It’s no secret to anyone, anywhere, that dating is hard. In fact, it’s never been easy! But in the modern days, where everyone has access to a phone and connections can be built instantaneously, connecting with the right person for the right reasons somehow seems even harder. Online dating has largely sought to solve this problem and make it easier to connect with individuals who share both your beliefs and values, as well as your personal interests and hobbies, but that doesn’t mean it will magically provide you with a perfect match your first time.
You were likely waiting for God’s perfect match long before you even considered online matchmaking, and just because you type in all your desires and preferences into an app doesn’t mean you can control God’s timing in dating. You still need to express spiritual patience in relationships, no matter the medium. Prayerful online dating requires patience, faith, and resilience but ultimately comes down to unwavering trust in the Lord to pair you with the life partner of your destiny.
Understanding God’s Timing
God’s timing in dating may not always be clear, and that’s because we must remember His divine nature and consider that he has a much larger and eternal perspective and plan for our lives. This means that His agenda might not align with our own preferences, but that’s alright as long as we still pray and trust his guidance during the process of searching for a potential spouse.
While we may expect immediate gratification or rewards for our orchestrated courtship strategies, God may have other plans that not only follow a different timeline than you’re expecting but also serve a greater purpose in the overall scope of our lives. While we may view the trial as unfair or inconvenient, it’s the spiritual patience in relationships that strengthens virtuous qualities and ultimately reminds us that these setbacks are merely an opportunity to grow in your relationship with the Lord in the meantime.
The Role of Prayer in Online Dating
Prayerful online dating is a practice you should implement if you’re navigating a relationship with any new Christian you’re unfamiliar with. Before messaging directly through the platform, progressing to in-person dates, and at any point throughout a serious relationship with someone, you should be praying and consulting advice from the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Faith and online dating don’t exactly seem like a match made in Heaven at first, but it’s certainly become an extremely viable tool for connecting Christians from all over the world with men and women with other devoutly spiritual partners. However, when things don’t work out the first, second, or even third time, you need to remain steadfast in prayer for direction on your next steps.
When you find comfort in God’s plan and begin to align your goals with His, you may realize yourself starting to focus on your other, more crucial personal relationships that will provide you with more growth and fulfillment in the immediate future. This can be applied and benefit your outlook and approach to dating, but also your spiritual journey as a whole.
The Virtue of Patience in Scripture
When considering faith and online dating, it can be easy to feel down or frustrated when things don’t pan out quickly. After all, shouldn’t this expedited technology help you discover the most eligible Christian singles in your area? Well, as the Bible itself states in multiple instances, patience is a persistent theme when it comes to marriage. For example, In Genesis, Abraham and Sarah are forced to await their prophecized son for much longer than either one of them could have possibly anticipated.
James 5:7-8 is also a telling verse: “Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near.”
And perhaps, Romans 8:25 sums it up best of all: “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”
Overcoming Impatience and Anxiety
If you are feeling anxious about your prospects and begin to exude impatience within the realm of online Christian matchmaking, you must once again consider God’s timing in dating. Praying and continuing to remember His unwavering faithfulness will remind you that these feelings of discomfort largely stem from an unwillingness to surrender to the divine plan he has for you.
Staying mindful of the present and focusing on what’s important in the immediate timeframe should still be your priority instead of constantly looking to the future for fulfillment. Meditating on personal growth and revisiting scripture for affirmations of God’s faithfulness are positive ways that will help continue to build up your spiritual prowess and help you recognize His timing will be perfect for your personal situation.
Recognizing Divine Interventions
Many people view divine intervention as a way of confirming God’s role in orchestrating our lives, but that doesn’t mean he’ll immediately pair you with an instantly compatible single who checks all our boxes. Diving intervention often takes trial and error, patience, and succumbing to God’s ultimate purpose for you, whether it’s in dictating your future relationships or anything else.
Understanding what that looks like in practice is also important, because many times, lessons will be learned along the way that will require prayerful considerations but should be accepted in humbleness and gratitude. If you witness love formulate for a peer in a much faster fashion, you can be gracious and excited for them, all while continuing to stay devoted to the plan the Lord has crafted for you in due time.
Balancing Proactivity with Patience
While God’s timing won’t be explicitly conveyed on a schedule for you, those interested in proactive Christian dating practices can still make progress every day. Beginning with prayer, joining tailored online dating sites like Christian Mingle is a great way to build connections with those around you who also lead faithful lives and put God at the forefront of everything they do.
You can also actively vet any individuals you meet to compare and contrast their respective beliefs and values to your own, therefore determining compatibility for yourself instead of just assuming your initial matches are examples of divine intervention. Using your judgment and knowledge of the Gospel, consulting peers or church elders, and continuing to pray are all ways to be proactive while also displaying patience in the dating process.
The Blessings of Waiting
Waiting for God’s perfect match may seem like a tough endeavor that also still results in uncertainty, but in a way, this unpredictability is a blessing for each Christian in pursuit of devout Christian matrimony. In the meantime, you’re almost guaranteed to grow spiritually if you approach every dating opportunity with humbleness and view it as a chance for personal growth.
You’ll also learn much more about yourself and your relationship with God, allowing you to become aware of what matters most to you in life and what that looks like both practically and spiritually along the way. Ultimately, through the meticulous process of Christian dating, you can grow closer to His word, understand His purpose, and, most importantly, release the reigns to the Lord’s will and allow Him to lead you on your own divine and faithful journey to a lifelong partner who will best help you navigate the world as a Christian first.