#AlltheSingleLadies: Unrealistic Expectations @MinisterCeleste

You may know what some people’s will is for your life. You may feel the pressures of culture to conform to one set of expectations, the pressure of family or friends to meet other sets of expectations. You feel the push of your inner drive to achieve this or accomplish that; to do this better and to improve on that; but getting in touch with God’s will for your life will help you to focus on what is actually important and necessary. It will help you to shed the unrealistic expectations that come from others or yourself.

#AlltheSingleLadies: Running from Loneliness with Overcommitment @MinisterCeleste

It is easy, as a single person, to become overcommitted and not even notice that it is being used to "stay busy" and avoid what may be "lonely" moments.  However, overcommitment is not productive.  In the alternative, perhaps, some of you know you are overcomitting yourself and want to get out.  Well here are some practical steps we can take:

Do not answer immediately. Pray about it, check your calendar, and seek godly counsel if necessary. You may also try screening your calls to avoid feeling pressured into giving an immediate response.

Count the cost. Ask yourself: Is committing to this activity/performing this favor going to cut into my time with God, my family, or my partner? Will I be making a one-time commitment, or will this become an on-going responsibility?

Pray. God doesn’t intend for you to do everything.

If you do accept, communicate your limitations.  Don’t assume that people know your limitations. Make them known up front to avoid being overstretched and volunteering more time than you have to give.

If you don’t accept, give them a lead. If you decline an opportunity to serve, perhaps you can still assist by suggesting someone else who might be able to help.

Don’t feel guilty about your well-considered decision. You don’t have to justify or explain why you can’t do it. Just say no graciously and trust that God will provide the right person to fill the role.

#AlltheSingleLadies: Overcoming Fear of Loneliness

Overcoming the fear of loneliness requires understanding God’s commitment to you. His fatherhood isn’t based upon mood, sentiment or emotion; it is based on His unchanging character and reputation. Everything HE is, and claims to be, stands. He is always faithful to love you.

I Samuel 12:22 ”For the sake of His great name the lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.” Notice two things in this scripture: concern for His good name and the pleasure He takes in being your Father, and why He will never turn his back on you. Your problems don’t mean that God is judging or disowning you. Satan would love to convince you of that. He will tell you that you have failed God, or that God has failed you in order to make you feel unworthy, hopeless, disowned by God and abandoned.

‘Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my father’. In your circumstances and suffering, “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness.” Suffering and adversity doesn’t cancel His faithfulness. Hebrews 13:8 ”Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

#AlltheSingleLadies: Overcoming Fear of Loneliness

Overcoming the fear of loneliness requires understanding God’s commitment to you. His fatherhood isn’t based upon mood, sentiment or emotion; it is based on His unchanging character and reputation. Everything HE is, and claims to be, stands. He is always faithful to love you.

I Samuel 12:22 ”For the sake of His great name the lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.” Notice two things in this scripture: concern for His good name and the pleasure He takes in being your Father, and why He will never turn his back on you. Your problems don’t mean that God is judging or disowning you. Satan would love to convince you of that. He will tell you that you have failed God, or that God has failed you in order to make you feel unworthy, hopeless, disowned by God and abandoned.

‘Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my father’. In your circumstances and suffering, “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness.” Suffering and adversity doesn’t cancel His faithfulness. Hebrews 13:8 ”Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Overcoming the fear of loneliness requires understanding God’s commitment to you. His fatherhood isn’t based upon mood, sentiment or emotion; it is based on His unchanging character and reputation. Everything HE is, and claims to be, stands. He is always faithful to love you.

I Samuel 12:22 ”For the sake of His great name the lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.” Notice two things in this scripture: concern for His good name and the pleasure He takes in being your Father, and why He will never turn his back on you. Your problems don’t mean that God is judging or disowning you. Satan would love to convince you of that. He will tell you that you have failed God, or that God has failed you in order to make you feel unworthy, hopeless, disowned by God and abandoned.

