God Understands Your Pain

Being single can feel a lot like being stuck on the B-Team. People who are in relationships are celebrated with parties when they get engaged and married. Their couple photos, plastered all over social media, are praised and admired. Even children dream of growing up and having a happily ever after just like them.

But what is left for the B-Team? Our days can be filled with loneliness, third-wheeling, jealousy of friends’ relationships, wondering if something is wrong with us, rejection, and questioning if God really has a plan for our lives.

If you are like me, you are sick of sitting on the bench for the B-Team. You wonder if you missed a sign-up sheet or did something wrong that is preventing God from letting you move to a relationship. Maybe you have prayed over and over, asking God to change your relationship status, but nothing has happened. Maybe you have waited so long that you feel there is no longer a point in asking God.

If God hasn’t answered your prayers with a yes yet, then you are not alone. God told many people in the Bible no. In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul asks God three times to remove what he describes as a “thorn in my flesh”. But God did not answer that prayer with a yes. Even Jesus was told no by God in the Garden of Gethsemane when He asked if there was another way to pay for our sins.

But in each of those no’s, God had a bigger plan that He was letting unfold. Paul says his thorn kept him from becoming conceited (2 Corinthians 12:7). Jesus dying on the cross to take away our sins means we can spend eternity with Him in heaven!

If you are not receiving the yes you are looking for, remember God has a plan for your life. And while you wait to see how that beautiful plan unfolds, God is with you caring about every hardship, and question you have in your singleness. Think of the time when Jesus’ friend, Lazarus, died. Jesus knew that He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead, but before He did that, He wept along with those who were mourning. Even though Jesus knew everyone was going to be happy soon, He still felt the hurts and struggles of his friends just like He is doing for you in your singleness.

God knows that singleness isn’t easy. He knows that you may be struggling through it. But as He is letting his bigger plans for your life unfold, He is right there with you, caring about every thought, fear, hope, and dream you have. You are not alone; the most powerful being in the universe is with you, working things out for you, and cares about every moment you are experiencing.