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Based on all I’ve read and written, I’m convinced that at this late stage learning patience should not be your goal. The average age for first marriages among women in the U.S. is currently 27. That’s as high as it’s ever been in history. So if marriage is your goal, I’d suggest you focus on it at least as much as you are your job and ongoing education. You say that “every once in a while” you wonder about God’s will for you in dating and marriage. If you don’t have the traits Jesus set forth in Matthew 19 that qualify and equip a believer for lifelong celibacy, then you can be confident His will for you is the same as it is for most believers: Get married and have children. I think too often we squander the decade of our 20s wondering if it’s God’s will for us to marry. The irony is that for the vast majority of us, He’s already told us quite plainly that it is. (Genesis 2, 1 Corinthians 7, etc.)
God designed us to marry and start having children in our 20s. Our biology, fertility, sexuality, energy and beauty all reinforce that fact. Tragically, in our current culture, many women aren’t realizing till their mid- to late-30s that their lack of intentionality (as well as a lack of initiative on the part of men) has consequences. For too many, a casual wait-and-see approach finds them missing out on marriage and children altogether.
It’s time we stop wasting our most marriageable years wondering if we’re meant for marriage and start doing what we can to get there. I’m not suggesting you find a guy and pop the question. And I’m not unaware that in this fallen world, some will remain single because of poor decisions on their part or the part of men who might have been their mates.
But I am encouraging young women to do what they can. That includes praying boldly, guarding your purity, not settling for buddy relationships with guys, developing your hobbies and seeking out mentors. For something as important as marriage it seems to me we ought to pour at least as must initiative and creativity into the process as we do our college degrees and careers.
Every blessing,
CANDICE WATTERS
Copyright 2012 Candice Watters. All rights reserved.