‘Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my father’. In your circumstances and suffering, “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness.” Suffering and adversity doesn’t cancel His faithfulness. Hebrews 13:8 ”Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

#AlltheSingleLadies: Fear of Loneliness, @TheSISTAHSMinistry, @MinisterCeleste

Overcoming the fear of loneliness requires understanding God’s commitment to you. His fatherhood isn’t based upon mood, sentiment or emotion; it is based on His unchanging character and reputation. Everything HE is, and claims to be, stands. He is always faithful to love you. 

I Samuel 12:22 ”For the sake of His great name the lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.” Notice two things in this scripture: concern for His good name and the pleasure He takes in being your Father, and why He will never turn his back on you. Your problems don’t mean that God is judging or disowning you. Satan would love to convince you of that. He will tell you that you have failed God, or that God has failed you in order to make you feel unworthy, hopeless, disowned by God and abandoned. 

‘Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my father’. In your circumstances and suffering, “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness.” Suffering and adversity doesn’t cancel His faithfulness. Hebrews 13:8 ”Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

#AlltheSingleLadies: Fear of Loneliness, @TheSISTAHSMinistry, @MinisterCeleste

Overcoming the fear of loneliness requires understanding God’s commitment to you. His fatherhood isn’t based upon mood, sentiment or emotion; it is based on His unchanging character and reputation. Everything HE is, and claims to be, stands. He is always faithful to love you. 

I Samuel 12:22 ”For the sake of His great name the lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.” Notice two things in this scripture: concern for His good name and the pleasure He takes in being your Father, and why He will never turn his back on you. Your problems don’t mean that God is judging or disowning you. Satan would love to convince you of that. He will tell you that you have failed God, or that God has failed you in order to make you feel unworthy, hopeless, disowned by God and abandoned. 

‘Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my father’. In your circumstances and suffering, “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness.” Suffering and adversity doesn’t cancel His faithfulness. Hebrews 13:8 ”Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

#AlltheSingleLadies: He Will Always Love You, @TheSISTAHSMinistry, @MinisterCeleste

Overcoming the fear of loneliness requires understanding God’s commitment to you. His fatherhood isn’t based upon mood, sentiment or emotion; it is based on His unchanging character and reputation. Everything HE is, and claims to be, stands. He is always faithful to love you.

”For the sake of His great name the lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.”

Notice two things in this scripture: concern for His good name and the pleasure He takes in being your Father, and why He will never turn his back on you. Your problems don’t mean that God is judging or disowning you. Satan would love to convince you of that. He will tell you that you have failed God, or that God has failed you in order to make you feel unworthy, hopeless, disowned by God and abandoned.

In your circumstances and suffering, “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness.” Suffering and adversity doesn’t cancel His faithfulness. Hebrews 13:8 ”Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

#AlltheSingleLadies: He Will Always Love You, @TheSISTAHSMinistry, @MinisterCeleste

Overcoming the fear of loneliness requires understanding God’s commitment to you. His fatherhood isn’t based upon mood, sentiment or emotion; it is based on His unchanging character and reputation. Everything HE is, and claims to be, stands. He is always faithful to love you.

”For the sake of His great name the lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own.”

Notice two things in this scripture: concern for His good name and the pleasure He takes in being your Father, and why He will never turn his back on you. Your problems don’t mean that God is judging or disowning you. Satan would love to convince you of that. He will tell you that you have failed God, or that God has failed you in order to make you feel unworthy, hopeless, disowned by God and abandoned.

In your circumstances and suffering, “God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out, his merciful love couldn’t have dried up. They’re created new every morning. How great your faithfulness.” Suffering and adversity doesn’t cancel His faithfulness. Hebrews 13:8 ”Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

#AlltheSingleLadies: Waiting as an Opportunity, @TheSISTAHSMinistry, @MinisterCeleste

Waiting is an opportunity for God to purify and perfect His will in my life. The longer you wait, the more time you can invest in becoming Christ like as a single woman.

