Living Changed: As a Single MomSýnishorn

Pursued

The single mom life often creates an interesting paradox where we can be surrounded by people while simultaneously feeling a deep sense of loneliness. It’s tough feeling like you are on the fringes—not fitting in with singles, but not really fitting in with other moms either. In my years as a single mom, I have often struggled with feeling isolated and misunderstood, desperately wanting someone to understand. 

It’s comforting to know that Jesus was also well acquainted with loneliness and feeling misunderstood. Jesus gravitated to those on the fringes, always looking to bring restoration and wholeness. Jesus leaves the 99 to go after the one. He personally pursues each of us.

Maybe the idea of being pursued feels foreign. Maybe you have zero idea what that looks like. That was me. I had never had a man pursue me other than to get something from me. So trying to understand that God pursues us to develop a relationship with us, not to get something from us, was really hard. God created us for Himself and in His image. In fact, we were created to pursue Him, too! He wants you to know Him as much as He wants to know you.

Do you know what God’s pursuit of you looks like? Ask yourself when you most feel His presence. His peace. That may give you a hint in how He uniquely pursues you.

One way I feel His pursuit is in those moments when I am reading God’s Word, and a passage seems to jump off the page and speak directly to my circumstances. I also feel incredibly close to Him in nature. I love trees and can feel His love on those beautiful fall days when the sky is blue and the leaves are on fire with color. Maybe for you it’s when you’re worshiping Him through music, when you’re serving someone else, through the timely word of a trusted Christian friend, or when you see Him answer a prayer. Just as you are unique, so are the ways He speaks to and pursues you.

Lord help me to recognize how you’ve been pursuing me and my heart my entire life. Thank you for wanting a relationship with me. Please continue to develop my pursuit of you. Heal the places in my heart that have been hurt through broken promises, loneliness, and fear. I open my heart to you! Amen.