Discipleship as a Single Woman: Loving God, Making Disciples & Finding Purpose in Singleness

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What does biblical discipleship look like in singleness? In this episode of Courier Conversations for Women, Mary Margaret and Jemima Diaz discuss spiritual motherhood, intentional discipleship, contentment in Christ, and the unique opportunities singleness provides for serving the Lord. They explore Scripture passages from Deuteronomy, Philippians, John 17, and more while encouraging women to love God deeply, invest in others, and embrace singleness as a gift rather than a deficit. Whether you are single, dating, longing for marriage, or discipling others in your church, this conversation offers practical encouragement and gospel-centered wisdom for pursuing Christ faithfully in every season of life.

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Transcript

Season Setup And Guest Introduction

Mary Margaret 0:04

Welcome back to Courier Conversations for Women. My name is Mary Margaret, and today I have Jemima with us today, and I'm so excited about this episode. So we've been, if you've been with us for the past couple months, we have been doing a season of episodes. A season I well, a period of episodes, I guess, on um discipleship and different seasons of your life. So we've done an episode on what discipleship looks like for young moms with kids and just the busyness of that season and how you can disciple your kids, but also like those outside the home. And we just did an episode on discipleship as a parent of adult children. So my parents got to be on the podcast, which was really cool. And so today we're gonna talk about as a single. So what does discipleship look like as a single? And so we have Jemima. Jemima, would you like to just introduce yourself? Um tell us where you're from, what church you're part of, um, about your family. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm so happy you're here.

Jemima 1:11

Thank you. Um I'm happy to be here too. Um I think uh it is like really sweet to just have these kind of conversations. So um I'm from Ecuador, um and you're gonna notice that in my accent. Um but uh I came to US in 2020 sixteen and um I study seminary in Texas and then I moved to Kentucky and studied my MDF and biblical counseling in Southern and then uh met my husband, my last semester of seminary, and moved to Rock Hill, South Carolina, but um where I'm currently currently uh live in. Um I'm part of this uh church plant that is uh called Iglesia Bautista Solidao Gloria Baptist Church. Um we are part of the Pillar Network Um and is your husband leading helping lead that or yeah um it is two pastors actually. Okay um it was three at the beginning, and now I know it's it's two of them. Um in my pastor my my husband is one of the pastors. But yes, um so he's doing that.

Mary Margaret 2:28

Um how long have y'all I guess been with that church plant or the church before that? Were you guys at Park before? Yeah.

Jemima 2:36

Yeah, we were Park Baptist Church uh at the beginning. Um so my husband was part of the internship program that they have. Oh, and then from there. Yes, so he moved here, I think if I'm not mistaken, is 2022.

unknown 2:52

Gotcha.

Jemima 2:52

And yeah, I think it was January 2022. I can be wrong on that. And then I met him in uh um March 2022, and then we started talking in July 2022. That year was an inter interesting year. Okay, and then um yes, so we got married in 2023, and he joined as a pastor at the end of 2023, beginning 2024. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mary Margaret 3:21

So I thought as I was thinking about this topic of discipleship as a single, I was like, I want to get someone on here that has more experience than I do. And you were single longer than I have been. I'm only 23, I'll be 24 this summer. Um, and then you got married. So you kinda have this really unique perspective of like your singleness through pretty much your whole twenties. Yeah. Um you got married when you were how old? Thirty-one.

Jemima 3:50

Thirty-one, yeah.

Mary Margaret 3:51

So well, I was thirty, I was gonna turn to I just think yeah, that's a great like perspective because you've I jumped to the third world. You walked through your single, you know, a a longer series uh season of singleness. Obviously, like some singles listening to this might be in their 40s and 50s and be like, you guys have no idea what you're talking about. Um which we would actually love to do another episode for older singles too. So that's another another episode. Um so give us some grace. Um we're doing the best we can. But yeah, so I I think you're just a great person to have it. Honestly, I just love being around you. This is a great excuse for you to get to come hang out. And um yeah, I'm just excited, excited

Defining Discipleship As Intentional Teaching

Mary Margaret 4:35

that we get to talk about this. So let's just jump right into it. And let's let's get a definition of discipleship down first, um, and then we'll kind of jump into how that applies to singles. So I really liked an uh definition that my mom gave last episode. It's super simple, but I'll have you add to it. Um she just said it's teaching others to obey and apply God's word in daily living. So teaching others to obey and apply God's word in daily living. And I thought that was good because when you look at Jesus and how he had his twelve disciples, like they weren't just studying the Bible like sitting down and reading through the Old Testament all the time, like they were just doing life together. And Jesus would teach them all the time and and use even, you know, the birds to teach them, like God will provide for you, you know. He would use all these different things that were happening um to teach to teach them. And obviously, like God's word was still central, like but um yeah, what do you think? Would you add any anything to that definition of discipleship?

Jemima 5:37

Yeah, um I will maybe just like use what um you you uh well what we have actually in Matthew um twenty-eight, uh verse twenty, it says teaching them to observe all that I have commended you. So this observe all has this this verb has this um what you are saying, like uh everything that we do can actually speak into an explanation of what I wanted to say about the Bible. But I will add the word the word um intentional. It's like an intentional teach uh teaching process of what God says. Because uh sometimes I I feel like we are uh involved in this like oh let's just do life together and that's gonna disciple you. And I can be with someone like 24-7 and never talk about the Bible, you know, and it's like I'm so glad you brought that up because that's that's something that honestly I've been thinking about for a while, like that'll keep coming back, is just and how like being intentional.

Mary Margaret 6:49

Yeah, like there's just a lot of people just aren't intentional and it it's the difference between like being intentional just changes the the landscape of everything. Like because you could meet someone and just talk to them and that could be it. But if you're intentional and you reach back out to that person, if if someone shared a prayer request, it could just be okay, they shared a prayer request, you prayed, that's it. But if you're intentional and you add intention to it, then you now take that and you ask them the next time you see them, hey, like whatever happened with this. And so I'd yes, like thank you for mentioning that because I think that's like huge. And and Jesus was intentional.

Jemima 7:30

Yeah. That's why he used the birds and explained the birds and how God can provide for them.

