If you’re a single woman, this devotional is the ideal tool to help you lay a firm foundation for marriage. Here you can discover the freedom and contentment that come from preparing for a God-honoring, life-giving relationship.
WaterBrook Multnomah
Day 1
Scriptures: Hosea 2:16-20, Ephesians 5:25-32, Revelation 19:6-9
“Meet the Bridegroom”
Today’s Scripture readings are only a sampling of the ways in which Scripture portrays the Lord as the Bridegroom of His people. As you’re thinking about finding an earthly bridegroom, what does it mean to you that you have a heavenly Bridegroom?
Jesus waits patiently for your heart to turn fully to Him and to fall in love with Him. He opens His arms to you as His bride when you give your life to Him. He promises to always be with you and be the source of all your joy and contentment. The foundation for all love is from Him, through Him, and because of Him.
As you begin to understand how much Jesus wants you, all the other pieces of your life shift into place. You will see that God will fulfill His purpose for you as you continue to live in a committed relationship with Him. If a spouse is part of His faultless purpose, God will not withhold that relationship from you. He will accomplish His beautiful design in His way and in His time. If not, then you will still spend your life fully being who you were created to be.
As God says in Jeremiah 31:3, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (NLT). God is The One for you. He is your true First Love.
So, how will your story unfold? Will you get married one day? Will you meet a man who is traveling down a parallel path, and you can join hearts and lives and keep on going together?
We don’t know. Your future is a beautiful mystery. But if you are hoping that the mystery will include marriage, then in these devotionals we want to help focus your thinking and prepare your heart before you meet your future husband.
Above all, our prayer is that you will fall in love with Jesus. You have been chosen by the Prince of Peace to be His bride for now and forever. Before you meet your eternal future Husband in heaven, may you draw closer to His heart.
Your Bridegroom, Jesus, loves you more than you will ever know.
Have you fallen in love with Jesus? How can you lean on your Bridegroom more?
Day 2
Scriptures: Psalms 37:3-4, Matthew 6:31-34, 1 John 5:13-15
“What Your Heart Needs”
When I (Tricia) was seven years old, I wanted a Barbie paper doll book with cute, two-dimensional clothes to punch out. I desperately wanted it, so I prayed. I told God that He could drop the book in my closet, and I’d keep it just between Him and me.
But the next day, when I opened the closet door, the paper doll book wasn’t there. How could that be? Wasn’t God supposed to answer my prayers?
A few weeks later, my birthday arrived. Guess what I received? Yes, the paper doll book, among other things.
Looking back, I learned a lot about God and myself. Even though my thought process and prayers were immature, I knew I could turn to God with the desires of my heart. I also learned that sometimes prayers aren’t answered in the ways we want.
As I grew older, I realized I didn’t need to bargain with God or expect Him to be some sort of magician who makes what I want to appear (no, not even in my closet). Instead, it’s okay to share what’s on my heart.
Father God knows the desires of our hearts, and He will handle those desires in tender ways. Sometimes He will ask us to wait, knowing the time isn’t right. Other times, He will turn our hearts to different desires.
Pause and consider what you truly desire in terms of your future husband. Then pray about those desires.
Is it hard to trust God with your desires? Today’s readings contain some of the Bible’s strongest assurances that God knows what is best for you and is generous toward you.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.” The more you delight yourself in the Lord, the more you’ll understand how good God’s heart is toward you. As you delight in Him, your trust in God will grow. As you pray, you’ll see God’s answers are for good, even if they are different from you what you wanted.
God cares about your desires, but mostly He cares about you. He knows when—or if—your future husband will come and how that person will be who you truly need, someone your heart will desire.
What desires of your heart do you need to turn over entirely to God, especially concerning your future husband?
Day 3
Scriptures: Romans 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Hebrews 12:1-2
“Hitting Refresh”
An elderly relative handed me (Robin) his battered phone. “What’s wrong with this?” he asked. “I can’t get it to do what I want.”
I found the problem quickly. He had opened hundreds of files and apps and never closed any of them. He had also opened links in emails that clogged his phone with spam, and he had never deleted any texts or voicemails. All that data was running in the background and draining the real use and power of his phone. Within a few minutes, I’d cleared it, and his cell phone was refreshed and ready to go.
Try the same process with your thoughts. What unrealistic data is still running in the background of your thoughts? What messages have you saved that should have been deleted long ago? What kind of spam has infiltrated your mind? Perhaps your imagination has held on to an impression of what romance should look like from a movie you loved as a child, but nothing in real life has measured up. Maybe you took to heart painful words from a broken relationship. You’re still running those discouraging messages in the background and believing a lie. To move forward, you need to swipe and clear your imagination, and hit refresh so that you can be ready for what comes next.
