{"id":12052,"date":"2019-04-27T22:57:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-28T02:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=12052"},"modified":"2019-04-27T23:31:03","modified_gmt":"2019-04-28T03:31:03","slug":"with-thanksgiving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=12052","title":{"rendered":"With Thanksgiving"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I did a post recently about praying with thanksgiving<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking about a big prayer request I’ve had for a long time: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to get married again.<\/p>\n

After taking a year and a half off from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153looking\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while I was on the Newbery committee, a couple months ago I paid for six months on an online dating site \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and have not found any good matches. Yes, a few were interesting to me, but so far no one has shown interest back.<\/p>\n

I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be hard to match. My faith is important enough in my life that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not really interested in anyone who doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even mention their faith on their profile. At the same time, I have an adult transgender daughter who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s planning a gay wedding, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thrilled about that. I hate it that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not always true that someone whose faith is important to them is completely accepting of LGBTQ people, but unfortunately, they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t always go together. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a few other quirks that might make me hard to match, and so far I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t found anyone.<\/p>\n

I feel ready to date again. In fact, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been almost five years since I dated someone for two months. (Found him online!) And I feel like I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve experienced a lot of healing since that time. Some of the healing came from that relationship \u00e2\u20ac\u201c only the second relationship in my life, the first being my ex-husband. Some of the healing came from breaking up with him myself instead of getting left, as I did with my ex-husband. If I were desperate, I would not have let a perfectly good boyfriend go! So in a sense breaking up with him was affirmation that I am not desperate to be in a relationship.<\/p>\n

[I need to add that my ex-boyfriend is a wonderful person and will make a wonderful partner for someone. I just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a great match. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m happy to still be friends with him five years later, and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m even more convinced we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re better off as friends. I do think that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another sign that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve come a long way in healing since my divorce.]<\/p>\n

The biggest factor in my healing journey was writing Project 52<\/a>, the story of my life, including the divorce years. I looked at old journals, confronted that my marriage hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been as ideal as I remembered it, and looked at the painful times with the knowledge that things really did work out for good. My life is happy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c how can I continue to hold it against my ex-husband that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not anything like I expected it to be \u00e2\u20ac\u201c when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so very good?<\/p>\n

Also in the past five years, I have come into my own as a librarian. I was on the Newbery Committee!!! (That still thrills me!) And this year I won the Allie Beth Martin Award<\/a> given by the Public Library Association. That feels wild. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t officially become a librarian (with a Master\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in Library Science) until I was 43, and still have the feeling that coming to the profession so late makes me somehow less of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153real\u00e2\u20ac\u009d librarian. Yes, I knew I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d found my calling \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but to be validated like that? Wow!<\/p>\n

That’s all good, and that’s all true, but it’s also true that I liked being married. I liked being married to my best friend, or at least the person I thought was my best friend. I also think being married helps me be a better person, getting the perspective of someone other than me. So yes, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to apply all the lessons learned in the healing process to a new relationship. As far as I’m concerned, all this healing means I’m ready now to jump in again.<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been praying about it for a long time, and nothing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened. I made a big deal of putting up an online profile again \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and nothing\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s happened.<\/p>\n

But a few things encouraged me about it today.<\/p>\n

One was from taking a personal spiritual retreat a couple weeks ago. It was wonderful \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and then I got back excited about doing more writing and wanting to write an hour every day as well as post my book reviews and post pictures and have daily quiet times. And I ended up staying up late every day the next week, which wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a good way to do it.<\/p>\n

And I realized that if I were married, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have even less time for personal projects like that. I was reminded of I Corinthians 7 where it says that a married woman wants to please her husband, but an unmarried woman can be devoted to the Lord in body and spirit.<\/p>\n

If I can’t even do all the meaningful things I’d like to do when I’m single, it would be even harder with a man in my life. Maybe this is my opportunity to figure out my priorities and realize that I have no one to blame but myself when I don’t get everything done I’d like to do.<\/p>\n

And then it occurred to me: Maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not finding a match because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m a hard person to match. Maybe it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not that God is ignoring my request.<\/p>\n

Maybe the Lord is saying, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sondy, I love you so much I’m going to let you linger in this happy place for a while. You went through the wilderness. Now is an interlude in the garden.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

And thinking of it that way (rather than what is wrong with me that I can’t find a match?<\/em> or what is taking God so long?<\/em>) makes it much easier to rejoice.<\/p>\n

All of this brings me right back to praying with thanksgiving. Because today was a day off, and the weather was utterly glorious. And I got to thinking about all the things that would have at least been different if I were married.<\/p>\n

So I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to make a list of things that happened today that wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have necessarily happened that way if I were married. I am thankful for them all.<\/p>\n

— I got to sleep late.
\n— I had a leisurely quiet time, reading chapters from several additional books, taking my sweet time.
\n— I got to choose from the piles of interesting books on my dining room table.
\n— I got to listen to Christian music and sang along without embarrassment.
\n— I memorized Scripture, reciting aloud without bothering anyone.
\n— I took a wonderful walk by my lake, at my own pace, stopping to take pictures whenever the fancy struck me.
\n— I sang in the shower without bothering anyone.
\n— I cleaned my bathroom. It was much less work than if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live alone and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got a nice monthly cleaning rotation that works really well. This is less frequent than if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t live alone, and there was no negotiating necessary.
\n— I did my laundry. Also less work.
\n— I made dinner \u00e2\u20ac\u201c with enough leftovers to last me the whole week. Wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be true if I were cooking for more than one.
\n— I had time to write.
\n— I went to some friends\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 house and played games. No worries about whether my romantic partner can handle being beaten in a game. No accusations that I am too competitive. (Now those things definitely don’t have to happen. But there was also no anxiety at the possibility they might happen.) Just a lot of fun. And I got to be around people I enjoy.<\/p>\n

And did I mention? The weather was glorious today. The new grass and new leaves are all bright Spring green and were shining under the bright blue sky. A wind was blowing, and it was neither hot nor cold. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t need air conditioning or heat and wore a light jacket when I went on my walk. At one point I looked out the window and saw a great blue heron soar past.<\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another thing I probably wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have if I were married: My cozy condo by the lake, decorated exactly as I want it with things meaningful to me and also with stacks and bookcases of books. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really enough room for another person\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stuff, so I will probably move if I ever marry again. But meanwhile, I love Sondy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Snuggery.<\/p>\n

Now, I’ll admit I do have hopes of finding someone who maybe even likes<\/em> to hear me singing. But you get the idea. For this time in my life I get to be selfish. I get to take only my own needs into account. I would like<\/em> to have someone else to consider; I would like<\/em> to be able to give someone else love day after day. But there are perks to living alone.<\/p>\n

So yes, Lord, my request is still that I will meet someone who is a good partner for me, who loves You and seeks to follow You, and who will share life together with me, adding love and joy to my days. I ask that we would enhance each other’s lives and help each other follow You. But meanwhile, thank You so much for today, such a wonderful and joyful gift.<\/p>\n

Thank You for this season in my life. Thank You for all the healing You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done in my life, and may that healing continue so I have all the more to offer a man You bring into my life. And may I continue to delight in the many good and perfect gifts You send my way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I did a post recently about praying with thanksgiving. Today I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m thinking about a big prayer request I’ve had for a long time: I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to get married again. After taking a year and a half off from \u00e2\u20ac\u0153looking\u00e2\u20ac\u009d while I was on the Newbery committee, a couple months ago I paid for six months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,24,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional-thoughts","category-joy","category-prayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12052\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}