Mary Margaret 7:35

That that was being intentional, yes. Absolutely. So let's let's kind of apply this to singles. Something I kind of I want to mention kind of from the onset is we've been talking a lot in the past episodes about parenting and um discipleship first in your home is kind of been what we've been talking a

Spiritual Motherhood And Spiritual Children

Mary Margaret 7:55

lot about. And you know, it might seem like okay, now that we're gonna talk to singles, then the topic like it's gonna change a lot. But actually, I think the heart of discipleship stays the same no matter what season you're in. Um and I even think that the heart of discipleship, like even motherhood, that that's such a great like model for discipleship. And so even as a single, like I love I like thinking in terms of the people I'm discipling are my spiritual children in the Lord. And so whether you're married or single, there's this kind of spiritual mothering or for men like spiritual fathering. And I just think that's beautiful, and and I get this idea um from scripture. So I'm gonna read a couple scriptures, but these are all letter two of them are verses um well, yeah, maybe three. But Galatians 4, 19 through 20 from Paul. Paul was single. He says, My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you. So you have Paul writing in Galatians calling them his little children, talking about how he's in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in them. And I just mean that's so beautiful. Like he's single. He's not even a biological parent, but he sees these people that he's writing these letters to as his spiritual children. And then um another example, 1 Timothy 1, 1 and 2, says Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope to Timothy, my true child in the faith. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. So you know, just kind of starting out this topic of discipleship as a single, like I think a big part of it really is like this spiritual kind of parenting. I think the the biological family kind of sets a model um for discipleship in a way that still applies to singles because again, like this is Paul who are who's saying these things and um and I think it can just apply to us of like being intentional to see the people that we as singles are pouring into and discipling as our spiritual children.

Jemima 10:35

Yeah.

Mary Margaret 10:35

And I I know for me, like, and I I'll let you speak, I feel like I'm on a little rant here, but like I know for me, like I do have that, like I can very much relate to Paul and like the people that I'm discipling and pouring into, like I I hurt for them, I pray for them, I care deeply about them, and in a way, like they are like my spiritual kids, you know. Um and and there's that like depth there, you know. Um, and so I think that can be like encouraging. But what what would you add to that or what thoughts do you have on yeah, on that kind of idea?

Jemima 11:16

Yeah, and and and what you mentioned at the beginning is is really helpful. Like um we are not like the um master or doctoral in singleness, so I I don't think uh we have all the answers, but but as you mentioned, like yeah, the Bible mentions really, really good insights, and not just insights, but principles and also um the truth about what we can do in our singleness in in discipleship. So talking about what you're saying, and um as a family, uh actually I can see that not just in the New Testament, but also in the Old Testament, you know. Um and I always say have said this like it is kind of like the Lord knew that we needed like physical things, like um some examples that we can see to and we can understand spiritual things. So you have all this like um picture of uh the tree of the good and evil, and they couldn't eat the fruit of that. But if you think about the spiritual aspect of all of that, is like it was God explaining to them that there is sin and this is uh how that can destroy you. So it's not just the physical part, it's also the spiritual part. It seems like always is this attachment between each other. So when we talk about family, I'm automatically automatically thinking about what we have and about the Great Commandment, and it is really good to just remember how this Great Commandment was given to the people of God, the Israelites, and it says something really sweet, and I'm trying to flip my Bible as I'm talking and put those pages.

Deuteronomy And Loving God Fully

Jemima 13:21

Um second yes, we see Deuteronomy Deuteronomy, yeah. Deuteronomy and does oh my goodness that's how you say Deuteronomy in Spanish Deuteronomy.

Mary Margaret 13:35

That's hard to say.

Jemima 13:37

It's not hard.

Mary Margaret 13:38

Say it again.

Jemima 13:39

Deuteronomy. But the people know what we're talking about now. So if we go to um the chapter six verse four, you we have the shaman. So the shaman is this um it's it's really important for the people of Israel, but what I wanna have from it is what it actually says. So if you can actually help me reading um uh chapter six verse four to wait, I have to turn the verse. Don't worry, I'm gonna introduce the whole verse. Um to verse nine, it will be helpful to see uh this picture of family in God Deuteronomy 6, what? Um verse 4 to verse 9.

Mary Margaret 14:27

Do you want me to read it?

Jemima 14:28

Uh yes.

Mary Margaret 14:30

It's like Bible study.

Jemima 14:31

No, it's not.

Mary Margaret 14:33

Hero Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Jemima 15:09

I'm gonna make you read the verses just because in that way is faster and in the pronunciation goes better. So just because of the question of localities. But just talking about the family.

Mary Margaret 15:28

So now in Spanish. I'm kidding.

Jemima 15:31

If you want me, I mean I have a Spanish next to it. Um it's so cool to see how God is telling them something really important because He's telling them Um, this here or Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. That that's the beginning of the Shema is super important, as I said before. But then you have this, you shall love the Lord your God. And the first thing that he's telling them is not, you need to obey me and do this and do that, and that's how we can actually think about the Torah is just okay, uh, do this and you have blessing, and you if you don't do that, you are gonna be you are gonna have this curse in your life, basically. Um But he's not telling them that, he's telling them you should love the Lord and how, and it says with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. And it's important to say that um in this part Moises is not trying to make a point on how many parts the body or how many parts human beings are. It's not like we have a heart, we have a soul, we have a mind, and you have all these descriptions of how many parts human beings are made of. Um, but Moses is not doing that, he's just telling us you should love the Lord with all your being, basically. Because even like these words in the Hebrew, they are really connected between each other. They they don't sometimes they mean the same thing, they are not different between them. So I I want to make that disclaimer over there too, because um it is important to say, okay, I need to love the Lord with all my being, with all I am, that He created me to be. Um, and it's not just that, but verse 6 is important. It is this it's as these words that I commend you that shall be on your heart. And this makes me think, okay, it is important for my life that I need to love the Lord. Like that's one of the maybe like the most important thing. Um, but not just that, I need to make sure that it's in my heart. And the second thing, I need to teach them is verse 7, you shall teach them diligently to your children. And when I read this as a single, I had this like pressure in my shoulders, of course, of like, wait, but I'm not a mom yet, as we know moms, you know. Um, and I don't know if I'm gonna be in that point. I was like, I'm not even know if I'm gonna get married. Um so what this means here is what you were talking about. Like, God is trying to explain with something that is physical, that is uh visual, something that is spiritual. Um it's so beautiful this because it seems like it it is so important for a person that knows and understands the love of the Lord or who God is, in the extent that God has made it possible, um sh that person needs to teach that to other people. That that is kind of like the the pattern, you know. So when you say Hosea, Hosea, Hosea.

