“Can I ask you something? What if five years pass and you fail to get married…would you complain to God?” Angela's eyes were glued to my face, still bewildered at my confident trust in God’s plan for my future. I could tell something was weighing on her heart.
In Angela's culture, 25 is the normal age for a girl to be married. Any older than that, people start to assume there's some personality flaw that keeps a girl from being able to get a boyfriend. Angela is 27, and the older she gets the more she worries that no man will even want to consider her. I could see the hopelessness starting to set in as she starts to feel old and overlooked.
I told Angela about my older sister, who didn't meet her husband until she was 29! After years of not dating and wondering if she might never get married, the waiting paid off! I'll never forget my sister's words to me after she got engaged. “I am SO glad I waited for him! It was worth all those years!”
Angela felt encouraged by my stories, but she had one more concern. She knows she wants to remain faithful to her future husband, but she thought that finding a man who was still a virgin at this age would be impossible. As she listened to stories of my sister and many other Christian friends who have waited faithfully for their future spouses, I saw hope start to lift her countenance.
I encouraged Angela to start praying for her future husband, trusting God to keep him pure. I want so badly for her to enjoy this season of singleness and trust God with her future! We ended our lunch date by praying together for her future husband. My eyes were filling up with tears as I heard her whisper a heartfelt prayer in her language. When I finished praying, I looked up to find Angela beaming with new hope. “Thank you,” she said gratefully. I could hear the new peace and confidence in her voice!
~ Buttercup
* Angela is a PhD student at my campus who joined the family just one week ago when a short-term team met her and shared the Gospel with her! Now my partner Ellei and I are discipling her along with a couple other girls. Angela was thrilled when we invited her to join a Bible Study at our apartment every week!