(Welcome back to Love and Grace Media! Today’s blog post was written by Rebekah Snyder. Read more about Rebekah and her new book Beyond Waiting at the end of her post.)
It all began with a single conversation. Just two girls talking about the unwanted absence of Mr. Right. It was one of those typical conversations where the one girl laments to the other girl that she’s tired of waiting. This forced the other girl to wonder, “What does it actually mean to wait?”
So I (who have, until this moment, been referring to myself in third person) went home and looked it up, thinking there was something we single women were missing, knowing there must be more to the waiting dilemma. Well, Google both did and did not answer my question. What it did not tell me was a great definition for the word “wait.” Quite the contrary, actually. It seems that waiting, by definition, is just as discouraging as my friend expressed it to be.
As I sat staring at my computer screen, I thought of all the people and teachings and books that encouraged me to wait for Prince Charming. And that’s when I got mad. So mad that my mind churned up an argument that would have made Sally Brown from Peanuts proud. “I’ve been gypped! I’ve been lied to! I’ve wasted valuable years of my young life waiting! I’ll never get those years back! Someone will pay for this! Justice, I say! I demand justice!”
Okay, so maybe it wasn’t quite that bad, but something began stirring in my heart that day, and that something grabbed hold and took root. Before I knew it, that something was growing and flourishing and becoming so much more than a feeling. A full-fledged movement began taking place within me. A movement to spur me to go beyond waiting…
When I read the definitions of the word “wait,” I instantly knew that I would never again be content to merely wait for Prince Charming to come and sweep me off my feet. But what I didn’t know was that my heart was about to go spiraling into a fairytale-like journey in which I would discover a greater purpose in singleness than I’d ever known. What I didn’t realize was that I was about to be invited to pursue my dreams with passion and to walk in a freedom unlike any I’d ever experienced.
What I want more than anything is to see you live your life with the same sense of freedom I’m enjoying right now. I’m dying to watch you grasp the purpose of your single years – to understand how God is preparing you to be used for His glory. How He is using you for His glory right now. I want you to realize that singleness is not a curse, not a disease, and not something undesirable. I yearn to show you that you’ve been duped into looking at the fairytale backwards and upside-down – that you’re missing a vital part of your story if the only thing you walk away with is “happily ever after.”
But there’s only so much I can tell you in a blog post. Which is why I wrote the book. Yes, the book. The one I was so reluctant to write. The same book that, ironically, flowed pretty effortlessly from my fingertips when I finally surrendered to the call of God on my life. The book that stemmed from my desire to live (and help others live) a life beyond waiting.
Because there are so many secrets I want to share with you—so many truths I want you to realize about yourself—I invite you to find a copy of Beyond Waiting and journey with me. As we explore the seven definitions of the word “wait,” I hope your eyes will be opened to see yourself and singleness in a new and vibrant way. It is my prayer that you will adjust your perspective, look beyond the focus of marriage, and embrace the wonder of living a full and exciting life beginning today.
After all, YOU, my friend, were meant for so much more than merely waiting…