written down and spoken aloud, this is my heart

I've got two fun things happening here today! I hope you'll stick around for both. It's a two for one day! A VLOG and some words on honouring my future husband!

First things first!

Ashley (aka one of my favourite bloggers and people around) hosts a monthly link-up called The Girl Behind the Blog and offers a space for bloggers to share by video a little bit about themselves. Here's my video! Watch it, and go to her blog to meet her and go watch a bunch of videos. YAY! HERE WE GO! The prompt this month is to share what is on your heart. That is a good thing for this girl who absolutely loves talking.

I'm super funny! Right??!?! Ha. Well, I think I am, which probably is a bad gauge of funniness!
P.S. I mentioned loving out. I wrote about that here! That piece on loving out remains a favourite for my heart.



AND NOW let's talk about honouring out husbands! Stick around okay.

I'm the single girl sharing words about husbands, yep I am.

Lovely Jac of Babe Blessings (aka another lovely blogger whom I love a whole lot) is hosting a series over 2013 called the Godly Wife Series. She was kind enough to let me be a part even though I don't even have a husband! This month is on honouring your husband. I wrote a piece at the beginning of the month which received a lot of attention (just statistically speaking) and which I actually touched on what God truly kept pushing onto my heart this month as I thought about it.

But in all honesty, I had expectations for what honour would look like for me. I really did. I thought God would reveal a lot of things to my soul this month about honouring my husband.

But I heard only one thing.

Stop thinking about him.

So I am. I didn't expect this. I didn't even want this. But I'm starting to listen.

And you know what, I think I'm honouring this potential future husband more than ever because I've noticed some subtle shifts in my heart.

I've caught myself not being as jealous of those around me.
I've caught myself genuinally excited when engagements have been announced.
I've noticed a lack of grumpiness around being single.

I've also had some moments where, like every month, like every single time I dwell on singleness, I've gotten sad.

Shifting my thoughts hasn't changed the fact that I am still as single as ever and still desire being married as much as ever, but not dwelling on my future husband has caused my heart to choose to rest in my identity in Christ instead of my identity as a single.

I've also noticed that the things I have on my life list of things to do once I'm married can probably happen now. I read a great article this week about singles and while I liked the whole thing, and the words about doing things now instead of when life starts (even tying that, it seems absolutely ridiculous to live as if now isn't really living. As if the life God has given me isn't enough. That's rude to my Saviour) really struck me. I also read another one that was great. It was apparently the week of good article on singleness for me!

If I get to be married, maybe it'll be this year. Maybe it'll be next. Maybe it'll be when I'm 40.

I really don't know when and if that day will come, but I do know that God wants me to honour HIM before I honour anything else.

So am I working to honour my future husband? Yep. Completely!

And right now, the best way I can honour him is not letting myself think about him each day.

See, it's not very profound. I really had HUGE expectations for this month and I truly feel a bit let down. But let down in a way that is great because it means that God has in a sense, let me off the hook.

I don't have to think about my future husband every single day. I get to think about my current love - the love that will remain throughout all things - the love of Jesus.

I don't have to constantly wonder if each person I meet is my future husband because I serve the author of time, and HE has got this. He's got it. Why would I think that I need to stress about it?

I get to rest in the truth that God's plan is perfect, and that means today is good.

Honouring my potential husband starts with honouring the will of my God.

There is a great link-up with Jac that I'd love to invite you in on. Take the time to add either something you've written today about honouring your husband, or about honouring your future husband, or share something that has to do with honour. We've love to read your words. Be sure to pop on over to her blog to link-up or do it below (if it works!)





Regardless of your status, how are you? How's it going to trust God's plan, to honour God before man, and to love God before you love anything else? I'm not very good at it but I'm excited to get better.

AND, what's the link to your VLOG? I'd love to watch it. Last month I watched almost every single one!