Mary Margaret 18:51

Yeah, Hosea.

Jemima 18:52

Yes, um the prophet when you read that, it says uh God is actually saying because of the lack of knowledge, my people perish, he's saying. Seems like it, like this needs to be like teach teach like generation to generation to generation. Now we have this whole idea in the New Testament of the ministry of one another, and you have there, you need to encourage each other, you need to um uh just like cry with those who cry, and you need to laugh with I mean uh have joy with those who rejoice. And all these things are meant to be in the way of like you should abide in the Bible and what the Lord is saying, knowing God and helping others to love the Lord. But it is interesting this part. Deuteronomy chapter six says we should love the Lord, right? And if we love the Lord, then we can obey. That's the pattern that that we can see in Deuteronomy. But when you go to Deuteronomy chapter 30, and when because Moses basically is doing like a summary of what they need to do before they go to the land. Um but when you go to the verse six in chapter thirty, can you read please?

Mary Margaret 20:17

And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

unknown 20:27

That's okay.

Jemima 20:28

Yes, so this verse is is is so powerful because when you think about okay, I need to love the Lord, but I cannot love the Lord if my heart has not been circumcised. In the New Testament era, what does that mean? Well, the Holy Spirit comes to our lives, convince us from sin, help us to repent, guide us to repent, change completely who we are, change our hearts to a new heart,

New Hearts And The Spirit’s Work

Jemima 21:05

and then we can love the Lord. And that's the difference between someone that knows God and and and they don't know God as knowledge us as we when we talk about that. Someone can hear about God, someone can know about God, exactly, but that person cannot love the Lord, yeah. And and in the love that the Bible is talking about is not a love like it's just like feeling love, it's a knowledge that came to understand, wow, that's God. I love him because I know him, and I can know him because the Holy Spirit abides in me. But again, coming back to what I said at the beginning, the that this doesn't mean, and I'm gonna say this uh because I have just read about this a lot. This doesn't mean people have this knowledge in their heads and they are gonna connect it to their hearts. That's not what. Bible is saying you don't have a verse in the Bible saying that at all. This is saying in our hearts, because I'm quoting what Jesus says in Mark in Matthew, in our hearts, we have the knowledge, we have the feelings, and we have the evolution that has the ability to connect to each other, and then when we know something, we feel something and we have a decision about something. These three things can be like really connected and do what God asks us to do when we have a new heart, when we know when the Lord what the Lord says about Himself in the Bible and what we should do in the Bible. We cannot connect that to our feelings either. So there is why I'm talking about all of this. It feels like I'm having a rabbit trail. But uh I'm I'm saying all of this because when you talk with someone about discipleship, you are not just saying, okay, you should obey the Lord. You are telling them you should love God. So when you talk about discipleship, you need to make sure, or not make sure, but at least be aware that the Holy Spirit needs to be doing the job. Because we are just sharing life together, as you said in a minute ago. But the Holy Spirit is the one that is changing this person. If that's not happening, what I call it is a personal evangelism. I'm telling you who God is, hoping the Lord brings grace to your life and you came to salvation.

Mary Margaret 23:49

I think that's a really healthy distinctive too. It's like you're you know, you for someone who's not a Christian, like you have to evangelize them first because like yeah, their heart's not gonna be changed until they've come to know the Lord and the Holy Spirit's grant granted them faith and repentance, you know, and given them that new heart. Um so I think yeah, that's and I just love like um I love the emphasis on like the heart behind discipleship too, of like keeping it on, loving God with all your heart too. Because I think like I think like also like you could be listening to this and be like, you know, trying to do all these things for the Lord and like be on fire for God, all this stuff, and you can miss like the heart behind it. Yeah um and ultimately like before we do anything for the Lord, like He just wants us and He wants our heart. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, yeah.

Jemima 24:53

And and thinking in sometimes someone can say like, no, but it in in the Bible also says you need to love the Lord with all your mind. Um yes, but again, that's not meaning you have different parts or your heart is disconnected from your mind. It's actually the same thing. The emphasis is like all of you, period. Exactly. Just just all of you, just all of you need to love the Lord. And um coming to discipleship and the family part of it, then um as singles we have this really sweet possibility inside of inside of our local church of walking with other people. And I will say this, uh maybe so many this is not really common, people don't think about this really in often. Um but if you think about Timothy, Timothy was pretty young.

Mary Margaret 25:48

Yeah.

Jemima 25:50

And I don't know how old we're the people that got, I mean, Paul told Timothy, go and in charge this man. And I'm not saying we should go and do that because we are not pastors, but what I'm what I'm trying to explain, yes, no no no hear me well, but what I'm trying to say is sometimes you have a really young woman in your church, single, but she has going through the Bible, she reads the Bible, she is a faithful Christian, and she loves the Lord, and she wants to invest, she wants her life in another woman, and the woman is older, uh, but is a new believer. Um I will say that's

Women Teaching And Bible Literacy Gaps

Jemima 26:40

perfect. Yeah, because it's not about how much experience you have, it's not about how old you are. It's about Christ. Exactly. And that woman became your sister because of the Lord's grace, praise the Lord. But then the ability to explain things about the Bible, that doesn't that is not really connected of your status or your age. It's connected of what the Holy Spirit has been teaching you. For sure. So I think that's that's a really important part.