One of the many amazing things about our Father God is that He is the Author and Finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He can write your love story in ways that are far more creative, mysterious, hilarious, and beautiful than anything you could dream up.
But you must let Him do the writing.
Scripture talks much about the mindset change we are to undergo when we cling to Jesus as our Bridegroom. Certainly, we all have “rebellious thoughts” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How do you know which thoughts are from the Lord and which are the rogue ones that snuck in there and set up an entire camp?
Simple. You ask Him. He can show you how to renew your mind.
No shame here. Just a fresh start. Once your thoughts are cleared and refreshed, you’ll have all the mental and emotional space needed to be filled up with the right thinking and aligned emotions.
What thoughts about yourself and/or your future husband have you held on to that God is now asking you to let go of?
Day 4
Scriptures: Psalms 90:12-17, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Ephesians 2:8-10
“The Work of Your Hands”
Today, let’s dream about you—about what you are drawn to and what you love doing.
As our Scripture readings show, God accords great dignity to work (paid or otherwise). Psalm 90:17 prays, “Establish the work of our hands” (ESV). So, what is the work of your hands that you’ve seen God bless? What are the things you’ve done that other people have complimented or asked for more of?
Dream about what it would be like to invest more of your efforts into that work in the future. What do you need to make that happen? More training or education? More time in your schedule? A place where you can let the work of your hands take root and grow?
It takes a prayer, a plan, and a first step for the Lord to bless and establish the work of your hands. Start dreaming about what you can do. Take inventory of what you already possess. Prioritize your to-do list and start your journey.
This process may well be part of your path to meeting your future husband. I wish I’d saved all the notes I’ve received from women who met their spouses while they were in the midst of expanding the work of their hands.
One friend reluctantly agreed to go to a writers’ conference, and she met her husband there.
Another woman started organizing outings for the singles group at church and married a man who came to the first event.
I heard from a girl in her twenties saying my books motivated her to stop trolling dating sites and go back to school. Yep. There “he” was in her evening class.
Another reader told me that my memoir inspired her to move to another state because she believed the Lord was asking her to care for her aging mom. She’s now married to a man she met through her mom’s doctor.
Set aside dreams of your future husband for a while. Dream about what is next for you. Ask God to lead you in developing the ability, interest, and gifts He’s given you, and the favor of the Lord will rest upon you in ways you never would have imagined.
What steps can you take to nudge yourself into evaluating your many options for the future and start down that path?
Day 5
Scriptures: Psalms 23:1-5, Psalms 31:14-15, Romans 8:26-30
“God’s Invisible Hand”
We hope that many character-shaping adventures happen to you before you get married. We hope God gives you stretching experiences. Why? Because as a result of those episodes, you will see God’s invisible hand, and it will strengthen you and prepare you to be a more understanding and patient friend, wife, co-worker, and mother.
When I (Robin) was in my twenties, I backpacked around Europe for the summer with some of my girlfriends. One morning, in Venice, Italy, we woke up in our youth hostel bunk beds and heard the rain pouring outside. We had planned to take an early train to Florence, so we strapped on our backpacks, pulled up our hoods, and sloshed our way to the train station.
We arrived at our platform just in time to see the caboose of the 7 am train as it left the station, headed to Florence without us.
None of us said a word. We found a table at the coffee bar and ordered cappuccinos. The longer we waited, the grouchier and more miserable we became. In our impatience, we started blaming each other for getting to the station late.
After a while, a fellow tourist leaned over and asked, “Did you hear? A mudslide took out the tracks. The train to Florence was derailed.”
The invisible hand of God had made us miss the train.
Today’s readings offer just a few of the ways that the Bible reveals how God is always at work, shaping circumstances and fulfilling His good plan for His people. That’s what we mean by His “invisible hand.” And his providential care for us enables us to rest and to rely on Him.
“My future is in your hands” (Psalm 31:15). Those six words express such a simple declaration. But what a strong foundation! Say it over and over.
When we believe—really, truly at the gut level—that our future is in God’s hands, we will not accuse others of messing up our plans. We won’t become angry when our schedule must go on hold or when a relationship with a guy is obliterated. We won’t wrongfully blame ourselves or others. We will trust God.
If you believe that God is really in control, what do you need to start saying to yourself and others to express that your future is in God’s hands?