Picture this. It’s a gorgeous summers’ day. The church is ablaze with glorious pink and yellow flower arrangements. Slowly and sweetly the organist begins to play, the most beautiful music swells and fills the packed auditorium. Gradually, the tune changes to a short insistent staccato rhythm, a rhythm you have dreamed of all your life. The song replays in your mind until it’s the only thing you can hear over the wild drumming of your heart in your ears. Gracefully, on your father’s arm, wearing your mother’s wedding dress, you drift down the aisle, past smiling relatives, friends, and flash photography. You are only vaguely aware of the vast sea of friendly faces surrounding you. Intent on only one person, that one person with whom you will spend the rest of your life, the one that is waiting for you at the front of the church. And for a time, he is all that there is in the world. . .

Snap back to reality for just a second here. Okay, who are we fooling, we both know you aren’t getting married at this present moment, if you were, you wouldn’t be reading this right now- you know it and I know it. I didn’t mean to burst your bubble, but let’s deal with the situation at hand.

If you are anything like me when I was in high school (read: dateless wonder) I’m sure I can relate. Yes, I watched in fascination as over 75% of the student population paired off by two’s, a formation similar to the line-up on Noah’s ark. I guess it goes without saying that I really wanted a boyfriend, and I felt like I was one of the few dateless endangered species left on the face of the planet. Hello! I mean where was the problem? It wasn’t like I was undateable material, besides the occasional bouts of acne I was cute (if I do say so myself) and I had an excellent personality to boot. After years of trying to find Mr. Right, I eventually resigned myself to my permanent dateless wonder status, sure that I had an invisible capital letter "L" imprinted on my forehead that stood for Loser, as it seemed I attracted only dorks and nerds as potential mates.

High school is long past (thank goodness). And now that I’m a few years older, and (as I’d like to think) a tad bit smarter, I have a little wisdom to impart, if I may, on the topic of finding Prince Charming. First of all, it’s important in your all-out search for Mr. Right, to keep in mind that God has hand-picked a special mate especially for you. It’s a match made in Heaven literally! Just like God made Eve for Adam, in Genesis 2:20-24, He has a very special someone lined up just for you.

I just performed some mental telepathy and I know what you’re thinking right now. You’re thinking that if you let God pick a husband for you, your hubby is going to be some ugly nerdy dork with no personality, thick glasses, pimples and bad breath. But in your enlightened Christian state, you will be able to see through his outside appearance, view the goodness radiating from his soul, and then you will marry, have five kids and live happily ever after. I know that’s what you’re thinking because that’s exactly the same thing that I thought too when I was told that God had already chose someone for me. (Do great minds think alike or what?)

As hard as this is for me to admit publicly- I was wrong (I know, it came as a surprise for me too!). Before I came to that conclusion though, I had to do some field research, and for that I turned full amateur detective. In order to adequately test my "nerd husband theory", I went around and listened (read spied- just kidding) to married women in my church and at school talk about their husbands. I also watched how they acted around their significant others. Here’s what I found out. Every lady that I talked to thought that her husband was adorable. I mean, there were even a few that I had my doubts about, but everyone really, honestly thought that their hubby was a hottie. After careful contemplation, it serves to reason that they would. Let’s take a good look at the Adam & Eve relationship again. I’m sure that Adam thought that Eve was the most gorgeous woman that God had ever created, and that she was the only one for him. Despite the visible irony of the situation, God knew exactly what He was doing. Eve and Adam were perfect for each other in every way. Just like the perfect first love story in the Bible, yours’ too can have a happy ending. Always keep in mind, that God has an "Adam" waiting for you too.

It’s obvious that none of us are married, which can only mean one thing—we’re going to have to wait. I can think of absolutely nothing harder to do. I am an incredible impatient person, especially when it comes to dating. Since we are forced to play the waiting for dating game, here are a few ground rules to live by.

Rule #1- While waiting for Prince Charming stay involved in church, I repeat, stay involved in church! I can not stress that enough, stay actively involved in church. Here’s the reason. How can you expect God to give you that perfect someone if you aren’t in His will?—the answer is He can’t. In Psalm 100:2, the Bible tells us to "Serve the Lord with gladness . . .", which simply stated means we need to be busy, not just twiddling our thumbs while waiting for Mr. Right to fall into our laps.

Rule #2 – While anticipating Mr. Right’s entrance into your life, stay focused on the things of God, I repeat, stay focused on the things of God! Don’t get so boy-crazy that you loose focus of what’s really important, like church, soul-winning, bus calling, and being a good Christian young lady. The Bible says in Psalm 37:4&5, to "Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. . .". Isn’t that an awesome consolation! God said, verbatim, that if we commit ourselves to Him that He will give us the desires of our heart, that totally sounds like Mr. Right to me.

Rule #3 – Searching for Prince Charming can get tiresome, I know. But here’s one last rule to help pass the time. While waiting stay in prayer for your future hubby. I know this sounds weird, I mean, I’m asking you to pray for someone you haven’t even seen. I admit, I sounds like a crazy rule at first, but not if you really think about it. The bottom line is, if you don’t starting praying for your husband now, you won’t pray for him while you’re married. In Matthew 21:22, the Bible says, "And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." Pray that God will keep your husband clean, pure and in the will of God. And pray that you will be clean, pure and in the will of God also, so when God does send Prince Charming your way, you will be ready to roll.

Okay, I almost finished, just bear with me for a few more minutes of my rambling, please. Finally, remember, don’t sweat it, God’s in control. What I mean is, totally don’t freak out, your boyfriendless state won’t last forever. I know you’re just as impatient as I am, but here’s the thing- you have to learn to work on God’s timetable. He knows so much better that we ever will. In 2 Samuel 22:31a the Bible says, "As for God, his way is perfect. . .". God’s timing will be absolutely perfect with out a doubt. Don’t rush things, let God have His way in your love life, in the end you will be so happy that you did. Prince Charming is waiting for you, if you play the game by the rules, you will find him (eventually!) and you will both live happily ever after!

The End