Mary Margaret 27:10

Yeah, there's I mean there's a lady I I was discipling for a s a period of time. Um sadly I've lost contact with her. But like I mean she was I think in her forties or fifties, you know, but she I mean she did she didn't when I shared the gospel with her, she's like, I've never heard that before. Um and so and and I think she's heard parts of it, but but it was like she understood it for the first time, you know. Um and so yeah, I think it's like but it it wasn't awkward at all because like she's just like you you know this and I don't, so like teach me. You know, um and I'm sure there's aspects of her life that like she could have taught me other things. And you can see that eagerness in like I really want to know this. Like tell me. Yes, yeah. She literally was like, listen, if you need a like she's like, Do you have like children's books or something? Because I feel like I d I don't have any any foundation. So like if you need to teach me with like kids' storybooks so that I can understand this, like yes, you know what I mean? Yes. Um so I think that yeah, that's and and by the way, like the the kids' books are really good to help us know. Um sometimes those kids' books, I'm like, what words are you using? Like these are big words. I'm like, I never knew that when I was growing up. Yeah, I'm just like, this is this is uh wow. Um smart. Um but yeah, no, I I definitely think that's really good. And I I like um going back to like the Deuteronomy versus like how um right after it says like teach them to your children, and so it's like yeah, love the Lord, like have that walk with them, and then that is gonna overflow into teaching others. I also just love how both Matthew 28 and Deuteronomy use like the word teach. Yeah. Because like I'm really passionate about like teaching people. Yeah. Um, and sometimes I think this is also another topic, but sometimes I think as a woman, I can get a little discouraged because I'm like it it can kind of feel like okay, if you have a teaching gift, that's for men, and like for pastors, you know, and women can't be pastors, therefore, like can women even teach them? You know what I mean? And so like I'm just like I'm being honest, but goes through my head. I'm like, I get discouraged sometimes, and I'm like, well, now what I do. When a guy has a teaching gift, it's like people are coming alongside of him and helping him and like fostering that, and then when a woman, it's like, be careful, don't teach men. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah. So I love that just like in Matthew 20 and Deuteronomy, it's like, yeah, like, yeah, women are teaching, they're teaching their children, they're teaching other women, they are discipling people. Yes. Um, and I just find that to be so encouraging.

Jemima 29:57

Yeah. And and you see the life of Eunice. And and I don't think Eunice was um being unbiblical, you know. She invested in and and and Timothy's mom. Timothy's mom. And Timothy's grandma too. So this beautiful woman that the Lord provided in Timothy's life, like invested in him. And I think that's what is a call, basically, we'll uh for for every every other woman. Like and I will say we have a lot of work in the church and outside of it. Like if if we can see the people sitting in in the chairs every Sunday, and we can uh just make a list of ten of them and just pray for them every every week and then try to reach out to them and try to read the Bible with them. And I'm and I'm saying other women.

Mary Margaret 30:52

Yeah.

Jemima 30:53

Uh it's a lot of work. So in thinking about it, uh it's like I told my husband, like I don't I don't know where other women have time for like thinking like other areas. Yeah. That they are the Bible is not asking them to do as as preaching. Like no, I think I believe that's for for guys, I mean for men. Um but what I'm saying is it is a lot of women in the church that need help, like learning just how to read the Bible. Look, I'm I'm a biblical counselor. Uh I mean I study that. I'm I'm a woman. That that's why Identity things. We're gonna talk about that. But the thing is um yes. Um studying biblical counseling and doing like giving biblical counseling to other w women, I have noticed the problem, of course the problem number one is that we are not loving God. But as He is asking us to do it. But the also the problem is we don't know how to read our Bibles. We don't we are not reading our Bibles.

Mary Margaret 32:07

Well, and I think sometimes we we put that off to like the men. It's like all these men are getting breakfast at 6 30 together and stuff, and and I get it like for you know, again, we're talking about singles, but for for women who have kids and moms and stuff, like yeah, that's not possible. But it's like you can find ways for the things that you that you prioritize, you know. But I do think there's an aspect I think we're jumping all over the place, but like as a single, like you I I want to say this carefully, you don't have more time. Everyone has the same 24 hours in a day. You have more freedom with your time. Because as a mom, you know, you're the flexibility. You have yeah, you you have certain things that are just naturally added to your plate to now do, you know. As a single, you don't have that, you have freedom with it. And so um taking that freedom and using it to study the Bible and to learn about like goodness gracious,

Singleness As Gift Not Deficit

Mary Margaret 33:05

I am so so grateful. Like, I think a lot of times with singleness, like it can be talked about like almost like this, like, oh like we know that you don't like your singleness, but here's why it's good. And I just want to say, like, singleness is great. Like, uh, if the Lord provides marriage for me, great. But if he doesn't, great. Because honestly, like there's so much I love getting to spend so much time, so much personal time with the Lord. Um that's just like the intimacy that I get to have with him and the quietness I get to have with him. And you know, once a week I try to go somewhere outdoors and just spend a couple hours praying, reading the Bible, just being outside. And it's just like that is like it's like I I kind of see it as like that's my that's what fuels me for the week and for the next week and gives me rest when I'm when I am pouring into others and like discipling others, that's like my breath of fresh air. Um and to be honest, I miss that. Yeah, yeah. It's it's incredible. Like I just people talk about marriage like it's incredible, and it is, I'm sure. I I don't have experience, but I'm sure I mean it's also really hard, but I'm sure there's also incredible parts of it, yeah, right, that I haven't tasted yet. But also as a single right now, I can say I've tasted the beauty of it. Like it's a good gift, and so I just want to say, like, toever is listening to this episode, like if you're desiring marriage and that's hard for you, like I weep with you and I grieve with you, and I pray that the Lord provides you a husband, like that's that's a good thing to desire. Yes. Yes, um, but also if he doesn't like see the beauty of this gift, it's so good, and you're gonna miss it. Yeah, like you don't miss it.

Jemima 35:02

Like sometimes I hear people saying just to come back to what we were talking about people saying marriage is a gift. And I believe that. Children are a gift. Praise the Lord for them. But as you're saying, singleness is a gift.

Mary Margaret 35:22

Yeah, and it's not just a a like lesser gift, like sometimes we say that, and then you know what I mean?

Jemima 35:28

It's like exactly it's yeah, and we have like mixed in our language, I said, I I think so many like secular thoughts about how singleness work. Yeah, and this thought of like, oh, I'm incomplete. Yeah, or even Christians say that you can't do someone to complete me. My other half, my other half. Yeah, that's not biblical. It's not, the Bible doesn't say that in Christ. Exactly. Exactly. You are complete in Christ. Like the Lord says in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, God has given you all the blessings, every single blessing. It is no more blessing that you can receive from heaven in Christ, when he saved your life from hell, it's like the the the biggest problem we had as as human beings when we became Christian is solved. We are we are free.

