Remaining “SANE” in Singleness

I’ve often heard the phrase that there are at least 10 women to 1 man. Not only does this put the man at a great advantage having a good selection of women to choose from, but he has quite a few women he could possibly date, and all of them if he really wanted to.

But what about us women? The same ratio that proves to be so strong in the top paragraph for a man is a cat fight for a woman trying to get that one man to notice her. It’s sort of like those bachelor and/or bachelorette shows on T.V. where 30 or so women and men are desperately dying to get that one man or woman’s attention. The kicker is that he or she can only pick one, which leaves everyone else’s dreams of finding the ‘Perfect Guy or Girl’ shattered because now they have to attempt to find happiness and love elsewhere. Starting over again is a process that can drive you truly insane if you let it. Woman-Pulling-Hair-out

Let’s face it, we live in a world where if you haven’t gotten married, had a baby, or even had a guy during a particular holiday season or by a certain age; then society says “There’s something wrong with you” It’s even worse when your family members are constantly asking if you’re dating anyone. All of these issues will drive you insane while living the single life. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to find Mr. or Mrs.’s Right but if you rush it because of outside pressures from family, friends or society, then 9 times out of 10, you’re going to settle.

Here are a couple of things that you can do for yourself so you can stay sane in the midst of your season of singleness.

Tip #1   The Happiness Effect:

The world tells and/or has a way of showing us what happiness is from it’s perspective, most times it’s involving money, fame, relationships or popularity. But true happiness is not defined by what you have or don’t have; it’s defined by how you feel about yourself. What’s going on in your current world right now; what are your feelings about your life and where you mentally at this time? You may say, “Well that has nothing to do with anything” – But it has a lot to do with everything. Happiness attracts the right kind of people or things into your life. If you’re not happy, then you’re subject to attract whatever debris that washes up on the ocean front. I posted a quote on FB this week that says “If You Aren’t Happy being Single, You will never be Happy in a relationship – Get your own Life First, Then Share It. Just like a person whom doesn’t want to enter a dirty house that looks like every hurricane imaginable rummaged through it. It’s the same with a relationship, no one wants to enter a mess that was already in place……they want to enter into peace and tranquility but you must create that environment first, as it will not be created once you get into a relationship.

 

You don’t go into relationships to find Happiness, Happiness occurs before the relationship says “Hello” – R. Blackmon

 

Tip #2   Who Are You?

Do you know who you are? Most women or men get into relationships expecting it to complete and satisfy them; it’s sad to say, but most men and women enter into relationships as “broken pieces” whom expect the other to help heal and piece them together again. We tend to think “I’ll be okay, this relationship will make things alright, or I’ll be even happier if I was in a relationship. Getting to know who you are FIRST! will reveal things about yourself that you might didn’t even know. Once you discover who you truly are – then you’ll be able to identify those characteristics in a mate and determine whom you truly want to be with. You can’t know them, if you don’t know yourself.

Tip #3   Don’t allow your feelings to drive you to do something you’ll regret.

I’ve been on quite a few dating sites and if I can be honest, they’re all pretty much the same – you may have good intentions but everyone doesn’t follow that rule. Anyone can be whomever they wish or like to be on those sites. Singleness can cause us to do drastic things that lead to disastrous results. While some people have had good results; they don’t work for everyone, so be careful and don’t allow your lonely situation to kick you out of the drivers seat of your own life. Control It!

Tip #4   Focus on other things, instead of obsessing over it.

When you’re constantly looking for something, you never tend to find it but when you calm down and forget about it, then that’s when it seems to pop up out of nowhere. The same applies to singleness; when you stop looking for Mr. or Ms.’s Right and let it happen naturally, the unexpected miraculously happens out of the blue.

 

Good things not only comes to those who wait, but to those who least EXPECT IT! – R. Blackmon

 

Tip #5   Have you asked GOD Yet??

Have you consulted God about “Why you are Single?” – Okay, so before you decide to shut the page down and click the “x” sign, let me explain. This is a process that NO ONE wants to even ask God, because they’re afraid of the outcome or what he might say. “So, Lord? You want me to stay single for 5 more years?????? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Consulting God is best because he knows the true reason as to why you’re still alone. This answer is different and can be difficult for each individual. But I promise, if you consult God – then you’ll know what you need to work on in which could make Mr. or Ms. Right for  You come quicker. It’s almost like looking at your credit score, no one wants to face it but when you do, you realize that it wasn’t as bad as you thought and it’s a sort of a blueprint to help you get the things your truly desire. If you never work on it then you’ll never know what you could actually have.

