The Single Girl Diaries: Joy on the Road to Healing

Hi love!
Boy do I have a treat for you today. I asked someone very near and dear to my heart to write a guest post for you lovies. I have had the opportunity of knowing Tamara since she was in middle school. She came to our youth summer camp with her best friend the year after her eighth grade year and lucky me, I was her camp counselor. Then she just couldn't get rid of me because I was her camp counselor at every camp after that too. She is now in college and leading a beautiful life that represents Christ and I love that I get to watch the plans of God unfold in her life.
You are going to LOVE this post by her! I felt like my heart was going to explode with pride as I read it. She has so much wisdom and maybe I would have made a few less single girl mistakes if she was my friend when I was her age!

{:What a BABE, right?!:}
~3 things cannot leave the house without: cell phone, tooth brush (obsessed with brushing my teeth), debit card~if you could go on a date with anyone: eric decker~favorite book: unspoken for by alyssa bethke & robin gunn~chocolates or flowers: flowers~dream vacation: bora, bora

Okay, so I’m going to share with you about healing. This past season in my life has been a huge healing process. About 8 months ago, I was at my lowest point and was heartbroken from a recent breakup. You could say I was pretty devastated. I didn’t understand why I was going through such heartbreak. It was in this season that I had to make a decision, either I was going to let the pain of the heartbreak take over my life or I was going to use it as a way to get closer to God.
At first, I decided to serve, praise, and honor God wholeheartedly. But...I wasn’t feeling any difference. So I started to stop reading my bible. I stopped going to church as often. And, I started to make bad decisions.
I thought going out with friends and partying would numb the pain or take my mind off of everything I was feeling, but I soon realized it just made it the pain worse. Finally, I realized that I would never truly get healing from what was broken if I didn’t face reality.
So I finally sat down and had alone time with God one morning, which is when I realized that He was all I needed. I truly found God again and remembered the promises He told me from the beginning of my heartbreak. He promised me that I will not be alone and that one day I will have joy again.
Now, on the other side of that heartbreak, I can say that chasing after God and falling in love with him all over again has brought me joy. Even though I can’t say I have found that special someone in my life yet, I know that when that day comes it will be beautiful. So I’m here to encourage you that when you are going through a storm, praise God even harder.
Even when you don’t want to get out of bed, praise him! Stop listening to Sam Smith’s sad songs and listen to some Hillsong. {:Preach sista:} Read your bible every day, and always make time to talk to God. The hard times are always the easiest moments to walk away, but instead praise God even harder, because he never puts someone through heartbreak if he didn’t want to use it for a purpose in your life.
XOXO Tamara