From the Perspective of a Single Girl: How to Honour your (future) Husband

SO! I am so very excited and honoured (little note about all these "u"'s that I use in my writing. I'm Canadian so I write like a Canadian - okay? cooooool. I write things like colour, honour, favourite, and the like. Some of my sweet twitter friends have mocked me for it, but I stand firm in my "u"sage. hahaha, I'm so funny right? Also, this little note is getting long . . . whoa) to be a part of a beautiful thing happening this month, and truly, this year! Jac of babEblessings heard a call from the Lord to host a series over 2013 called Godly Wife, and I get to be a writer this month. I'm so excited. Over the past few weeks as I've prayed and tried to discern what to share, I've already learned much. I love how God is always ready to teach me more.

So for this month, the word is Honour.

Now, hold up, wait a minute (put a little . . .), why oh why am I being featured in a Godly Wife series? I'm single!

Yes.

And so I have decided to call all of my sweet readers to fast and pray until I get a husband.

Just kidding. (but if you feel called to do so, I won't stop you)

Jac asked me to share on how I am working to honour my future husband. What am I doing now for then, if then arrives?

So. Honouring my future husband.

If you've been around here for a while, you've probably caught on to this fact that I'm a sinner. At least I hope so. If I'm not pointing out my total depravity of salvation, I'll never rightly point to Jesus.

I sin today, and everyday, and my past is littered with sin. I can truly, only look forward, because like I shared recently, I was in a situation a bit ago when I was rejected because of my past sins.

I can't honour my future husband with my past, other than to walk in freedom from the chains that once held me.

Honour means a lot. I see honour as respect, love, and as one definition I saw read, allegiance. I want to be an ally with my future spouse. In order to be their ally in the future, I need to ready my heart for that.

Part of that comes in praying for him now. I pray for him often; for his purity, for his safety, for his faith, for opportunity for him to speak much of Jesus. I pray that if he does not yet know Jesus, that he will soon. I pray for his work; that he works hard and finds joy in what he does. I pray for his love; that he will love much and that he will be ready to love me. I know that my personality requires a husband who loves my words, because I love to talk, so I pray that he is patient, a good listener, and that he is ready to challenge me to love Jesus more each day.

I also pray for the marriages around me. I don't know the challenges they face, but I pray often. I figure that way, if someday I do get to face those challenges, I'll be able to ask them for wisdom. And God will have aided them to confidently walk me through the things they faced.

I make my best attempt to live with modesty. I know this looks different for everyone, but I try to cover my body more than I want to. Mostly because  I want to save all of myself for him. My past sins took away a lot of my purity, but I have opportunity to walk forward in purity. I dated a guy who said something that has always stayed with me: "I don't want to take anything from you that is your husbands". He didn't know if he would be my husband, and when our relationship ended, we both were able to walk away with pure hands. We were honouring our future spouses by honouring each other.

I wasn't go to add this, but then I read this article and just felt like I really needed to. I don't pray for this potential dude every single (pun intended) day. Sometimes I go weeks (and probably even months) without even thinking about him. And that is a very good thing. I don't know if God has a future husband for me. And even if God does, I want to live in the now. I heard a very convicting sermon when I was in grade 12 with one very strong phrase that has stuck with me throughout all seasons. BE PRESENT. The future is fun to consider, but TODAY is where God has me. That doesn't mean that I get to stop honouring my future husband or God for that matter. That means that I'm faithful in whatever God has for me.

I truly think that the best way I can honour my potential future husband is to faithfully live in the now, not constantly dwelling on the maybe of tomorrow.

Maybe you're thinking, because as I added this portion I had to ask myself if this was true: This seems to be in opposition with what the initial idea of this post seems to be.

But they don't contradict each other. They compliment.

Faithfulness for forever paired with faithfulness for the now.

This is truly just a start. There is much more I could do and probably should do. I'm excited to pray much this month and listen faithfully to what I hear from God.




How do you honour your husband, your future husband, or simply the people who are in your life? If you're single, what are you doing to prepare for the future and to be present in the now? If you're married, what did you do prepare your heart for the future and how do you look forward (to children, new jobs, moving somewhere with your husband, planting a church, whatever it is) and yet remain present in what God has you in now? Share your hearts. I'm truly looking forward to hearing varied perspectives.