Mary Margaret 36:22

Well, and this is this like and we you know we've talked about this before, but like singleness is the eternal state, like because marriage is temporary on earth. And I feel like right now we're talking more about just marriage and singleness instead of discipleship, but still, like it's so good. But like see like marriage is again going back to what you said earlier of like we need physical pictures, okay? So marriage is the physical picture of um Jesus and his bride, which is the church. Yes, and so really marriage here on earth is just a shadow or a type of what's to come when we are united to Christ forever as his bride. I mean, we're already united to him, but um, that full, you know, already not yet the fullness of it in the new heavens and new earth of being and like there's not gonna be marriage in heaven. And so the because the ma what is the marriage all caps is Christ and his church. And so I just think like going back to discipleship as a single, like you, as a single, we have such an opportunity to first love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. Yes. Um, and to really like I feel like as a single, you kind of have a unique opportunity to like depend on that, depend on the Lord in in a different kind of way because you're still gonna have you know sexual desire. Like we don't talk about this too often as as ladies, but you're still gonna have that. I wrestle with that, you know what I mean? Yeah, like you're gonna depending on what time of the month, too, like Exactly It's just gonna be there, okay? And that is hard, all right? That is hard to have something, a natural, God-given desire, yes, that cannot be met in a biblical way until you're married. Yes, like it is hard, and and that's where self-control comes in, the fruit of the spirit. Um, but like you're you're gonna have those temptation, but there's there's this unique way, I think, in this single that like you're depending on the love of the Lord for you and in such a probation in such a deep way. Yes, you know, because you're you don't have a husband providing for you. Yes, you don't get the love and the attention of your own man, and and so it's like you you are solely going to the Lord for that. Yeah, you are solely not just you're not just loving him, but you are relying on Lord, like this guy broke up with me, or I've never had a guy ask me out, but you have chosen me. Yeah, you know, and it's like I have never, you know, whoever it might be listening, like I've never been loved by a guy like that, you know, but it's like but God has loved me. Yeah, so there's just like this unique intimacy, you know, that you build with the Lord.

Jemima 39:21

Yeah, and I will say, like, this is important for discipleship because once you are, let's say, happy, once you enjoy your relationship with the Lord and you learn to love the Lord, but also love others as he loves them, um, as the Bible says, I think there is where the beauty of discipleship comes from. It is and and hear me out, because I think sometimes I I fell on that. And I sometimes we do things thinking God is gonna rewire us.

Mary Margaret 40:00

So if I disciple this woman, let me get or let me get content enough first, and then God's gonna send me sex within. That's wrong.

Jemima 40:06

I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure I am in this like rate of like contentment.

Mary Margaret 40:12

That's not seeking God for God, that's seeking God for the benefits.

Jemima 40:16

Yeah, yes, yes, Israel again in 2026. Um it's really important for discipleship because we are literally telling people look, this is the Lord who I follow, you should follow him.

Mary Margaret 40:35

And he's enough for me. He's yeah, exactly. He's proven himself.

Jemima 40:38

But the beauty also in discipleship is that as we are doing discipleship, we are more convinced of who God is because we are abiding in his word. So it's a both way uh transaction, let's say. It's I am investing in this person, but at the same time I'm being fed by the Bible.

Mary Margaret 40:56

Amen.

Jemima 40:57

Fed fit. Yeah, fed. Um so it it it that's important for discipleship, but it is important to ref define that singleness, it's not this weird stage that no one knows why you are there, even God, and God was had another plan, but sadly, or you mess it up, or someone messes it up, or God just forgot about it.

Mary Margaret 41:20

Or has something to do with you or whatever. Exactly. God is sovereign.

Jemima 41:23

No, it's just a stage of life with limitations and with abilities and with opportunities and with uh fights with your own soul, like because we are sinners, we live in this fallen world with uh challenges that in the same way as marriage has

Desire Temptation And Intimacy With Christ

Jemima 41:45

its own things, and in in when you for example, if you lose your husband and you are a widow, you have also like challenges and uh possibilities to do things and just different different stages come with different packages.

Mary Margaret 42:04

That's a good way to put it.

Jemima 42:05

We live in a fallen world, we are sinners, but if for God's grace we have been saved, we are also saved. Well, but we are also sufferers. We are Christians. That's that's Christian life. And if you are a woman who happened to be single in this moment, uh well the Lord has been giving you this stage of life for you, not because he thought this is the way how I'm gonna punish her. No. He thought this is the way how he was gonna sanctify you. If he that he's all sovereign and so all like um wise, his wisdom is something that we cannot even understand. If in his wisdom he said she's gonna be single in this moment, it's because in his wisdom he thinks he can provide everything you need in this moment to make you like Christ. And and that is beautiful.

Mary Margaret 43:08

The heart of God, like realizing that the heart of God is not like, oh, like just this angry kind of disposition of you're single, it's like this cur no your course. Yeah, it's a gift. Exactly.

Jemima 43:23

Um but the thing is also that is gonna be so helpful if the Lord provides marriage in his will. That is gonna be so helpful for marriage too. One of the things that I have seen in marriage is people just make themselves about their husbands. It's like whatever my husband does, if like your desire is gonna be around him. Basically that's what's happening. Uh Genesis chapter three. So I am real in in in it's not that we don't cannot Trust our husband. I'm not saying that. It's just our security and our provision and our blessings and also everything that we need is not coming from him. It's not coming from our husbands. It's still coming from the Lord. Our husband happened to be the person that God put like really close to our lives just to sanctify him too.

Mary Margaret 44:25

He's also in our husband.

Jemima 44:30

Exactly. And you mentioned a minute ago, like marriage is just for earth. In heaven we are gonna be brothers and sisters, all of us. Why became such an important topic to be married in Earth? And I'm not saying it's not important. I'm not saying, hey, hear me out. People, if you can get married, just go and get married. Like don't waste your time. Just go for it. But and if you have kids, too. But it is so important because we see people married. And because we see it and we think this is what my grandma used to say. The grass is always more green in my neighborhood, in my neighbor's house. So we think, wow, if I am married, I'm maybe not gonna be challenged by this. I'm not I'm I'm maybe gonna be more like invested in these other ways, and maybe I'm gonna be more secure in this other way. It's a beautiful thing to grow together with another person, but it's also a beautiful thing to grow together with different people in our church. Yes. But it's also beautiful to understand that if I am single here in earth and by the Lord's grace, I He keeps me single until I see him face to face.

