This post was really on my heart to write because I know so many of us are struggling under the weight of being single.  I know married people say marriage is hard and I don’t doubt that but being single ain’t easy either, especially when you are trying to do it God’s way. That why some people rushed into marriage lol. 

 I just wanted to take a moment to encourage every person that reads this post that God is still worth waiting for. No matter your age or stage in life, he is not limited. He does the impossible every day and finding you a spouse is not impossible. 

 Don’t let sadness creep in because you are spending the holidays with your parents instead of your boo, and don’t let frustrations rise because you feel like you have no one to help you carry your burdens and all your friends are happily married.

 God is STILL working. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. God is preparing what he created, -It for you and you for it. He is still writing your love story. Ignore the doubters and the people who encourage you to settle. I want to remind you of a few things.

 1.    God is not bound by statistics- It doesn’t matter what the ratio of men to women is where you live. You only need one and can only marry one. God can bring people from out of town to marry you. Choose to believe him and his ways over the world. (This was Ruth and Boaz and a lot of other bible stories lol)

2.    Trust God to work in your life so he can get the glory- Romans 10:11 says “whoever believes on him will not be put to shame” God is not going to have you out here looking crazy. When you honor him with your choices, he will honor you.  It’s Hisreputation that’s on the line. He has more to lose than you do. People are watching see if Gods way works. Be the example that God can use to show them that it does.

3.    Believe that he who has called you is faithful- 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says that “He who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” If you really believe that God called you to be a wife then how can he not provide a husband? Marriage was Gods idea, not yours. He just puts the desire in our hearts so that we can pray in alignment with his will. He is not going to let his plan fail. 

 When you really think about it, you are wondering about something that God has already decided. He is not confused and he does not need your help. He needs for you to enjoy the life he gave you and use it to live for him. He will add the husband. If you are single right now it is because it is not your season to be married. When you are in winter you never worry about if spring will come. You know it will, it is just a matter of time. NO matter what it may look like outside whether it feels like spring is late or not you know it’s coming. God has never been late. Your season WILL change. Wait on it with anticipation not anxiety because you know it’s coming!!!

 I was reading my devotion one morning and it was talking about how we needed to ask God to reveal sin in our lives that we are not aware of. Well I did it, and God began to reveal to me that I lacked discipline. I couldn’t understand why out of all the flaws I had that he would pick that one. It was later that I realized being disciplined was the only way to become a disciple. 

The root word of disciple is Discipline. A disciple is a follower or believer of a teacher. The bible gives us the instructions for the path to a more disciplined life in Luke 9:23, “then he said to them all: Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow me.  This can be broken down into 3 simple concepts:

1. Deny ourselves- this confirms that in order to follow God and be in true relationship with him we must be committed to denying ourselves. We cannot love God andthe world. We can’t love fattening foods more than we love being fit. We can’t love spending money and having it too. What you feed grows and what you starve dies. When you deny yourself you begin the process of dying to your flesh so that your spirit can flourish. 

2.Take up our cross daily- Every day we must deny ourselves. I read a quote that says your life will be a series of choices that you make over the years. It’s not one choice that shapes your life, Its many. It is doing the same thing over and over again- being consistent, and doing what is right all the time that makes the difference. 

3. Follow Christ- You have chosen to deny yourself the things, people, and overall desires that don’t look like Jesus and you are making the daily choices that please him. You choose to chase after him and not the things of this world. The third part of this scripture is the summation of number one and number two. If we deny ourselves the things that don’t look like God and take up our cross daily- we willbecome disciplined followers of Christ, and in turn, disciples. 

Being disciplined is the ultimate challenge because God didn’t just send Jesus so that we could be saved, he sent him to teach us to be disciples and to give us a real life example of what it looks like to follow God. Allow him (God) to reveal to you areas where you struggle with being disciplined and wholeheartedly commit to changing that because in doing so you will inevitably become more like Christ.

Every year around my birthday I try to spend some time evaluating the previous year and discerning what God is saying to me for the next one (note I said discerning and not deciding because the plan for my life is already written). Anyway, last year on my birthday for the first time God gave me a scripture. This year he gave me a word. The word he gave me was “Celebrate.” More specifically I think he wants me to celebrate all that’s coming in my life. I think he wants me to be forward thinking, not to dwell on the past or wonder about the future. I believe he wants me to celebrate as I wait in joyful expectation for how he is going to show out in my life this year. So, this whole year I’m going to practice celebrating things before they come because that’s the kind of faith I have in God. He is a God that does what he says, he is faithful to his word and he watches over it to perform it. I believe this for you too, because even though “celebrate” was the word that God gave me he loves us all uniquely and has great plans for your life that are worth celebrating.

