I was a strong, faithful, disciplined and unwavering woman of God.

I felt invincible. Good for me. Surely I was setting myself up to do great things and experience everything God had to offer for “people like me.”
After all, I was doing everything right. Even waiting until my wedding night after being single and celibate for 8 years.

God must be so proud.

Sometimes when we think we are ready for something, we aren’t. We are far from it. We have so much pride and so much to learn and yet God is so gracious that He loves us enough to never leave us where we are.

You see, in order to grow, we must be pruned. In order to address a wound, it must be exposed, cleaned, and rehabilitated. Marriage is heart surgery. So much pain, but for a purpose.

Married ladies, there is ALWAYS hope for a healthy, united, passionate marriage. You are just in-process. NOTHING is impossible with God.

Single ladies, don’t rush marriage. We may feel ready, but God truly knows our heart and our wounds. He knows when we are ready. And it won’t always be what we expect.

Marriages often fail because it exposes the unhealed wounds that we carry. We put up walls without knowing, set expectations because of our past, and never fully surrender to one another because we are full of doubt and fear of rejection.

My sweet friends, my prayer for you is that you pursue healing with as much determination as you pursue love. The first step to happily ever after is the willingness to becoming her. The woman you were made to be in all of her beautiful, vulnerable, passionate glory.

The woman in the garden.