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By Bethany Beebe

Nobody likes to wait, especially when they are waiting for something that they really, really want. When I was in college, I really, really wanted a boyfriend. That was something I had never had; I don’t think anyone can fully understand how much I wanted to have a boyfriend. Just saying really, really, is a small tip to how much I wanted one. And it wasn’t just that I wanted to find the man of my dreams, no, it was that I wanted to have someone who would walk me home at night, and go to the movies with me, and more! Actually I wanted what they showed in the movies. But I was stuck in a catch-22. I wanted both: the man I was going to marry, and the immediate gratification of having a boyfriend.

So what do you think a good young Christian lady does in a situation like that? Well, she prays of course. That is what I did. I prayed. I prayed a lot. My prayers went something like this; “Dear God, I would really like to have a boyfriend. So, if you could help me out with that, that would be great.” Then I would toss out a the name of a guy I liked and asked if he could possibly be the one I could date.

So, after a few months of that prayer God answered and what He said was not something that I wanted to hear. He told me that He was not through with me yet, and that I was to be His a little while longer. You would think that God telling someone that He wanted them to be with Him a little longer would make their heart leap for joy– it didn’t. I was a little sad. I think my actual response to that was, with a deep sigh, “Oh, really? Why? Can’t I be with you and a guy?” But of course the answer was no, He wanted me all to Himself. So as upset and sad as I was, I said, “Fine. I guess I can wait a little while longer.”

I didn’t realize at the time that the “little while” I thought back then would continue for seven years more. I did! I waited seven years for God to do what it was He had to do in my life. And He did a lot. He fixed things in my life that I didn’t know needed to be fixed. These were and are very important things that I needed to have done so that when it is time for me to be in a relationship, they would not be a hindrance. I can’t even tell you how much closer I got to God in that time. If I had disobeyed God and had chosen to date then, I would have never found a solid foundation in my Christian life.

Seven years is a long time not to date, I know, and I don’t want you to think there was a lack of options. It was almost immediately after I agreed not to date but rather to spend that time with God, that one of the guys I liked started to show interest back. It was only by God’s grace that I didn’t go back on my word with Him. It was close, but by God’s grace, school ended and I went back home to Vermont before any relationship could bud. It was sad and hard to leave the school and even more sad when I found out I wasn’t able to go back to that school.

Then I went to another college in Florida, and for the first year, I was safe from any relationship temptations. Later I started talking for hours at a time with one of my guy friends. Then, wouldn’t you know it, I was praying that God would let me out of the deal, and let me date him. But it was still a “no”. It was a hard “no”, too, because this man was amazing. He was all of the things that I asked God for, and he was a CHRISTIAN!!!! Perfect right? Well I thought so, but God still was working things out in me. So I spent a lot of time struggling with why God would not let me date and most importantly not let me date him. While I was struggling about that, one of my other guy friends was also starting to show interest in me and dropping big hints that he would like to be more than just friends.

This wasn’t fair! I had one man I wanted to date and another that wanted to date me. Both were amazing men of God, both great in different ways. I know with one all I had to do was just say “yes” and all my relationship issues would be fixed. But there was still this promise I made to God, and for some reason I was holding to it. It was harder than anything that I ever had to do. The one thing I wanted was right in front of me. All I had to do was just reach out and take it. But that was when I realized what God had for me was better and I knew even though it was not necessarily what I wanted, it was right.

My dad, who was and is also my spiritual father, said to me (as a dad,) that he wanted to make sure that I had my life secure in God first before I married someone. My dad told me that he wanted me to make sure that I would not abandon the call on my life just because some boy came and swept me off my feet. And he was right. It took me that time with God to find that out. When I was only God’s, I traveled to places I could not go if I was attached to someone. I got to do things I wouldn’t have finished if I got what I prayed for as a freshman in college.

I finished college, but not at that school. If I dated one of the guys there I had liked, it may not have happened. Then I got to travel the United States with a prophetic group called the A-team, and just got to have a lot of fun. These were all things that would not have happened if I got married. Most importantly, I got to find where it is I stand in Christ. I know where my destiny is. I know what God has called me to do. Then I would have given that up, but now I am glad I listen to God because if I missed out on this call in this life, I would have regretted it.

I know all of the readers are wondering who the awesome man of God is that I found; well, I am still waiting for him to come! “But wait,” you say, “God released you.”

And yes He did, He released me, but that doesn’t mean that I am going to date the first man that walks through my door. If that was the case I would have been dating the cable man. No, I am now waiting for the right man to walk through that door.

I have realized, through the few years that I have been released, (it has been about three,) that I don’t want God to bring me someone that I am going to end up walking behind, and I don’t want someone that I will end up dragging behind me. I want to find someone where we come alongside of each other in our destinies. I want to walk hand in hand with him, and most importantly I want him to be the man God chooses. I will settle for nothing less.

Bethany Beebe has worked with Christian WYSIWYG Filmworks in set production and prop-making.
She currently is working with Final Cut Pro, editing a DVD series.