Complaining In The Desert And Contentment

Jemima 46:10

It's not that I miss it, I missed something important in life. No, God is gonna continue doing his job in your life as he can be doing that in different stages of your life.

Mary Margaret 46:24

Um I I love how you said it, if by the grace of the Lord He keeps you single. Yeah. Because it's it's grace, it's not Yeah, that's what Paul says. Yeah.

unknown 46:35

That's really funny.

Jemima 46:36

And I didn't I didn't quite understand that. Until I re I went to this conference. I remember the name of the conference, but give me just one second. Uh because I wanna forgot this idea. Um I went to this conference and it was John Piper talking in that conference. It was one of the times that I see him face to face. Praise the Lord for his life.

Mary Margaret 46:56

I really want to meet him to face.

Jemima 46:57

Me too. Um he was talking. I think the topic was completely different, but in that moment that's what the Lord used it to talk to my heart. Um He talked about what Israel was doing in the desert before they came to the or they went to the promised land. And it was this like constant complaining about things. Constant complaining about like literally like normal stuff, like food, water, uh, and God knows what else they were complaining to. But he mentioned something. They were saying they were complaining, and they were saying, and and we can read that in in Exodus, but they were saying to the Lord something like okay, you literally wanted to kill us, bringing us to the desert. We wanted to come back to Egypt. And God is guiding them to go to the promised land. It's like there. Yeah, but because the circumstances seem too like difficult because I uh seems like I'm not gonna have breath tomorrow because it seems like I need water right now, yeah. Then I'm gonna complain and say, Lord, you are bringing me here in this moment of my life because you wanna kill me. Yeah, yeah, that is accusing the Lord of being someone that is really bad. Yeah, like someone that is evil basically. That's a lie. So when I hear that, I cry in repentance because what I was doing in my singleness is complaining to the Lord in a way of like, and not everyone is doing this, and I'm not saying that, but uh what I was doing is basically saying, I am in this point of my life, God is because you don't think I am I don't know, capable enough or I don't deserve to be married, maybe. Um and that was a complaining against him and I wasn't really like enjoying the fact that he has me, he has my life in that point because he thought that was good for me. I thought, well, he's basically forgiving me about what I really need. I really need a husband, I really need security, I really need provision, you know? But the Lord is like, hey girl, but I'm here for you.

Mary Margaret 49:40

And I was like, it's like he wants to He wants you to know that He is everything, that He that He's enough, that He's filling like Yeah And that is what you are gonna give in this episode There's okay, there's a quote I needed to look up. John Newton, who's the author of Amazing Grace, says Everything is needful that he sends, nothing can be needful that he withholds. And I just think like knowing that if we need it, like God is if we truly need it, God is gonna provide it.

Jemima 50:18

Yeah.

Mary Margaret 50:18

And if we don't have it, then we don't need it. Like God, God, God is He's gonna give, you know, He's gonna provide. He's our Father, you know for the sake of His kingdom and His name. That's the Psalms. That's what's it? Yeah, and it's like yeah, and it's not necessarily I mean obviously, like there's gonna be times I think that I mean, like when I think of Paul, like he went hungry and had thirsty, and like those are needs, but also Paul God gave Paul what he needed to endure in the faithful Christian like it's about like the spiritual aspect of like He's gonna give you what you need to know Him, to love Him, to endure, to persevere to the end, you know Yes Um His Word is sufficient and you know we don't even like the verse, you know, we don't live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, I might have misquoted that, but it says something like that, and it's like with um I think of like temptation and like sins and stuff and it's like I I don't like whatever it is, like I have to feed on the word of God. So when I feel like I'm lacking, when I feel like, oh man, I really need some emotional intimacy with a man, and I just don't have that. Like instead of going to even for women that struggle with pornography or masturbation or whatever it is, um even social media, yeah. Whatever it is, like am I living on bread alone that like am I living on my sight or am I walking by faith and not by sight and living on God's words? When I need to spend time, yes, and not just like this dutiful, like, okay, like I'm gonna go read God's word instead of like feed my passions, but no, it's like this intimacy with the Lord. I remembered my other thought. Hold up. Um we're getting towards our end, but going back to I I promise this is all gonna tie together. Um, but the intimacy we have with the Lord, like going back to how the physical marriage is a picture of the ultimate. So like Ephesians 5 31 says, Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. Verse 32. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ in the church. Yes. So I just love how verse 31 is like, the two shall become one flesh. Yeah. Okay, so like a sexual relationship, the two become one. Yeah. That deep intimacy. Yeah. And then verse 32, Paul's like, just so you know, um, this refers to Christ in the church. Yeah. And so, like, not to not to make it weird, but it's like sex, like that intimacy, that's how close, like the Lord wants you, that's how close the Lord wants you to be with him. Yeah. With his church, like collective as a church, not just individually, but as a church, he wants to be that united, that intimate with his bride. Obviously, not in a physical way, in a spiritual way. But I think when you know that, then you know that singleness is not less than because you're like, the ultimate intimacy is Christ in his church. And so when you're tempted, when you're struggling with your singleness, goodness gracious, like run to him and go deep with him and pour out your heart to him and weep with him and tell him your desires and tell him your broken heart and just Because He understands run there. Yeah, you will walk away. Yeah. There was a bunch of things you were gonna say.

Jemima 53:48

You can't really get because that's an explanation of what is happening in in Genesis chapter two. And if we read Genesis, Adam and Eve they didn't have parents. Why the Lord was saying you need to leave your parents? Well, it's because from the beginning, the whole creation of Adam and Eve was that an explanation of God wanting this relationship with his creation. Like he didn't create Adam and Eve because he was feeling alone.

