Plan B: Single Motherhood

I am so honored and privileged to introduce to you my sister Katie. She is an amazing woman and I know you will fall in love with her. She has quite a story but it's a story that has God written throughout her pages and I'm going to let her tell you a little about it. 

I don't know about other Christian single moms out there, but being a single parent was not exactly my 'plan A' for my life. Since I was very small, I had dreamed of being a stay at home mom, and a wife of a godly husband. It doesn't seem like it was so much to ask, does it? Did any of us really plan to be single moms? If it wasn't our plan, whose was it? 

I was raised with the belief that divorce is always wrong, and that every marriage can be saved. I'm not going to debate those issues here, simply because I'm discussing those who are already single! My point is, when I left my husband, I felt like God was done with me. I was irrevocably out of God's will. All that was left for me was try to raise my children well, and hope their lives could make up for the failure mine had been. But I knew statistically, even that was a losing battle. 

So where are we now? No husband, no hope? Far from it! Would you suspend your disbelief for a moment as I suggest that God's plan for you right now is to be a single mom? Don't get me wrong, I know that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16), and I agree! Divorce is no fun! But, God also calls lying an abomination (Proverbs 12:22). Now, if I said everyone who ever told a lie was out of God's will forever, you would argue with me, right? The Bible teaches that all sins are equally serious. Why do we act like a divorce is so much worse than other things? A single mother can glorify God with her life! 

When I left my husband, it was for the safety of myself and my children. I believed God wanted me to leave. I still tried to fix the marriage, but I was the only one interested in that project. I began to doubt I had done the right thing. Then I started to see God work. He provided a very nice house for us, at very low rent. He provided a job where I could work nights (getting some sleep at work) and still be at home with my girls during the day. He provided babysitters. He gave me a car. Around this time, my Mom started calling me "God's spoiled daughter!" I worked hard to care for my girls, but so many times the only explanation for us getting what we needed was that God was looking out for us.

Aside from physical provisions, God provided things of much more lasting value. He gave me opportunities to minister. I wish I could tell you all my stories about 'my' teen girls to whom I became a big sister and was able to reach into their lives. I could tell you about bringing carloads of visitors to church because people were asking me if they could come, too! There are many stories of God working, of outright miracles I have seen and have been honored to be a small part in them. I finally realized God was far from putting me on the shelf because of my singleness. God can still use you! 

I challenge you to take a moment and think about your life. Have there been times you have looked back and saw how God was preparing you for being a single mom? Have there been instances you realized you had an opportunity to minister which you wouldn't have had unless you had gone through whatever circumstances brought you to this state of singleness? Have there been moments you understood how God has made you more like Christ through the challenges you have been forced to rise up and meet?

We have an amazingly merciful God! No matter what caused us to be single moms, He uses our circumstances for our sanctification. I can almost promise that whatever brought you here, there was a great deal of pain involved. God doesn't tell us, "You messed up, so now you hurt. Tough luck." God feels our pain with us and uses it to mold us to be more like Christ. He brings beauty from the ashes. He can bring beauty even from the devastation of a broken marriage! Trust Him! Follow Him! Don't despair, and don't give up. Keep striving to serve Christ. Someday, you will look back and see that God redeemed your pain. We don't know when that may be, or if it will be on this earth, but it will happen if we keep following the Savior!

If you were blessed by this post would you please take a moment to comment below? My sister is new to this whole blog world and I have been encouraging her for some time to start one of her own.  She's an AMAZING writer people! She puts me to SHAME! Until THAT happens - she's starting out here on Stringer Mama. Of which I am deliriously excited about!!  

In HIS Grip,