The Wedding Slip

There is a wedding slip hanging in my closet. The kind that looks like it could be its own skirt in order to make a wedding dress full. It hangs in the back where I pushed it so I wouldn’t have to look at it and be reminded that I am next.

“This is for Allison,” my aunt said, handing my mother a long, poufy slip.

“For what?”

“Well, she’s the next one that will get married.”

We had just waved goodbye to my last girl cousin to be married, and though it took up too much space in the car and when I tried it on it would have worked better as a train than a slip, we brought it home. Because I was next. Because my three older girl cousins had worn it before me. And my wedding would be the next big event that would bring everyone back together.

Fast forward to another wedding. My family is talking to the bride’s and I hear the words, “Allison is next.”

And I want to say, “Tell God that; not me.” Because within our two families, though I should be the next one to get married according to age, that is not what happens.

But this is what I realized today. I can think about that slip in my closet. I can picture it gathering dust, feeling sad that it may never be used again. Or I can keep it safe in my closet, knowing that for right now, that is where God wants it to be. Maybe someday I will take it out and have it altered. Maybe someday I will give it away to someone who can actually use it. But for now, it is safe in my closet because for reasons I may never understand, that is where God has willed it. This is where God has willed me to be.

                                                                       ~Allison

Welcome!

Like any other blog, An Abundant Singleness started with an idea.

This blog idea was for single Christian young women. A community where we could encourage each other, a tangible reminder that we are not alone, a place to share the truth of the gospel within the context of the situation we find ourselves in. Really, what I have been searching for and imagine others like me are searching for, too.

But I am scared.

Scared because I do not seem equipped for this. Scared that it will not actually reach my sisters in Christ. Scared to admit my deepest desire. But mostly scared because I find myself single. Still. When I wanted to be very not single in a Christian culture that celebrates marriage, living on a campus where many are married before they graduate. So not only am I single, but I have believed the lies that because marriage does not even seem like a possibility after graduation, I am a failure and it is too late for me to ever be married.

And now I am considering proclaiming it to the world.

But I must share the truth with others and myself.

I am 21 years old. I am single. I am a failure, but not because no man has ever liked me enough to pursue me. Rather, I am a failure because I am a sinner. But I have a Savior who loves me so much that He died for me, and through Him I can claim to be a child of God- the exact opposite of failure. I trust in a God that only has what is best for me. So I am a 21 year old single who is reaching out to other singles. And I will not lose hope because only God knows what my future is, and even if it never involves marriage, I will someday spend eternity with God in heaven- my GREATEST desire.

So welcome. I hope you will join me on this journey as I write about the single life and what God is teaching me. But mostly, I hope you will be encouraged, too. Because in Christ, we have abundance despite any of life’s circumstances.