So really, what IS going on?

Don’t Be Your Own Matchmaker!
Boy or girl, we all hit a point in life where we start noticing happy little couples spring up from out of nowhere. As single people, being surrounded by lovebirds can be daunting. I know that when the majority of my friends have a special someone in their lives, I tend to get a little jealous. Not angry at them, but in the ‘why not me too!!’ way. Soon after this, I’d realize that wanting a boyfriend just because someone else has one is not a very good reason; so of course I would start thinking of reasons why having a special person in my life would be beneficial for both parties. At nighttime I’d say my little prayers then quickly add at the end, ‘…and God, if you could put that guy in my life, that’d be so wonderful! Oh… but let your will be done!’ Now it may take a good while, or even no time flat to meet that guy/girl. You know… THE one. This person is attractive (personality, spiritually and/or physically) and seems like the best match for you. Each time you see him, some sort of ‘spark’ shoots across the room connecting you two. Could he be your answered prayer?
WHOA. Before you start pondering whether your crush is the one or not, STOP. Trust me, I know how your brain is working. I was (and still am a little) my own matchmaker for a long time. Have you seen ‘Fiddler on the Roof’? In the movie there is a notorious woman known as the town’s matchmaker. She hooks all those kids up! Though in the end, her ‘clients’ ended up meeting men who they fell in love with; men who they didn’t see coming at all.
So you’re thinking, ‘I’m not my own matchmaker!’ WRONG! …weeeeell, that depends with what kind of personality you have, but if you are known as a daydreamer or pursuer, or are impatient or hasty-minded… you’re most likely your own matchmaker. This is what matchmakers do: they look for common interests/morals. From there things get a lot more detailed, and with finding out details comes a growing bond. Now as your own personal ‘Hitch,’ you are also looking for someone you’re attracted to. I think we’ve all been in that position where at least one of our crushes developed because of first impressions—their appearances. Physical looks alone can get you into trouble, but that’s not the main fault of matchmakers. Matchmakers are on a rush. They’re given a task and as soon as that task begins it’s a race to find a mate for somebody else, or yourself.
There are three basic types of self-matchmakers.
1. Daydream constantly. Analyze the others personality, interests, goals, etc. Seldom do anything about your interest because they’re supposed to initiate something (or you’re just plain shy), but you wrap your heart around the desired so much that your world crashes when it doesn’t work out.
2. Planning constantly. Figure out ways to get to know the other better and ways to hang out with them. You chase the target out of your impatience for them to do something. Push, push and push, and you quickly become ignorant to what’s really going on.
3. Dangerous combination of the Daydreamer and Planner. This is the category that I used to fit in. Not very fun.
No matter what type of matchmaker you are, you are still in the wrong. I know, I know, it hurts reading that. ‘No I’ve really thought this over!’ No, no, you still don’t win though. After years of my crazy middle school and high school career, God’s made it clear to me that matchmakers need to get hit with the lightning bolt of reality. Reality is that God is in charge of absolutely everything. 1 John 3:20, “…For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.” God knows the when, where, and how you’ll meet that ‘who’. You may meet your future spouse in college, in twenty years or you might even know them already; but it’s not your place to know right now, or take a wild guess and run with it. I’ve learned that God reeeeally dislikes it when you convince yourself that your crush is the one; that God is telling you He IS the one. I went through that sad sad mistake and got a good ‘yelling at’ by God, and guess what… That old crush of mine wasn’t/isn’t ‘the one’. God definitely showed that to me, and put me in my place when I tried arranging a ‘mini-date’ with that individual.
God is the only one who has the authority to ‘hook us up’. We may pray for His will to be done, but it takes practice and meditation to really desire His will wholeheartedly (this can be applied to any situation!) Kicking off this blog, I want to tell you that my friend’s (the other author) and my goal is not to give you the golden keys to finding yourself a husband, wife, or fling. These entries that we submit are our observations on guidelines to prepare yourself for whoever God has in store for you (and even people that God doesn’t intend for you to be with.) Before you move onto a newer entry, start breaking your inner matchmaker. Surrender your love life to God. Without doing that, you won’t be able to read on; you won’t be able to truly grasp what we’re trying to get across. Pray to Jesus, and ask Him to help you become humble with who you are and what your relationship status is. No matter if you’re struggling with crushes, grades, money, friends, whatever… it’s all about becoming humble with what God’s already blessed you with. God’s got your Prince Charming or Susie homemaker (haha) out there for you, just be patient! We’re praying for your journey!

but first, some introductions...

Hello, and greetings from Ukraine.

Just kidding, we're not Ukranian at all (although we wish we were and have killer accents). We're really just two girls trying to survive freshman year at our amazing Bible college (which shall remain anonymous). Far from home, we have learned more Theology and random information in one semester than we ever expected. One of us came quite single, and the other showed up having just come off of a less-than-stellar relationship...by the end of our first semester, one of us had managed to remain single in a school full of marriage-crazed guys, while the other had her first boyfriend and broke up in the span of a month and a half. So we're not exactly pros at any of this, but we keep our eyes open and have learned some things along the way...from our own experiences and from watching the people around us.

The biggest thing that we've learned throughout our entire lives is that no matter how much we think we know about life, dating, friendship, and just plain old dealing with people, is that it's really God who's going to have His way...it's going to be a lot easier for us if we just follow Him in what He has planned for us. We believe that God cares about us all personally, and has the best planned for each of us, and that includes the wonderful world of crushes, that "boyfriend/girlfriend" thing, and finally marriage. We're two mostly-clueless girls who have a lot to learn, but God has showed us some stuff along the way, and we're talking to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ...we're not experts, we just have thoughts that we would like to share.