Everyday is an opportunity to be refined in Gods fiery love. Everyday is an opportunity to say yes to love and no to fear. Everyday is an opportunity to go deeper in Gods love.

When you begin looking at waiting as an opportunity to be purified and refined for a possible spouse life becomes an adventure. Instead of dreading each new day, wondering if every person you see is “the one”. You can start living, you choose to see the beauty in each and everyday knowing that it is shaping you to be who God called you to be. [First and foremost a lover of God]

The journey to one day become a wife starts now.

Today matters.

#AlltheSingleLadies: Altering the Physical Doesn't Fix the Internal, @TheSISTAHSMinistry, @MinisterCeleste

We're repeatedly exposed to unrealistic cultural images that affect our thinking, so many of us give up and overeat, feeling we can't measure up no matter what we do.

[We compare ourselves] because we're uncertain of our identities. Comparisons are our attempt to feel better about ourselves and bolster our esteem. The real issue is, where do you find your esteem? Take the self out of self-esteem and replace it with God-esteem and you have a different picture. If you try to love yourself apart from God, you'll fail. Esteem doesn't come from your appearance, your work, your family, or other people. You're highly esteemed simply because God created and chose you. God doesn't say, "If only she'd lose five pounds, I could love her more." [Yet] “Just five more pounds” is most women's mantra.

Focusing on what we think we can control—eating and dieting—can be easier than dealing with issues we feel are out of our control. But working on the outside without addressing the inside doesn't work long term. Too many of us allow the physical to distract us from the emotional, relational, and spiritual aspects of our lives. We can easily assess and correct our appearance in the mirror. But we tend to avoid working on invisible emotional pain because we fear we won't be able to resolve it. So we let our outer beauty cover up inner struggles.

You might change your hairstyle rather than work through a difficult parent relationship. Or you might diet to get a false sense of control over your life when your marriage is falling apart. When we read God's Word, listen to his voice, and pray, he changes us.  Altering the physical doesn't fix the internal. Only Jesus can set us free from our insecurities.

#AlltheSingleLadies: You Don't Want What You Think You Do!

We know it sounds like a cliché, but in this case it’s true: single women are often initially attracted to qualities in a man that become problematic in marriage. Most won’t realize this until the fog of infatuation lifts. How can you single women be sure this won’t happen to you?

Let’s take one example: women are more likely to experience romantic love with highly dominant men—not dominant in a healthy, let-me-serve-you way, but dominant in a controlling kind of way (which, at the start, looks like he’s just taking care of you). These men often demonstrate less ability to express the kind of companionship, relational skills, and emotional attachment that women ultimately desire in a lifelong mate.

Acts 6:3 sums it up perfectly: “Select men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom.” This is what the early church looked for in leaders of their congregations, and it’s what you want to look for in leaders of your home. Men who are filled with the Spirit—they are alive to God, and God is active in them—and men who are full of wisdom. You won’t regret making a choice founded on that basis.

Series: All the Single Ladies | LET'S GET UP & GET GOING...

Being single is all about you. You're the boss, so do what makes you happy — nothing is stopping you. You can spend a day reading in the park or go to the movies by yourself without feeling guilty for wanting to be alone. You can pursue a new hobby without worrying about how time-consuming it is. Your independence will come with ease. Your time is yours to use however you decide. Go explore and learn — there's nothing holding you back.

Ain't no stoppin' you now... LET'S GET GOING!

Series: All the Single Ladies, LET'S GET UP & GET GOING!

Meeting fresh faces is something you can easily achieve when you're single. You can be outgoing and friendly, flirt with whomever you like, and feel great about it. Not having a boyfriend will make it easier to meet new people and spend more quality time with friends. Making a new friend when you have a boyfriend can trigger jealousy and conflict. Even if you have no intentions of dating them, having guy friends or making a new guy friend can be risky when you have a boyfriend. So get out there, meet new people, strike up a conversation, and wink at the cutie in the cafeteria.

GET UP & GET GOING...