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Waiting for God’s "Immeasurably More"
Cindi McMenamin - Author of When Women Walk Alone

Lori looked away as she sat across the table from me and told me something she knew I didn't want to hear.

"It's not that bad. I was over-reacting. Besides, it's better to have a little pain with him at times, than to be alone."

Lori was choosing to stay in a dating relationship that was clearly unhealthy and unsafe. I knew God had more in store for Lori. But Lori apparently didn't believe that. And she was settling for far less than she should.

So often we, as women, settle. We think, at times, that it's better to stay with a boyfriend who mistreats us - verbally, emotionally, or physically - than to have no man in our lives at all. We reason that it's better to stay at a job that we hate, than to look and pray for something better. We would rather be around negative people who bring us down than to feel we have no friends at all. And when we settle like that, we are clearly saying to God and others that He is not capable of giving us anything better.

I remember feeling that way, too. I had just met the man of my dreams. But he lived 1,000 miles away. And my on-again, off-again boyfriend of four years lived just across town. That relationship was convenient. It was comfortable (for the most part…except when I was crying my eyes out!). And it was better to be with someone, than to be alone, I remember thinking.

It was my sister who finally burst my unbelieving bubble with the truth.

Read the rest of Waiting for God’s "Immeasurably More"

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ORIGINAL: Elyse7

Well... I was waiting for God's "best". I broke up with boyfriends who I didn't think were right for me, didn't stay in or look for jobs that I hated. Now I'm single and unemployed, with no hopes or prospects for the future, and very lonely. I used to be pretty positive about life. Now I'm just wondering why I even exist. All I can think is that maybe God doesn't mean for me to have his best until after I die.

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ORIGINAL: willfs

Yeah but how do you know if you are settling or you have too high expectations?

I am always thinking of the great catch that got away years ago. I don't think I will ever meet anyone like her again. Back in college, where there were a ton of woman, God still had to provide some big miracles to get me close to women I found interest in. And even then I was too timid/picky/fickle to respond. Now that the single's scene has shrunk to 1/5000 the size of what it was in college I see no hope in fiding someone. I constantly feel regret over not going after some girls I knew years ago. God seemed to go out of his way to put us together, sometimes even when thousands of miles seperated us. (He wasn't pushing me to do "His perfect will" but providing me with something he knew was good and that deeply interested me). However, I never went after these girls for stupid stupid reasons. Now that these woman are married and there are none like them on the single scene I wonder how much I need to overlook to get married. I am not talking about dating a pagan or a wild woman but good women who don't do it for me like these woman did. I keep constantly thinking "She's the best pick I have right now. Why not go for her?" I am thirty four and those thoughts have gone through my head for years. Are those thoughts the best motive for dating, especially if you have to force yourself to date the person because, while they have some good qualities that you really like, thier few bad qualities turn you off enough to keep you from wanting to go anywhere with it, Will God ever send someone who I am like "Wow! It's going to take a lot to keep me from her." He hasn't done so in a while. And if he does, will I reject them because I am too picky/fickle/foolish like I was with the girls in the past? I wonder if I am being dumb/picky with the opportunities I have now but I don't want to force myself to do something I don't want to do.