The Blessings and Struggles of Singleness on this edition of Truth in Love.

I'm Heath Lambert and you're listening to Truth in Love, a podcast of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors,

where we seek to provide biblical solutions to the

problems that people face. One of the gifts that God has given to his church is the blessing of

singleness. But just like any situation in life that we can find ourselves, there are struggles

that occur with that status. And so to talk about that reality, I've invited

Hannah Carter to speak to us today. Hannah is a counselor certified with the Association of Certified

Biblical Counselors. She currently counsels in her local church. She has been a missionary,

and she is a woman who is single.

Hannah, I'm glad you're joining us.

Let's start with talking about what the Bible says about singleness.

Yeah, I am glad to be here today, and I think a very common passage that most people

would refer to in hearing about singleness or thinking about it would be

1st Corinthians 7 and just in reference of the apostle Paul speaking of singleness is a good

gift from the Lord where one is freed to do ministry for the Lord and it is highly regarded from that angle. And so I think in this context, we can

understand the scripture to say that there's not as strong of a desire to marry. And so therefore,

one is more content with doing God's work. And I think we see pictures throughout scripture of

Jesus and Apostle Paul and many others that were single. And so we see that through Scripture.

I think on the flip side of that, for those who do desire marriage, we can view singleness as a trial.

In 1 Peter 1, we understand that trials are there to grow us independence on the Lord and to test our faith.

And so we want to understand singleness as while it's a longing for marriage, we need to trust God

who is worthy of our trust, that he's not withholding anything good from us and that we can

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