Singleness is a crazy world all by itself; but you don’t have to lose your sanity during it. Remember, Singleness is not a death sentence and it doesn’t mean you should put your life on hold. Instead, it’s an opportunity for you to get in the driver’s seat and shape your own singleness destiny and let life handle the rest you might be really surprised at what it brings your way.

Stay Sane

LORD, I need your Help – I Think?

Portrait above is by artist Debi Starrentitled ‘Uncertain’.

When I was 20 years old (which seems like only yesterday = ) – I started working in a nursing facility, I always loved helping people and always had a heart for the elderly; even at a young age. I used to love hanging out with my Aunt Sally and Great Grandmother growing up because they had so much wisdom; I loved staying at their house although the 100 degree furnace going on the midst of what seemed like 200 degree Arkansas heat was not always good; but I adjusted all because I wanted to spend time with them. So when the Lord blessed me to the Nursing Assistant job working with the elderly, it was a good fit for me. Within the year and a half of working there, I learned so much. Each resident had their own specific agenda in what you had to do to care for them. Some were easy as they could partially help themselves, while others were a challenge. While most people had help on their halls, I sometimes was left alone on mine. But I prayed and God came to my rescue every time I called on him. From the smallest patient to the heaviest, God always gave me the strength and the patience to take care of them; from picking them up to putting them in the bed or giving me the strength to be patient with them when they weren’t in the mind frame to be that way with me. I had one resident whom liked to be in the middle of the bed; most nights I stayed in her room for over an hour trying to make sure she got her wish. I learned a lot of patience in those days.

After a little over a year, I decided that while the experience was great – I wanted to further my career in the office world and never looked back on those days but the valuable things that I learned during that time, never left me. Years later; my mom took very ill and those same skills that God blessed me to learn; came in handy for me as I have used those skills and talents to take care of my terminally ill mother. But most recently I found myself forgetting those tools when my mom was put in the hospital; this was not her first rodeo to the emergency room. My mom is bed bound, and is unable to walk and depends heavily on the care of the family to take care of her. Since she’s been in the hospital the nurses have alleviated some of the work; they come in when they can to assist but lately I’ve noticed they’ve been very short staffed and when my mom goes to the bathroom on herself she has to sit there until someone decides to come in and change her. This past Saturday, the inevitable happened and mama needed to be changed – I called the nurse’s desk and they said they would come but 45 min later and they still hadn’t come to assist. My mom was getting agitated because she didn’t want to keep sitting in urine and feces and who would…

As I stepped out the room to go and get the nurses’ – I was told “Well, she’ll have to wait” because they were short staffed (again). As I went back in the room and looked at my mom’s disfigured and stressful face; I began to pray to the Lord to perform a miracle and gather up some nurses from somewhere because I couldn’t change my mom by myself  she’s extremely heavy and I just couldn’t see a way of me doing it all alone. As I got my towels and garments ready to change her, I kept looking at the door – hoping that the nurses would suddenly appear – But they didn’t….What do I do??????, How am I going to do this??????panicAnd that’s when the Lord had to remind me of the position I had so many years ago as a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) – I watched God during that time, help and give me the strength Samson to do things that people still today wonder how I did – all alone. The same God that came to my rescue then, was the same faithful God that was ready to come to my rescue now; you see I was standing there in a panic asking God to send help for something that he had already equipped me to do a long time ago. It was there all the time, I just had to activate it. Once I calmed my mind and asked God to assist me, I turned my mom over with no problems and cleaned her up; by the time I got finished and got her positioned – The Nurses came in. Sometimes God wants us to use what we got – I had a friend on this week to say “God has already equipped us with talents and gifts – we just have to use them”. The jobs we work on (present or past) and the things we go through in life are all experiences for us to help someone or even improve our own life. It’s okay to ask God for help, but God also wants us to tap into the resources and gifts that he has already placed in us – Your help is there  on the inside of you and most times God won’t come in until you begin to use the gift that he has placed inside of you. Yes, I needed to call on God for help but he had already equipped me for the journey, a journey in which he knew I would need the experience he allowed me to go through all those years ago.

