Single on Purpose

My younger sister has a friend who just moved to Bosnia to play professional women's basketball. She graduated from college, got a phone call from her agent a few weeks later, and just a few days after that was on a plane to Bosnia. Seriously, she got a call, and her agent told her she had 15 minutes to decide if she was going. I'm a little in awe of her courage. Leaving behind everyone she knows to move to a kind of random Eastern European country is a pretty admirable thing. Then I found myself thinking about how if she wasn't single, Bosnia might never have happened for her. Would 15 minutes have been enough for her to work out all the details and make her choice if there was someone else there she had to make it with?

While it's a bit tempting for me to use this as a chance to sing the praises of the single girl's freedom (She can move halfway across the world on a moment's notice! She can go wherever she wants on vacation! She always gets to pick what movie to watch! She can buy herself shoes that cost way too much money and no one ever has to know or tell her that she has to take them back!), the truth is that I don't really think that's what is going on here. I think that while being single has it's advantages, so would having a boyfriend, so would being married. So, one isn't better than the others.

I think what's going on here is that there is a best for everyone, and that everyone's best is different. God knew that my sister's friend would go to Bosnia, and that her decision to go would have to be made so quickly. Just like God knows my sister's friend, He, in his infinite wisdom, knows me--better than I know myself. He knows the path my life is going to take. He knows about any Bosnias that are in my future, so I can trust Him.

This means I don't need to spend time wondering what would have happened if I had talked to that cute guy in front of me at Barnes and Noble who was buying a copy of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close--a great book if you've never read it. (And yes, I'm that girl who goes to a bookstore and proceeds to judge people based on the books they are buying. There is a reason someone invented Amazon.com. If you really want to read that book that a book snob like me would totally look down on you for reading, order it online. This way no one has to know you are buying and reading it. Or, if you are a book snob and are emabarrased that you sometimes feel the need to read silly chic lit, Amazon.com is a fantastic option. It lets you keep up the appearance that you only read the finest literature available.) This means that I don't need to wonder what would have happened if I was more confident and outgoing when I was in college. This means that God didn't turn around one day, let my husband walk past me, then turn back around and think, "Woops, guess that means she's going to have to be single now. My bad."

This means that I can have peace and joy in knowing that I am right where God wants me to be, right where He knows is best for me. And that doesn't just apply to my location.