Purpose Progress And Joy In Faith

Jemima 54:25

You know? Like that was not the point. So but coming back to the to the what a single as as a single we we should remember when we are doing discipleship is uh first Corinthians. First Corinthians uh chapter one, verse nine. God is faithful, praise the Lord. God is faithful by whom you were called into the fellowship of of his son Jesus Christ, our Lord. That it's important. Yeah, he called us to have a relationship, a fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord for it. We can read John 17 in our homes later, but uh John 17 is beautiful. He Jesus is praying before he goes to the cross and he's saying to the Lord, Lord, this is the eternal life, verse 3. It says, eternal life is that they can know you and know your son. Like I'm gonna read it because I'm misquoting that maybe. Um and and that's so beautiful because he starts praying for all the people that he invested on. Verse 3, it says, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ whom you have sent. We said, okay, you need to know God because you are gonna have eternal life. I don't know if people understand what they says when they said that. But what what basically the Bible is saying when we said that is hey, I need you to know the Lord because I need you to know the Lord. That's what we are saying. If if if if we put it in the Bible words, and in discipleship, that's what we are doing. We are investing our lives in people so they can know the Lord. By his grace they can love him, by his grace they can be saved, by his grace they can grow, by his grace they can keep walking in the spirit, by his grace they can invest their lives in others. And the same Jesus, he prayed for us before we we even like came to this like understanding of his grace, and he says, I don't pray just for them, but for the the ones that are gonna come. The ones that are gonna come because of them. Yeah, and it it says in verse 17, it says, sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth. That John 17 is beautiful. We need to invest our lives literally in the word of God. Doesn't matter, you are single, married, wherever you are, but then invest in others. Like call them to do this, like I mean not call them, let's not use the word call, but let's use the word invite them to read the Bible with you and and do it like intentionally. Um and with this I'm gonna I'm gonna close my thought. And but it is like that's what Paul, you were quoting Paul at the beginning, but that's what Paul was saying in Philippians chapter one, when he's having this debate of like he should be dead or he should be like still in the earth, not because he was hear me out, he was not suicidal. That's not what is happening in Philippians chapter one. But what is he saying is I don't know what is better, basically. Um so he says uh ta-ta-ta. Um I'm trying to do this a little faster and then um I get stuck in my own thoughts. Um he is saying okay. He's saying verse fifteen some indeed preach Christ for envy and rebel rebel but others from goodwill. The latter can you read it please?

Mary Margaret 58:48

Yes. What is it, Philippians 1?

Jemima 58:51

Yes. Let's read the chap verse 14 and 16 to 17.

Mary Margaret 58:58

Um some verse 15. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only then every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

Jemima 59:20

He's he's rejoicing that God is proclaimed. Doesn't matter how. He is rejoicing in the truth that God is proclaimed. Right. Then what is happening in verse um twenty-one?

Mary Margaret 59:34

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Jemima 59:36

Twenty-two and twenty-three, sorry.

Mary Margaret 59:38

Uh if I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell, for I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

Jemima 59:53

Yes, twenty for five.

Mary Margaret 59:55

Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith.

Jemima 1:00:01

And let us read 26 so we can't.

Mary Margaret 1:00:04

So that in me you may have ample cause sorry, ample uh so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus because of my coming to you again.

Jemima 1:00:15

So he is joyful in two things. If we can read this really quick. In in the in the in the fact that God is proclaimed, and in the fact that he can remain so the people in the flesh, so they can learn more about who God is. So Paul had this really clear in his life, and that's why he, I think the Lord give him so much grace to walk in faithfulness. But the thing is, he was clear. If I am dead, I am with Christ. Praise the Lord, everything is just gone, like every single challenge. Um, and I'm enjoying Christ. But if I remained in the flesh, it's more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain in continuity with you all for the your progress and the joy and the faith. I think we should remember that as a singles. We have a purpose on life.

Mary Margaret 1:01:10

Amen.

Jemima 1:01:10

We have a call, we are called to have um this fellowship with Lord Jesus Christ. We have eternal life, that we can know the Lord, our God, and the in the Son that He that He sent. And we can have joy in the fact that we as all we will remain in continue with the people that we are in our church because of the progress and the joy in the faith. Like we need to just get out of our heads in one in one second, and people used to tell me that all the time, and I didn't quite understand that. But get out of my head of thinking about my own self and believe that the kingdom of God is so much bigger than whatever I'm facing in that day. And whatever is happening, praise the Lord for his name and praise the Lord because he's sanctifying me through it. I don't know how, I don't know why, but praise the Lord for that. And the third thing is I have a job to do. If I have air in my lungs, I need to. I need to do what the Bible is saying that I need to do. That means investing in others, telling them, teaching them, teaching them to observe what God has given us. Yeah because that is the greatest good, is that we can know the Lord and love him.

Mary Margaret 1:02:38

Amen. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. Well, we are past an hour of time, but that's okay. Um I just hope this was encouraging and helpful to whoever um whoever's listening. Um Second Timothy four six. I want to read four, six, and seven. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I've kept the faith. Hence verse eight, hence therefore, henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous

Practical Steps And Getting Support

Mary Margaret 1:03:15

judge, will reward award to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. And so um, you know, m I hope that we're able to say the same thing with Paul that we've fought the good fight fought the good fight, um, that we have finished the race, and and just a few again, we're almost out of time, but a few practical things, like if you're hearing all this, it's like, okay, I get it. Like I need to love the Lord, I need to um love others by discipling them, and you're like, okay, well, where do I get started and what does that look like? And I've never discipled anyone, and whatever that. And I would say the first thing really is just is is one, like we've been saying, get to know the Lord, be in his word. Um two, I would say is just pray. Pray for the Lord to bring someone into your life and make it clear to you who m who you might pursue at church or in your neighborhood or at work, um, to share the gospel with them if they're not a Christian, to disciple them, um, if they are a Christian, to just help but help them get pointed closer to the Lord, where wherever they are, whether they're an unbeliever or a believer, but to just point them closer to Jesus. Um so I would just say like some practical things of just seek the Lord, get to know him, continue to get to know him, to pray, pray for those opportunities, and then be intentional and go for it. Um, you know, if if you ask a young lady, hey, like, would you want to just start like reading through the book of John together? If they say no, it's not the end of the world, go to someone else.

Jemima 1:04:43

Um it's awkward, but it's a good awkward.

