Sample Articles

Extra from Volume 14#4

by Hannah H.

What a vast difference there is between surviving and blossoming! In my garden, it is a sadly all-too-familiar sight to see plants that are barely alive. As much as I may tend or water them, some of them are simply surviving. They are alive…but they are only a stem with a few limp leaves. No flowers or fruit appear, and no matter how I try to coax them, they never produce fruit.

There are other plants, however, that amaze me with their resiliency in drought and storm. Their little roots cling tenaciously to the earth and dig deeper and deeper. Instead of destroying them, the worst conditions only make them stronger. Even though they may be in circumstances that are less than ideal or downright awful, they blossom, flourish and produce fruit…right where they are planted.

Our lives mirror one of those two types of plants. When you look at your life and the current season in which God has planted you, would you say that you are simply surviving or absolutely blossoming? Are you using the time that God is giving you as a single woman to the full for His glory? Are you stretching yourself to learn skills that better equip you to serve others? How are you serving others right now in your current situation? These are sobering questions for us to consider. The fact remains that in God’s sovereignty, nothing in our lives is an accident or a mistakeI Samuel 12:22including singleness (Jeremiah 29:11). He has us in this season at this time for His glory and our good (Romans 8:28-29). Our Heavenly Father wants us to produce much fruit for Him in every season and circumstance (John 15:8), even during those desert-like seasons that are difficult and don’t unfold the way that we anticipate (Isaiah 35:1-2). So will we use this time as single women to blossom and grow where He has planted us, or will we look back someday with shame and regret for how we squandered these years? One day we will give an account to the Lord for how we used our singleness. Will it be with joy or grief?

It can be easy to say that we want to use our singleness for the Lord, but it is much more challenging knowing how to implement that in everyday life. In fact, you may be reading this because your life doesn’t look the way that you anticipated it would, and you’re wondering, “What should I do now? I’m ___ years old and still not married!” I can relate to such struggles…my life bears very little resemblance to the plans that I had in mind when I graduated nine years ago. I always envisioned getting married right out of high school and having a house full of children to teach and train in the ways of the Lord… but guess what? I’m still single! Never would I have dreamt that I would be celebrating my 28th birthday as a single woman living in my parents’ home. But let me say that in these past years God has provided so many amazing opportunities for me to serve others, learn diverse skills, and stretch myself through entrepreneurial pursuits. God is teaching me that His plans, although extremely different than mine, are so much better. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” As I have prayed and allowed Him to work and direct in my life, I have seen God use me in ways that I would never have imagined. While walking through this season of unexpected singleness, God has taught me so much about venturing out into new territory and trusting Him with the unknowns of the future. Although your life will obviously look much different than mine, it is my hope and prayer that some of the lessons I’ve learned along the way will help and encourage you in your own journey.

Remember that God created you with your own special talents, interests and abilities for a reason. He doesn’t expect or even want your life to look like mine or anyone else’s. He put different desires in you to learn and grow in unique ways. The ways God works in our lives is so amazing! Sometimes God leads us to learn and get involved in tasks or ministries that stretch us and don’t naturally appeal to us; however, I have often seen God use my own interests and abilities to minister to others in new ways. For example, two things I have always loved are visiting elderly people and making music. At my grandma’s suggestion, I realized that it was a perfect fit for me to pair those two together to start a little business/ministry. Now I regularly travel to over thirty nearby assisted living and nursing home facilities cheering the elderly with beautiful old music. It has been a delight to see God use my musical abilities to bring smiles to these dear people. Singing or playing musical instruments may not be gifts that you have, but God has gifted you in other ways (1 Corinthians 12:14-24). Perhaps you are great at math and could help tutor children who not only need help in school but also need to know Jesus. Maybe, unlike me, you are a wonderful gardener and can landscape your church or take flowers to shut-ins. Wherever God has gifted you, be sure that He will provide a way for you to glorify Him with it.

