A frequent question asked of me is: “What’s the one thing you wish you had learned earlier as a single parent?”
It’s the one thing that fuels my ministry. The bedrock of successful single parenting is found in this one truth:
I am my Beloved’s; my Beloved is mine.
// Song of Solomon 6:3
Embrace this single truth and your world shifts. It happened for me at the mall. Shoppers with purpose and “significant others” seemed to be all around. Maybe spouses or boyfriends, children, or even friends – it didn’t matter – for me my aloneness seemed magnified. I felt empty, believing I was unwanted and on my own. I strayed from window to window, looking for who knows what. Passing a jewelry store, I began to image having a “someone” in my life that loved me and wanted to be with me and share his life.
A glass bowl filled with red pins caught my eye. I wandered over and read the imprinting:
I am Loved.
Jesus whispered, “I love you. You are loved.”
A jewelry purchaser had the option to give their gift additional significance with the pin, but God meant for me to feel the significance of my sweet Jesus.
I was His Beloved and He was mine.
It was a proposal of sorts. Jesus was asking me to receive His love in a deeper way, to seek Him with all my heart and to trust Him to provide for all my needs. My parenting, financial, practical, and romantic needs were all under His care. Accepting Jesus’s proposal pivoted my daily choices in parenting, lifestyle, career, and relationships. Life changed. Challenges, however, did not. Yet now I had an intimate partner to lead, love, and learn from moment by moment.
Realizing Jesus was asking me to accept Him as more than a Savior – as a Beloved – shifted my heart. Loneliness becomes an invitation to intimacy with Him. Difficulties directed my steps to His Word and His voice of wisdom. Financial needs focused my faith steps to trust and seek His ways and His provisions.
Will you accept Jesus’s proposal?
Coaching Tip
You made it through the Holidays and the past year and now February and Valentine’s Day approaches. I know many moms concentrate on their children and see Valentine’s Day as a holistic holiday of love – and that is great. Good job!
Now, as you focus on being the Beloved of Jesus, this year and especially preparing for Valentine’s Day, you may desire to follow Jesus closer in order to get to know Him deeply (Matthew 1:35-51). If you are in a difficult season, you may want to choose to trust Him with endurance in the trials to gain a testimony of His provision (John 6:5-13). Or, you may be in a place where you are led to step out onto the waters for a greater adventure walking with Jesus (Matthew 14:22-33).
Here are some things to try, in the spirit of Valentine's Day:
- Read the gospel of John or 1 John from the perspective of a woman getting to know her Beloved.
- Pick up a copy of Ruth Meyers Thirtyone Days of Praise, a wonderful devotional written by a widow and single mom.
- Put a ring on your left ring finger to practice living like one who is “spoken for.” How would it change your daily life (character, clothing, and choices)?
- Dive deeper into walking with Jesus by joining a ministry or small group oriented towards spiritual growth.
- Approaching this year (and all the holidays ahead) from a perspective of one loved and belonging to the Beloved will bring an intimacy with the Lord that few Believers have experienced, yet is the desire of God’s heart for everyone (John 15: 20-25).
Saying “yes” to Jesus does not mean saying “no” to marriage. Three years after accepting Jesus’s proposal, I was married again (which is a great God story!).
Get connected with other single moms!
Want to find a community of single moms near you? Check out our national map to find a single mom support group near you!
MEET THE AUTHOR
Stacey Jeannett is the founder and director of Single Parent Focus, dedicated to walking and encouraging single parents to “seek God first” in all areas of their lives. Stacey holds a Master’s in Counseling and is a Life Coach through her ministry, Single Parent Focus.
A single parent for most of her daughter’s life and making plenty of mistakes, Stacey cried out to God and He pulled her from the pit of self-sufficiency. Remarried, she now has a blended family of four, along with two son-in-laws, and three adorable grandchildren that call her GG.
WHO WE ARE
The Life of a Single Mom is a national, faith-based, nonprofit that exists to see that no single mom walks alone. To date, the organization has worked with hundreds of churches to start a single mom’s support group in cities throughout the U.S. and beyond, as well as having served hundreds of thousands of single mothers with a variety of programs. Offering a large array of books, curriculum, training materials, online instructional videos, podcasts, newsletters, life skills education, and more, TLSM is one of the largest single mom organizations in the U.S. The robust selection of single mom programs focus on empowering single moms to grow spiritually, emotionally, financially, and parentally through Single Mom University, Single Moms Across America, the National TLSM Single Moms Conference, boot camps, and a variety of other programs. For more information, visit thelifeofasinglemom.com.
