for us, and secondly, he will give us this man when we least expect it. It is while we are working hard for God, striving to do his will, not worrying about anything, when he recognizes our faithfulness and blesses us with what our heart deeply desires.

Luke 16:10 says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much…” This can be applied to single life. If God trusts us to serve him and glorify him as a single woman, he knows he can trust us to multiple his glorification with a godly man when the timing is right. But first we must be trusted with very little.

Back to the old cliché,

“Let Go, and Let God!”

1 Peter 5:7

“Cast all your anxiety on him (God) because he cares for you.”

Marriage is a Team

Yesterday I talked about the importance of waiting for God's best. Some of you may not think you deserve that, others of you may not believe someone that great is even out there, but I'm here to tell you some things about marriage that will make you strive for the best God has for you even more.

Marriage is a team. The bible talks about being "unequally yoked" in the new testament. What does that mean? Think about 2 horses (because to be honest, who really knows what an ox looks like?) picture these 2 horses hitched up to the same wagon. They're both responsible for pulling the wagon from point A to point B. If one of the horses decides to be lazy, while the other one is running full force towards the goal, the wagon will most likely tip over, causing a huge scene of chaos.

On the other hand, if they are both extremely excited about what the master wants them to do, and they both are running full force with careful steps toward the destination, they will arrive confidently and give their master something to be pleased about.

Think of marriage as the wagon and you and your future mate are the horses hitched to it. If both of you are not motivated to run at the same speed, you will have chaos and heartache. This is something you need to think about while you are dating or courting. Do your ministry goals line up? Are you equally motivated for success? Are you both willing to work hard on projects? Is God and religion more important to one of you?

Now picture the same thing, but both of you are running in the same race. You both want God more than anything in your life. You both want to see people come to Christ and are very

passionate about serving others. You are working your butt of to achieve success at work, and he just got promoted after years of persistence. Together you can both run towards the same goal at full speed and know that your wagon will make it there. You are a team. You are in it together for the long hall and together ya'll will make things happen.

I have a special friend who I am always reminding how awesome his ministry will be when he gets married, if he waits and gets married to the girl God picked out for him. If the both of them are fully focused and committed to God, then together they will bring him so much glory and fruit.

A new favorite quote of mine from Boy Meets Girl says,

You know you're ready to get married when you glorify God

more together than you do as individuals.

How true that is. Don't marry someone unless you can honestly answer yes to that question. God has big plans for you, be patient and wait for them.

Wait for God’s Plan Please

I think men and women alike suffer from low levels of self-esteem. I think this problem comes from finding our identities in things other than Christ, even good things such as family, friends, or careers. The problem is, these things change and God doesn’t—for more on identity check out my post called “What is Identity.”

Anyhow, so because of our self-esteem problem I see dozens and dozens of my closest Christian friends settle for boyfriends and girlfriends who are less than God’s best for them. They don’t feel worthy of the Christian man who leads the youth group. They don’t feel like they deserve a wife who saved herself for marriage. They have this idea in their heads and so they settle for the easy-to-get, the people who don’t exactly treat them the way they want to be treated, but it’s okay because at least they have someone right?

Wrong. God has someone specifically picked out for you to marry. Jesus thinks the world of you. He loved you so much he DIED ON THE CROSS FOR YOU. If he cares enough about you to do that, how much more do you think he cares about your future marriage? ?

God has plans for each and every one of us that he has had since the beginning of time. Ephesians 2:10.

When a guy or a girl shows interest in you, no one said you have to date them. It is not your obligation to say yes because you feel sorry for them or because your lonely. For one thing, if you don’t feel like this is person meets all the requirements of someone you would want to marry, then don’t date them. God doesn’t want you to suffer heartache because you feel sorry for someone. And secondly, you are just hurting the other person by leading them on with no intention of being married later on.

Think about others, but also think about yourself and what God has planned for you. Study the godly men in your life, study your dad, the bible, and Jesus’ actions. What characteristics do you see that you want in a future mate? (compassionate, encouraging, strong, takes initiative, etc.) What Characteristics do you see that you don’t like? (judgemental, controlling, passive, etc.)

Make a list of biblical and godly characteristics that you would prefer in a marriage. Present them to God and ask God to match your heart desires with his. Then wait. Don’t date anyone unless they fulfill the requirements.

Now I know half of you just said, “But how do you know unless you date them first?”

My answer to that question is friendship. If you aren’t friends with a guy before he asks you out, you should say no anyways. A relationship built without friendship first will be awkward and unrealistic. Think about it, when you are hanging out with a guy you like, you are on your best behavior, you are totally aware of your every move, and you dress your best.

However when you’re just hanging out with your friends—YOU DON’T CARE! You act goofy, you where your sloppy bun, and you just have fun! Because it’s relaxed, it’s chill..you know those people are going to love you no matter how you act or look.

The opposite goes for the guy, you don’t know what he’s really like either unless you’ve spent time around him IN GROUP SETTINGS just as friends—observing him and his actions. It doesn’t take much longer than 15 minutes to see if a guy takes initiative, cares about others, and loves God.

And the other half of you who probably asked this, “But what if they change?”

The answer to that is simple but hard. It all goes back to God having a plan and working it out in his perfect timing. If he has destined you two to be together, he will change that person’s heart even to the point of them leading you spiritually (if you are a girl.) The hard part is, you must wait. Don’t force it, don’t push it, don’t instigate. Let God be God while you go on with your life. If and when the timing is right, God will let you know.

I hope this helps some of you today, if you have questions or comment please post, I would love the feedback. Thanks for reading and God Bless.

Jeremiah 29:11-13

"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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."