28 Jul God’s Best for Us
The Apostle Paul stated that singleness is a gift. I certainly do not respond to this gift the way I do for any other gift, that’s for sure. Although Paul found contentment in this statement, I do not always see eye-to-eye. It is common for me to question God about my faithfulness or wonder if He’s forgotten me.
I recently read an article by Paige Benton Brown about the state of being single. She said, “I am not single because I am too spiritually unstable to deserve a husband, nor because I am too mature to possibly need one. I am single because God is so abundantly good to me, because this is His best for me.” If he cares for the hairs on our head, He also care about every detail of our lives.
Whenever I focus on anything other than God’s best, I am reminded of my grandmother.
Elsa Peterson (“Meemee”) and I are the only single people in the Peterson family besides the children. Meemee became single again at the age of 57 when Lou Gehrig’s disease claimed my grandfather’s life. Now 86, she has been single longer than she has been married. Knowing he was sick, she promised my grandfather she would faithfully serve the Lord until the end. The remarkable thing about my grandmother’s decision was that she lived in Haiti at the time. They were missionaries. When he died, she stayed faithful to her promise. It would be 25 years before the Lord would bring her back to the US.
She ran an office there. Many of her Haitian staff would say, “Madame Pete, why don’t you get married again?” She would say, “If the Lord brings back my Alden as another person, I would marry him.” Of course she didn’t believe in reincarnation, but the reality was that she was content in her singleness and knew that God would never leave her. In difficult times facing loneliness, staring in the face of voodoo practices or experiencing an occasional tarantula in her home, she would say aloud, “Jezi pap jam lage mwen”, translated, “Jesus will never leave me”.
Meemee helped share the love of Jesus throughout villages all over southern Haiti. With His truth, people were freed from the controls of voodoo that will affect generations to come. She was supported by many married friends all over the world. Couldn’t she have done this with my grandfather around? Maybe. All I know is she lived out His best for her and changed the world around her, but she needed to depend on The Lord and not her husband.
I have a model of living the single life in dedication to the Father through my grandmother. We also have countless models in scripture of people living devoted to God. Remember, God is so abundantly good whether we are single, married, widowed, with or without children. Choosing to remain devoted to Him first is the best option for our lives, no matter what stage we are in.
Cari Peterson