I feel like so often I look around and I see single people who are miserable. In some ways society feeds this. It tells you lies like there is something wrong with you if you're single and you’re not frantically searching for a mate. If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, “What’s a pretty young girl like you doing single?” (Insert eye roll.)

But I am writing this to encourage all you single people. God does care about your heart. You could just be like me and you’re not single because there is something “wrong” with you but because you’re following God’s will for your life. Even when you don’t see it God is working things for you ultimate good. So I want to list six things that are on the plus side of being single.

1. Netflix marathons

No one says anything about your "Sherlock Holmes" Netflix marathons and the fact that you haven’t showered in two days. Unless you’re at your parents’ house and then your mom might say something like, "What in the world are doing with your life?"

2. Eating what I want for dinner

One of the hardest things, for me, about having a significant other was choosing where we would eat. Now I just have a craving and go. I usually don’t argue with myself.

3. The money in the bank is mine

When I was married it wasn’t uncommon for both of us to think we could spend a certain amount and put the bank account in the negative. It can be exhausting to always have to communicate about the funds. It’s nice to buy an ice cream or coffee and not have to report to someone else about it. I know what goes in and what comes out. Most of the time.

4. More time to connect with those around me

During my time as a single adult I have found that I’m a pretty social person. I enjoy talking to random people, guys and girls. There are plenty of times when I talk to different people at coffee shops or on campus just having conversations. If I was in a relationship I would have less freedom to get to know people in this way.

5. More time to focus on work

My work is ministry. So I have more time to write, to speak and to work to further the kingdom. In today’s world women are expected to have a career and that is much more difficult to focus on when you’re stretched between a husband and children. Not impossible just more difficult.

6. Really knowing what you want in a partner

When I was a kid in the 90s I thought I would marry someone with long hair. In my teenage years I was interested in guys who drove cars with the neon lights under them. As I got older I formulated all of these different rules and regulations for not getting my heart broken. Now I am here to tell you that I only have one requirement of my spouse and that is that God approves. You see, man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). I have learned that God’s approval of my mate is the only one that matters. I trust that He won’t give me junk. Because He loves me, I trust Him.

Enjoying life as a single person is not an nonbiblical concept. Paul even takes the time talk about it in 1 Corinthians when he writes, “Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do” (1 Corinthians 7:8 NIV). Paul was addressing some of the issues the church was facing, and he was letting them know that it’s okay, and even good, to be single. This gives a person more time to focus on spreading the Gospel.

My encouragement to you is to enjoy the life you have right now, right here, right where you are. So many people think that getting married will somehow satisfy this deep longing they have in their heart. But I speak from experience when I say that marriage does not always fix your loneliness or the pain that comes with it. The only thing worse than being single and lonely is being married and lonely. That is level of pain all its own.

So trust that God has your back. Trust that his timing is perfect. Go have coffee with yourself or take a trip. Enjoy the life that God has given you right now because each phase of your life is a gift. Don’t take it for granted.