I’m single, and at the age of 33, I am thankful I didn’t get married earlier in life. Sure there are only a few from my high school and college batchmates who are still single — and yes I am thankful to be one of them.

Looking back, I now find my younger self to be too naive and foolish to hope for a certain crush to be the love of her life. What was I thinking??? I have wasted my mind’s ability to think of solutions to help mankind on worrying about marriage and “who’s the one?”

Ever since I became a Christian, I have seen marriage differently. Slowly, surely, and more firmly, I find marriage to be more than a woman being pursued by a man and starting a life with him — getting a house, having kids, building a business together they both love, supporting each other’s endeavors, etc, etc, etc… No — marriage is more than that.

Even how I prayed for my husband changed…

I have been praying for him since high school, stopped when I thought my standards were too impossible, prayed again when friends started to get married, stopped when I realized my reasons were foolish and prayed again when Christians friends encouraged me. It was right for me to pray again… and surely God helped me with my prayers.

God brought back the standards and even added a few — standards which I saw was possible but more than that were also my gauge on how I should develop myself to glorify God; To pray for guidance in preparing myself for the ministry we are to work in together.

God showed me how to pray for my husband — that God can surely give me more than what I asked (and He did reveal it). To give thanks for my husband’s increase, talent, and heart… how we are able to work independently and how God has blessed us an opportunity to work together for a bigger task in the future.

…and recently God showed me what else to pray for him — how he is also tempted and distracted and how I should pray for his protection so his time won’t be wasted on temporal things that will never bring out the best him and the best he can give to God.

He is a great man. A talented, admired, intelligent, and kind man… that I know and realized whenever I pray it. God wants to use him more mightily than ever before; and the days ahead — even now — can be challenging for him to face alone.

Here’s a letter I posted recently on my Facebook timeline (because it was a sudden move for me to share).  It shares what I have been recently praying for him.

Dear future husband,

I am still praying for you,
but this time with a different prayer.
More than how I prayed what you’d be like,
This time I pray for your time not to be wasted.
For God to humble you, protect you, and redirect your path
— To stop pursuing things or persons that only take away your time and hinder you from glorifying Him to the fullest.

May you wait on Him more patiently.
May you serve Him more faithfully.
May your path be more directed to where He can further INCREASE YOUR INFLUENCE…

 
For our time on earth is short,
–And the days when we can serve Him best as singles are running out…

For now let us fall in love more with our Maker so we can even fall deeper in love with Him when we are together!

While you are still single, pray for your spouse. He (or she if you are a guy) needs a partner now. You may not be “together” yet — or even clueless as to who he is — still, you can be a partner by praying for him. Ask God to not only bless him but also to guide him and protect him.

He is also human… he needs strength and encouragement from God.
He is also tempted — and sometimes misled.
He is also hurting and sometimes he only has you to pray for him…
He is your partner — ordained by God to be a part of you for the rest of your life…

So pray…