Mary Margaret 1:04:49

Um also I will say just a quick suggestion. Don't try to define the relationship of like I'm gonna disciple you, or like I'm your mentor, and you're that makes it really awkward. Just ask, ask, be someone's friend. Like, you guys are friends. Do not create this like dichotomy between mentor between titles. Makes it really awkward. Um just ask someone, hey, let's study the Bible together. You do not need to make it weird. We're gonna be friends, we're gonna study the Bible together, we're both on different seasons. It doesn't matter. Like, just be friends, yes, and disciple someone as a friend. Even Jesus called his disciples friends.

Jemima 1:05:26

Yes.

Mary Margaret 1:05:26

Um, so yes, be friends. Yes. Don't make it weird. Sometimes they can just and don't put this these expectations on the relationship. No. That just just be a friend, teach them what you know. Yeah. Um reach out to your pastors, reach out to older people in your church who can give you more wisdom and advice for your specific situation. Um but also feel free to email us um at uh I think it's the BaptistCourier at gmail.com. Or you can email me, um, M Fluke M F. L-O-O-K at baptistare.com. But first reach out to your church, reach out to the people close to you that that know you.

Jemima 1:06:05

Yeah, yeah. And I would say this whole thought about discipleship is just um make it weird in a way of like go and ask people, hey, do you want to read the Bible with me? But don't put a title, like you don't need a title. Um, but also not just for the fact that you can invest on them, but for the fact that that's gonna help your soul too.

Mary Margaret 1:06:28

Amen.

Jemima 1:06:29

So read a Bible with someone else is so beautiful.

Mary Margaret 1:06:32

And again, they don't have to be younger. Exactly.

Jemima 1:06:35

So that's that's weird. That's sweet. But I will say if you have a specific challenge in your life, a scene that you are struggling with really, really hard, and you think, well, uh until I'm clean, I cannot disciple someone. I will say you can disciple someone, yes, but you need help. So there is goal, and then this is an announcement, no, pay it. But this is goal. Biblical counseling comes in the picture because of that. Um and it it is biblical counseling is like an intensive uh uh discipleship. That is what biblical counseling is. So go and seek for help for someone in in your church, um but then just go ahead and keep going what God asks you to do. Like it's not such a thing as I need to be clean to do this right.

Mary Margaret 1:07:27

It can both happen at the same time.

Jemima 1:07:29

Yes.

Mary Margaret 1:07:30

Um yeah, yeah. There's things that I still go to biblical counseling for, and I'm

A Vision For Wide Spiritual Motherhood

Mary Margaret 1:07:35

also discipling people, so I am I am being sanctified while hoping others along in their sanctification. Yeah. You know. Um I want to end with this. I'm taking a little leap here. I wasn't sure if I was gonna read this or not, but I think it can be kind of inspiring. So I'm gonna read this quote. It's from C. S. Lewis from The Great Divorce. I have actually never read this book.

unknown 1:08:00

Yeah.

Mary Margaret 1:08:01

I have never read this book. Okay, so we are taking this out of context, but this quote okay, it's not the Bible. But this quote was actually in a book on biblical womanhood that I read. This quote was kind of pulled from that. And it's always stuck with me. You can blame the author, then it's actually summarized this quote a whole lot better. I'm actually reading the exact quote from the book, so it might not make as much sense. But I'm gonna read it, hang with me. It's gonna sound weird, but hang with me, and then I'll explain. And I hope this is inspiring. The reason why I want to read this is because when I read this, it was just like, man, when I read it, I was like, that is what I want to define my life specifically as a single, but also if I get married. Like this is this is like the dream of who of who I want to be. Um so it says Okay, so basically there's this guide, and he's leading again, I haven't read the book, he's leading someone into like the afterlife of someone that's a saint that has gone to be with the Lord, I think. Um here we go. Go do your own research on that. Um it's someone you'll you'll never have heard of. Her name on earth was Sarah Smith, and she lived at Golders Green. She seems to be, well, a person of particular importance. Hey, she is one of the great ones. You have heard that fame in this country and fame on earth are two quite different things. They're talking about heaven and earth. And who are these gigantic people? Look, they're like emeralds who are dancing and throwing flowers before here. Haven't you read your Milton, A Thousand Liveried Angels Lackey? Hold up, we're getting there. And who are all these young men and women on each side? This is the part that's the best. They are her sons and daughters. She must have had a very large family, sir. Every young man or boy that met her became her son, even if it was only the boy that brought the meat to her back door. Every girl that met her was her daughter. Hm. Isn't that a bit hard on their own parents? No. There are those that steal other people's children, but her motherhood was of a different kind. Those on whom it fell went back to their natural parents, loving them more. Few men looked on her without becoming in a certain fashion her lovers, but it was the kind of love that made them not less true but truer to their own wives. And so and then it kind of keeps going, and then it says every beast and bird that came to her had its place in her love. In her they became themselves, and now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them. Um I looked at my teacher in amazement. Yes, he said, it is like when you throw a stone into a pool and the concentric waves spread out further and further, who knows where it will end. Redeemed humanity is still young, it has hardly come to its full strength, but already there is joy enough as in the little finger of a great saint such as your yonder lady to waken all the dead things of the universe into life. And so I just love that because it's like everyone, the meat guy, the the whoever came to her became her sons and her daughters. Her motherhood was of a different kind. Um and I just I just think like that's been that's a quote I wrote in my journal, and I was just like, man, like I want that to be true, especially as a single, like I want that to be, and I'm pretty sure the person described here is actually married in the story. Um, but I think it applies so well to singles of just like, man, like every every little kid at church is my niece or my nephew or my daughter. Every person every you know, UPS guy and Amazon worker that comes is someone I want to point to Christ, you know, um, and to just I don't know. I just think that's a inspirational thing to aspire to. Yeah, we have a lot of work to do. Yeah. Well, man, we uh went long today. But thank you so much for coming. My pleasure. Thank you, um, people, whoever you are,

Final Encouragement And Listener Next Steps

Mary Margaret 1:12:05

for listening.

Jemima 1:12:05

Yeah, thank you.

Mary Margaret 1:12:06

This was quite a I hope people were doing something else and decent enough because working out or dishes, or hopefully got something done during this hour and 15-minute talk. Um hopefully. But yeah, um, follow us next time on our next episode, Career Conversations, and honestly, feel free to reach out to us anytime, and we will talk to you next time. Yes.

Jeff 1:12:39

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