That being said I started my celebration with a vacation to Punta Mita, Mexico. I vacationed at the Four Seasons with my family (annual girls trip) and it was amazing! My hotel experience is important to me so I’m willing to pay a little extra to make sure I have a great one. I’ll be honest I love luxury but I don’t love luxury prices.  My goal is to become the proverbs 31 woman in every area of my life, especially where my money is concerned. In verse 16 of chapter 31 the bible talks about how “she considers a field and buys it.” Basically, she gives careful consideration to how she spends her money which should be everyone’s goal.  Soooo I wanted to share how I cut costs on this trip but still managed to indulge a little.

Flight: I flew from Atlanta to Dallas and from Dallas to Puerto Vallarta. The Four Seasons sent a car pick us up from the airport and it was about a 40 minute ride to the hotel.  We opted to use the car service because we know Mexico has had some crime related issues and we wanted the peace of mind of not having to worry where somebody was taking us. The car service was $225 dollars roundtrip and we split it 5 ways but there were plenty of people that took taxis and had no issues at all. Money Tip: I found that it was cheaper to buy completely separate tickets than to fly straight to Mexico. They wanted $1000 which was more than I was willing to pay. By purchasing separate flights we got the tickets for just under $600 which was still a bit more than I wanted to spend but was much more reasonable. (depending on the time of year you go you may be able to find them cheaper)

Hotel: The Four Seasons felt very safe. We had to go through 3 gates to get on the property. The hotel sits at least another 5 miles back (maybe more) from the gate. It really is like a little piece of paradise. The grounds are beautifully kept and it felt like someone was always doing some landscaping. The property is huge and they will come get you in a golf cart to take you from one place to another if you need it. There was a gym, spa, 2 pools and a lazy river. The family pool has a great view of the ocean and there is plenty of seating around all the pools. There are also two beaches with hammocks and suspended beds to lay out on. The rooms were very spacious and clean with patio furniture on the outside and extra seating in the room. Money tip: 1. If your budget is tight but you still want a great, high end hotel experience get a garden view/resort view room. Skip the ocean view, chances are you will spend most of your time outside the room on the beach anyway and all the rooms look the same on the inside so you will still enjoy the comforts of luxury without the price tag. Also, a lot of these hotels will offer you a free upgrade or you can ask and if they have the availability they will usually do it. 2. When booking google the hotel that you want with bargain/value dates. These are dates where occupancy is lower and prices are cheaper. 3. Go with friends or family members because there are more ways to divide the money.

This is the infinity pool, they also have an adult only pool as well...

Food: Everyday we got the breakfast buffet. I’m not gonna lie, its pricey at around $40. It may be cheaper to order off the menu but I always get the buffet because they have so many options. Literally, too much to name but a few are waffles, pancakes, French toast, oatmeal, omelets, every fruit you can think of and fresh squeezed juices that were amazing. We didn’t really do lunch because we were stuffed from breakfast. We usually ate by the pool or beach, and they had sushi, burgers, wings, and wraps which were all pretty good.

These croissants were sooo buttery, they made then fresh everyday and they were amazing!

 Money Tip: I know the $40 is expensive but if you eat a big breakfast later around 11am you can skip lunch and just do an early dinner. This is a way to cut costs on food! To be honest I was so stuffed that all I really had during the day was a something light or a smoothie and then I ate dinner. Be careful about room service sometimes the prices are more expensive just because they deliver it to your room. Also, in the afternoon some of the bars that serve food and drinks by the pool have happy hour and everything is half off.

Dinner: They had 2 restaurants because 1 was being renovated but the food was good in both. We mostly ate on the property because my mom was scared to go off lol but there were plenty of people who did go off the property to eat at the other restaurants and they said it was fine.

Ice cream we had at dinner, it was sooo good!!!

Money Tip: Depending on how much you eat and the portion sizes consider splitting your meal with someone else. My sister and I often split our meals when we go out because there is so much food.  In particular, at hotels leftovers don’t do much good if you don’t have a microwave so you might as well share it with someone else.

Obviously, there are other ways to save like hotel points, airline miles you get from a credit card and booking early with a non-refundable fee and saving on the cost. I use these methods as well, but I just wanted to share a little about this trip!