Every day of every week of every month of every year I choose gratitude. Gratitude for grace. Gratitude for fresh mercies each morning. Gratitude for my unchanging God who recorded the truths of His unconditional love for me in His Word (which is the same Bible my married friends read, by the way). Wow. Just wow! His love is not based on my actions, my worth, or even my marital status. So I trust Him. I trust that He chose singleness for me today. If He changes that status, it’s His choice. But it won’t change my trust, my love for Him, or my service to Him. He will always come first!

When I graduated from college, the next step in my mapped-out life plan was marriage. But God’s map had a different plan. It included a broken engagement, job changes, relationships based on my wishes rather than God’s leading, and many (and by many, I mean ginormous amounts of!) life lessons that have prepared me for what I am today: a single woman who sincerely loves God above all else. But it didn’t just happen with a one-time choice. Just as with my married friends, it’s an ongoing choice to commit to loving Him and to following Christ…who is more than enough!

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.’”

—Lamentations 3:22–24, NIV