I’ve had several interesting conversations recently with a few women about pursuing marriage.   For one woman, that means telling certain trustworthy women about her desire for marriage and asking them to pray with her for it. For another woman, it means asking some of her guy friends about why they do—and don’t—pursue dating relationships. And for one more, it means delving into the world of online matchmaking for the first time.   What about you? Have you ever thought about asking God for a strategy for pursuing marriage in this season of your life? One book, Get Married: What Women Can Do...

Another Valentine’s Day is upon us, a day to eat cinnamon hearts and chocolate truffles,  to celebrate love and sweethearts. For most of my adult life, it’s been a day to celebrate friendship, which is a wonderful thing.   But I had hoped by now it would be a day when I, too, could enjoy romance, to celebrate the mysterious connection and tension of male and female, the unique love of husband and wife. To receive flowers, or even a kiss.   Whatever happiness Valentine’s Day may hold for you, if you’re a single woman it is probably also another reminder of a hope deferred. My prayer is that...

I’m reading Timothy Keller’s new book, The Meaning of Marriage. I’m not too far into it, but already I can say that its message is excellent (and so is Keller’s writing—as usual!).   A key truth in the book forms our prayer points for this week, anchored in Ephesians 5:21, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”   Keller calls this verse “the introductory statement for Paul’s famous paragraph on marriage,” pointing out that men and women must walk in the Spirit to have the servant heart of love that makes marriage work.   Submitting to one another means placing...

This week, we’ll begin by praying around the truths found in Proverbs 18:22: “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.”   If this verse is God’s view of marriage, then we need its truth to be revealed to Christian men (and women). I heard a story about a single man in his mid-thirties who didn’t appear to have marriage on his mind. His small group leader challenged him to pray about it. He did. And he prayed specifically about the single women at his church. Turns out, there was one who caught his eye. And last year, he married her.   I’m not sure...

If marriage is God’s will, won’t He just bring it about whenever He sees fit? Isn’t that what His sovereignty does?   Let me share three truths of sovereignty that I’ve learned from reading stories in the Old Testament:   1. People can make choices that are contrary to God’s will. 2. God works in the lives of people who walk with Him in faith, no matter how godless their society or disappointing their personal circumstances. 3. Even when circumstances are contrary to His will, He still accomplishes His purpose through them and, maybe, even because of them.   God may desire for all...