Part One:Keeping Your Heart & Serving The Lord As A Young Lady

When I was growing up, I did not “date” like most girls my age. By “date”, I mean going out or spending lots of time with guys on a regular basis for fun, or for the slim possibility that I might marry one of them years down the road.

When the time for marriage came, I was planning for my father to be involved in helping me choose a husband. The Lord has said; “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 6:1). My parents taught me this principal from the Word when I was growing up. They also taught me that I did not need to be “boy crazy”, and date when I grew of age. When I got into my late teens I saw that my wicked, sinful heart could not handle the emotions that come with a dating relationship (Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”).

I also saw from the Word that I did not want to date (Proverbs 4:23, “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”).

I saw that I needed to keep my heart from having a crush on some boy, and keep my thoughts and emotions in check. “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians10:5.

As a young lady, it was hard not having a “sweetheart” on Valentine’s Day to bring me flowers, and it was not always the easiest thing for me to tell people why boys were not hanging around; but I was waiting on just the right guy that the Lord had for me. I really wanted to be married, which was interesting; I had such a strong desire to get married and be a wife and mother, being that I was still in my late teens. But the Lord knew what was ahead. I remember thinking of some of the women in the Bible, and what they were doing before they had gotten married. I realized that Rachel (Genesis 29:1-28 ) was watching her fathers’ sheep when Jacob came along. Rebekah was getting water at the well when Abraham’s servant saw her and knew that this was the one he had prayed for (Genesis 24). Ruth was gleaning in the fields, working to get food for herself and her mother-in-law, when Boaz took notice of her. All these women were serving or working when their husbands came into the picture. Psalms 37:3 says “Trust in the Lord, and do good…”-So, I was to do good; what I knew the Lord would have me to be doing, and trust the Lord for a husband. The Lord had also shown me some things about serving (John 13:14-15 etc.). Thus, I needed to serve, and whatever else He had shown me, and not worry about finding a husband. Of course, I’m not encouraging you to start serving so your husband-to-be will take notice of you, but I do think you need to be about the business the Lord has shown you through His Word. “And this is love, that we walk after His commandments…” (2 John 1:6). Another good verse that helped me was Psalms 37:5, “Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.”

So, in summary, as a young lady, I was to keep my heart from emotional distractions; trust the Lord to send me a husband; rely on the wisdom of my father for help in choosing a husband; and while I was waiting, serve the Lord in the things He had shown me.

Part Two continued later….