Patience and Finding "The One"

Trying to find your future spouse can be a stressful endeavor. Sometimes you're single for years on end because you can’t find someone you feel you’re compatible with. Other times you may go through several relationships that don’t work out, which can be even more frustrating. It can be easy to turn to God in anger and shout, “Where are they?!?”

But what if all this waiting was actually working to your advantage? What if God was actually trying to help you out?

Imagine you’re preparing to go out on your first date with someone. You get all dressed, showered and spiffied up, and as your date is walking up to the door, you ask your friend, “How do I look?” They say you look alright, but you totally forgot to brush your teeth. They’re stained Gatorade blue and your breath reeks. They agree to stall your date to give you time to go fix yourself up - to make yourself presentable at your very best.

Cleaning your teeth is a quick fix, a small enough problem that a friend is able to stall and allow you to fix it.

Cleaning up our souls is not always such a quick fix, and though it’s harder to see someone’s soul than it is to see their teeth, any true loving relationship will demand that both souls involved be brought into the light for full display. And depending on what the other person sees...that can mean trouble for us.

For this reason, I think God oftentimes works like the stalling friend in our lives. We want to meet the man or woman of our dreams, but in reality, we simply aren’t ready yet! He is keeping them away while giving us time to prepare for them, to make ourselves as presentable as possible, not just on the outside, but more importantly, on the inside.

This person is everything you have ever dreamed of: kind, selfless, intelligent, and pious to the greatest extent. After giving a mental look at our future spouse, I think we need to give ourselves a good look in the mirror and honestly ask, “Am I worthy of that person as I am today?”

There’s a very good chance the answer is no.

And that’s ok.

Ask God how to become who you want to be for your future spouse. Ask for the strength to cleanse yourself of your demons, to help you replace your unhealthy habits with good ones. And ask for the patience to peacefully wait for your spouse until the time is right.

At an hour that is not known to you, God will allow your future spouse to walk into your life, and the anger, heartbreak and impatience of years past will be no more. Love will win - if only we are patient enough to give it the time.