It can be easy, however, to become confident in our few developed skills and become hesitant about expanding and learning other things. Over and over God has prodded me to step out of my “comfort zone” and diversify in my learning and skills. By the time I graduated from high school, Mama had already taught me a lot about music, cooking, and crafts. As I thought about goals after high school, my aspirations only lay in perfecting those skills. Instead, to my surprise, my family moved to a farm and suddenly I was assistant caretaker for what quickly grew to over 70 animals! I didn’t know how to take care of chickens, horses, alpacas, or beehives! But day by day, I learned and grew in a totally new set of skills. Developing a lot of diverse skills has not only helped me prepare for whatever God may have in store for my future (which only He knows), but it has also helped stabilize my income and schedule when one of my businesses suffers. During times when teaching music lessons has declined, I have seen God boost my musical performances, piano tunings, or beekeeping classes. Diversifying also blesses me with a great variety in each day to learn and enjoy.
One of the great dangers we must guard against during this season, is procrastination.

It is easy to lose motivation to learn and serve in new ways when the future looks so uncertain. When I was 20, I learned about a correspondence course to become a certified herbalist. Although I was fascinated by the topic, I hesitated. All sorts of thoughts swirled through my head like, “If I get married, how would I finish this course?” or “Someday when I am older or it’s more convenient, I’ll learn this.” As I struggled and prayed over this decision and many since then, I was convicted that I need to focus on glorifying God today instead of procrastinating through worrying about the uncertainty of tomorrow. God reminded me that this season of singleness is the ideal time to grow in skills and develop a servant’s heart. During this time when we have less people dependent on us, we can use this precious time and opportunity to study and increase our skills. God impacted me with the thought that even if He changed the circumstances of my life and I was never able to finish the herbal course, each new thing I learned would better help me serve others now and in the future. Having both a long term and an immediate perspective of how learning a skill could help me serve others motivated me to press on. In God’s sovereignty, after five years of self-study I finished my herbalist certification. I am so glad that I didn’t procrastinate! These skills have proved useful as we tend our animals, and if God gives me a family of my own one day, my skills can be utilized in that sphere as well.

As we press forward in blossoming where God has planted us, it is so important that we become women of vision with well thought through and prayed through goals in life! It has been rightly said that when you strive for nothing, you will hit the mark every time. It is so tragic to observe some single women who apparently have no goals, passions, or vision to serve the Lord in these precious years. It is as if they are waiting for Prince Charming to arrive on their doorstep before seeking to do anything with their life for the Lord. If they spend their entire life shopping, studying Pinterest, or updating their Facebook page, what will they have to show?

In the years since graduating, God has inspired me to set aside every New Year’s Day to fast and pray and write out goals for myself for the coming year. It is such a special time of looking over the past year’s goals and evaluating where I need to grow. Although I am far from perfect in accomplishing my goals, this has been a way that God is teaching me to be a woman of “vision.” He impressed upon me that after praying and seeking counsel about my goals, I must strive toward them until either they are accomplished or God shows me that He is moving me on to other tasks. It is far too easy to quit because something seems too hard. This lesson was impressed on me a number of years ago when I started a little beekeeping business. I was so filled with excitement and was thrilled to tend my bees and sell their honey. After my second winter, though, I was devastated to find that all my bee hives had died. As I cried over my loss, I thought, “I may as well give up now. I’ve already invested so much time, effort, and resources. This is too hard.” As soon as I said that, God deeply convicted me. My eagerness to give up revealed my unbelief that God’s grace would be sufficient in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). God reminded me that life will be filled with disappointments and difficulties (John 16:33), but these are designed to deepen my character and transform me more into Christ’s image (Romans 5:3-5). If I ran away and quit when faced with a little disappointment, like my bees dying, then what would I do in the future when I was faced with a huge trial? I realized that in God’s sovereignty, this was part of His training program for me. At that point I resolved that ending a business or stepping out of a ministry because it is “too hard” is not an option for me. Instead I must only stop an activity because I am convinced that God has other work for me to do. That resolve has been tested in the years since, but I have grown more through persevering in disappointment and difficulty than perhaps anything else. It saddens me to see how some people quit before they even get started or after the first difficulty they face. They think up solid business plans or a way to minister to others but allow doubts and difficulties to scare them off from taking the steps forward that God calls them to do. Although we are dependent on God to bless our efforts, we are required to take that first step of obedience (Joshua 3:13), trusting Him to guide and work. Even when we follow God’s lead, sometimes it isn’t until we have labored for years that we will see the fruit of our efforts. We should not be striving for instant success, but faithfulness.