Are you calling on God for Help For Something that He has already given you the ability and the tools to accomplish? Look real close, because he just may be waiting on you to use it before he sends help. use-what-you-have

Serving the Same God, But Walking a Different Path.

About 5 years ago, the Lord put it in my spirit to read the whole book of Proverbs; At that time, I had determined in my mind that I was going to read a chapter a day until I finished the whole book. But I felt this was sort of odd; why would God want me to read the whole book of Proverbs?

I mean, I like the book as it was written by King Solomon, the son of David. I was familiar with quite a few scriptures in the book such as Proverbs 3:5-6 (Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths.) This happens to be one of my favorites and/or Proverbs 15:1 (A soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger) another favorite. And who can forget the Virtuous Woman in Proverbs 31.

proverbs-wisdom-to-invest

But why would God be leading me to read this whole book?, I mean outside of the scriptures I just named, I really hadn’t thought about dwelling on the book less known the verses. When I was given this instruction, I followed through for a couple of nights – in between dozing off and on, I quickly put it aside. During that week, I remember telling a couple of associates how I felt like God was leading me to read this whole book “Well, you have to be convinced of that yourself.” One of them said, but then I began to look at their lives and while they were in the church and followed God as I did, they didn’t have any instructions or orders from God telling them to do anything, that is when I began to feel really odd; like maybe God really didn’t tell me to do it – Maybe it was just me trying to convince my own self that God was setting me aside for whatever reason.

So, because God had not “called” my associates out to do something unordinary – I felt as if he really wasn’t calling me out to do anything either…I was totally wrong!!

When I didn’t obey the word of God, it seemed like everything but the kitchen sink was coming my way; every time I turned around some life crisis was happening or taking shape in my life – There were many things that came before me in which I surely needed council and wisdom to know how to handle, but because I disobeyed God and took the path of my associates – I was made to suffer the consequences for my “epic” fail.

Once I did a little research on what the book of Proverbs was all about, I found out that the book of Proverbs was a book of instruction, guidance and wisdom in which we all need in order to make major life decisions, it’s also a book in which I believe God wants us to read in order to live a life of purpose, structure and success. Although the verses may seem very ancient – their meanings and life lessons will help us navigate our own life into the ordered life in which God would like for us to have.directions

You see? God doesn’t allow you to take the same path as others. Each of us have something different that we need to work on and only God knows what that truly is. He may need you to read the book of Proverbs to build your wisdom skills while your friend or someone else may be going through a totally different process, God may have them in the book of Galatians – studying the Fruits of the Spirit because he knows that is what they need. When it comes to our lives, God is the only one whom truly knows what each of us will face and come in counter with, when he puts things in our spirits to do or to say, trust that it’s for a particular reason – After all, Father knows Best.

I have the bible app on my phone and within it contains reading plans – I usually do these because they keep me motivated and in tune with God and his word. As a matter of fact, I’m just about to finish a plan called Wait and See by Wendy Pope in which you can see here. It’s a 7 day plan in which I’m about finished with; so as I scrolled around to check on other plans I could indulge in – You wouldn’t guess what bible plan I just happened to stumble upon, Yes! “The Book Of Proverbs” – Okay, so five years later and God is still trying to get my attention with this book! So, my next plan is to read the book of Proverbs in which I’ve just recently started. So as you can see, if you fail the first time God has a way of bringing it right back around for you to complete the make-up test.

Just remember, your process is not going to be like someone else’s, Yes; we all may have the same experiences but we all follow different paths in how we go through those circumstances. Don’t become side-tracked if God didn’t tell your friend to volunteer at the local shelter but put it in your spirit to do so or God may be calling you to do something extraordinary that no one else is currently doing, The bible says “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.(Hebrews 4:7 NLT) don’t sit on what he has called you to do because it seems weird or unusual. God chose you and picked you out to carry through on a task that he knows your friends and/or your family is not equipped to do. He trusts you and he’s counting on you to make a difference. Not THEM, but YOU!

trust-the-lord