Desire.

We desire to be in a relationship, to attract a guy's attention, to fall in love someday to the man of our dreams. We desire it so much that many of us spend most of our time either thinking about it or talking about it.

There is nothing wrong with desiring to be in a relationship. - In fact, we should be thankful that we do long for a connection such as that because the Lord gave us that desire. But so often the desire we hold and the longing that resonates inside of us to be with someone, leads us to be consumed. To be consumed by something as deep as this results in negative outcomes - some ways that the Lord did not intend for us to desire a thing as great as it was created for.

I see way too many girls repining "relationship goals" and pictures of happy couples on Pinterest. Do not get me wrong, they are cute and nice to see but I worry about the desire it is creating. Because it begins to create a couple of problems:

1. Contentment in being single goes out the window.

A girl can be fine with not being in a relationship, but that can change in a split second. (I know, we are unexplainable.) When a girl sees her friends in happy and loving relationships or seeing thousands of pictures of "perfect" couples, she begins to feel lonely because of the sole fact that she does not have anyone. Also, the desire of simply wanting someone begins to consume her. This lead us to..

2. Settling for any guy to avoid the feeling of loneliness.

Often times we take the first guy that approaches us because we like to at least once in our life feel appreciated and wanted. Sometimes we will take anyone to avoid the feeling of loneliness. Anything beats that, even if that means going back to our ex that we know is no good for us. Which finally brings us to..

3. Accepting everything less than we deserve.

Either someone has told us we do not deserve better or the guys we have dated never thought we were worthy of anything better than what they had to offer. In every relationship we learn more and more. And each time we end an old relationship and enter a new one, we realize what the old guy had to offer was not what we deserved in any way compared to the way the new guy is treating us. This process of relationships become a never ending cycle till we decide we have found a guy that truly treats us for what we are worth.

But how do we know when we meet the guy that treats us to all that we are worth?

Ladies, listen closely here.

Just as Godly men look for a 'proverbs 31 woman', you too should look for a Godly man that is solely after God's own heart.

For a Godly man is going to take one look at you and see you as a beautiful daughter of Christ. And because you are purely that, he understands your worth is in Christ Jesus and he will treat you with nothing less than he would offer to the Lord.

Please. Please. Please. Do not settle for anything less than this. These guys do exist, it just so happens that we tend to miss them because we are too focused on our desire of relationships than our own desire to know the Lord.

Imagine the affect it would have on our relationship with the Lord, if we took the desire we had for a relationship with a man and placed it with the desire to know the Lord more deeply.

I encourage every single girl and woman to find reassurance, love, comfort and peace in being single. Life is not about finding your "prince charming" and you are not any less of a woman without a man by your side. In fact, you cannot and should not rely on a man to be your only source of bringing you closer to the Lord. You, yourself, are in charge of your relationship with the Lord and have the power of whether you are close to the Lord or are not.

Singleness is the time to strengthen your relationship with the Lord because once you marry and have a family, you are responsible for the Godly influence in your loved ones lives. And if your own relationship with the Lord is not the strongest or greatest than how can you expect to help strengthen other's relationships with the Lord?

I cannot stress enough that being single is not a bad thing, even if society makes you think that. It is important to use that time to find yourself in Christ and the kind of Godly wife you would like to be some day.

Being single means you are strong enough to wait for what you deserve as a daughter of Christ.

Find comfort and peace in Christ, knowing that even though you are single that does not mean that you are alone. The moment you begin to deepen your relationship with the Lord and pour your desires into him is when you begin to experience full satisfaction that no man can give you.

I promise that you can experience full on deepening, passionate, pure love from the Lord. He is the only one that can fully fulfill your desire to be loved.

The best way to prepare for a lasting relationship is to focus on loving and serving like Jesus, and waiting on the Lord for the one who is doing the same.

Because relationships are all about bringing glory to the Lord. So many girls get wrapped in relationships thinking it is all about them and their happiness. When really, the sole purpose of being with someone is to glorify the Lord and come together to serve the Lord and others.

You have to stop being so busy with the wrong things before you can really receive what's right for you.

It was not dates or sex that made Boaz want to marry Ruth, it was her devotion to being virtuous.

When are we going to quit settling for less than what we were made to be?