As I think back over how God has directed me into the ministries and businesses that I enjoy today, several key passages stand out that highlight how God has led me:

Seek God First

Matthew 6:33 commands, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” My goal has not been to seek an adventurous life, a big paycheck, or even marriage. Instead my priority each day must be seeking God. From day to day I try to ask, “What does God want me to do today?” As I have sought, albeit imperfectly, to glorify God each day, He has led me to initiate involvement in some activities and He has brought some opportunities without me even pursuing them. My very first music student was thrust upon me by a mom who insisted that she wanted me to teach her daughter even though I protested that I didn’t feel qualified. God used this mom’s persistence to prod me into teaching music lessons. That was nine years ago and I’m still teaching music lessons today!

Delight in the Lord

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight thyself also in the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Growing up I loved this verse because I believed that this meant that as long as I was delighting in God, He would give me everything I wanted. God has been teaching me how backwards my thinking was! Instead, as I delight myself in the Lord, He puts His desires in my heart and then fulfills them. For example right after high school, God burdened me about inner city girls who were being evangelized through a crisis pregnancy center that our church supported. As I prayed for that ministry, God put a deep desire in my heart to serve there. When I talked to my parents about it, they encouraged me in it and for the next year and a half I worked as a volunteer counsellor there one day each week.

Trust God—Even When it Doesn’t Make Sense

When I graduated, my theme verses were Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” As I have prayed for God to guide and direct my footsteps, it has been amazing to see how God has answered that prayer. Time and again God has given me ideas that not only are odd but also don’t make sense to most people. I have pressed forward, not leaning on my own understanding, and it has been incredible to see God work. A couple years ago, the thought dawned upon me, “Why don’t local park and recreation departments offer beekeeping and herbal classes?” After thinking and praying about it, I called up a local community and asked if they would be interested in having me teach such classes. Having never taught classes before, I was nervous and felt silly. Who was I to call and ask such a bold question? However, I believed that God gave me the idea and would be honored by my step of faith even if the answer was “no.” Never would I have guessed that today I would have a thriving little business teaching beekeeping and herbal classes in six communities as well as doing beekeeping talks for kids’ camps. Because I stepped out in obedience to God’s leading, He has provided income for me through talking about topics that I thoroughly enjoy! It seems too good to be true!

Seek Wise Counsel

Proverbs 1:8-9 says, “My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.” Over and over God has used my parents’ counsel to give me direction in my life. At times they have encouraged me to step out my comfort zone and try new things that I didn’t feel qualified for, such as running for our town board. As I have sought to honor and obey my parents in these pursuits, I have seen God bless me and draw me closer to Himself. Being on the town board is not something that I aspired to do, but as I stepped out to run for that position and was elected, God has used that challenge and difficulty in my life to open my eyes to how much I need His wisdom and strength. He has grown me in so many ways and I have learned so much!

Without doubt the details of your life and mine are different, but whatever our particular circumstances are, let us view this time of uncertainty as an opportunity. This season is a gift that God is using to increase our trust in His plan and provision for our lives. We can anticipate seeing Him work in incredible ways today not just “someday” if we get married. God is giving us this season to serve, learn, and grow, laying the foundation for whatever He has for our future. Although we do not know what the future holds or where God is taking us, we can rejoice knowing that He has placed us in the current circumstances we are in for a reason, and that is to blossom and bear fruit for Him…right where He, in His infinite wisdom has planted us.

Hannah is twenty-eight years old. Although she has always desired to be married and have children, God has had many adventures planned for her life thus far. As a single woman, she live with her parents on a mini farm in Wisconsin with their 70+ animals and beehives. As an only child, Hannah is her parents’ “right hand” helper.

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