Kirjahaku

"Why can't I just be single and happy and stop wanting more?" The question haunted Sharyn Kopf until a friend responded: "You're grieving something you've lost. It's okay to be sad." Funny how one moment can change a person's perspective. With those ten words, this friend gave a name to Sharyn's struggles as a single woman: Grief. We all understand the sorrow of loss. But grieving singleness? Doesn't that go against the biblical command to "be content"? Is it possible to enjoy the gifts of an unmarried life and still long for a husband and family of one's own? Using the seven stages of grief-denial, disbelief, bargaining, guilt, anger, depression, and hope-along with Scripture and her own experiences, Sharyn will walk with you through your own grief process. Within these pages, we'll take a look at: -How God feels about our singleness -The longing for children -Our tendency to fluctuate between believing we're too picky and worrying we're not good enough to attract a man -Bargaining our way into and out of relationships -How to deal with regret -The stress of financial difficulties like job loss, low income, and handling it all on your own -What long-term singleness does to our self-esteem -How to respond to single women clich s and myths And more. Plus, there's a special section specifically written to our married friends and family members. You are not alone. It's okay to be sad. Ironically, it's only in grieving what you've lost that you can find healing and hope for your future, with or without a wedding ring. Because to mourn anything without hope is to mourn without God. Spinstered we may be ... but we are not alone.

Realizing you're a spinster is one thing; understanding what that means and how to handle it is another. And it would seem Jolene, Uli and Catie still have a ways to go before they truly comprehend what God is trying to show them not only in their desire to marry but in their longing to have children of their own. As one relationship ends and another begins, Jolene Woods realizes she needs to finally deal with the guilt and regret of her past if she's ever going to move on. And so she embarks on a journey she hopes will bring forgiveness ... but may, in fact, only lead to more regret. Did she forever destroy her chance to be a mother in her youth? Uli Odell has her own journey, though it's more of an escape from the pain and embarrassment of a broken engagement. She ends up at her mother's home in Iowa, separated from her friends and desperate for money. But there are some problems she just can't run away from. Though Catie's heart is in a stronger place since she met God on a mountain three months ago, she still doesn't have answers to many of her questions. Then the possibility of an unhealthy relationship and the reality of a life-altering medical diagnosis makes her wonder if she's figured out anything at all. As their lives head off in different directions, each of these friends will need God-and each other-to find their way to healing.

"If God is so good, why am I so unhappy?" It's a question Uli Odell seems to ask herself a lot lately. Because she should be happy-lately, her life has included a vacation on a gorgeous Belizean island with her best friends and an upcoming wedding to a man who says he loves her. Sure, she doesn't have a job, but once she's married she won't necessarily need one, right? Why, then, does she feel so ... incomplete? Uli's friend, Catie Delaney, has her own struggle with happiness as she prepares for a hysterectomy to fight uterine cancer within days of returning home from their island vacation. But perhaps the biggest struggle will be deciding what to do with her life once she beats this disease, and how to come to terms with her single childlessness. When Jolene Woods went to Nashville in book two, Inconceived, she never expected to come back to Colorado with a fianc and a daughter. And grandchildren Now she has to figure out if she should leave the mountains and her dream job for a new life with her family in Tennessee. And she can no longer just consider what she wants but what's best for her and the man she loves. But whatever choices Uli, Catie, and Jolene make, each of their lives-in one way or another-will be Altared.