John Singer Sargent; The Misses Vickers

Lately I have been missing having close friends nearby. I miss having that shared history with someone....shared history full of conversations about books and kingdom living over meals and cooking and coffees and chocolate (all the really important things in life, don't you think?).

But, we've been in Indiana five months now, and I'm slowly building some new friendships (I remind myself that even when I live intentionally, it still takes time). Recently, one of my sweet new friends asked me to talk to her Bible study about my years as a single. What does contentment in singleness look like? she wondered. What are good boundaries to have with men? What does a mutually encouraging relationship look like with  a married couple? All really good questions....

.....which of course I didn't have immediate answers for (no surprise there)! I had to think a lot about how to articulate  some of the things I have come to be very passionate about. And as I scribbled down ideas on paper, and as I typed up other ideas on my laptop, I slowly began to see that my random thoughts really weren't so random after all. I organized them all into three main points, and then as I shared  them with these young ladies, I also shared that I have been realizing these are lessons for life, not just lessons for a single life. I always thought it would work out like that....and now it's nice to discover that it has.

So. I'm going spend a couple of posts sharing these not-so-random thoughts...and I'm going to try to show  -- yes, at the same time! -- why these lessons are so practical for me right. now.

(and I'm leaving you to go write part one of the series...)