“You are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

Colossians 2:10

Girl, you and I can wake up in the morning, grab our phones, and see the unending messages that social media brings to our minds. We can see beautiful women, beautiful relationships, beautiful houses, and beautiful stories all on this small device that increases our longing for such things. And yet, on the contrary, if we would grab the word of God first thing in the morning, we would be affirmed of this truth, that we are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10).

When I was in high school and college, I felt the loneliness of not being in a relationship and seeing all the fun things that couples around me were experiencing. I thought, perhaps I am not what guys want, and God, for some reason, was holding out on me. I struggled to believe that I was already a woman who had everything she ever needed- in God. I wrestled over and over with God, feeling as though my life’s fulfillment came from a boyfriend or husband. Friends, we can choose to let loneliness draw us to pursue relationships or we can choose to let loneliness drive us to pursue God.

Now that I am married to the most wonderful man whom God chose just for me, yet again, I yearn for another piece of my heart to be fulfilled, that is by children. I am reminded of this beautiful woman’s story in the bible, named Hannah, who struggled with infertility and asked God for a child (1 Samuel 1:2 – 2:21). Hannah’s pain wasn’t always understood by those around her, but when she wept before God, He heard her cry.

There is nothing wrong with longing for things that God deems good such as marriage or children. In fact, He knows it all too well because Israel struggled to be content with simply being children of God and belonging to Him.

Maybe the fact that you and I always seem to struggle with wanting this or that, or from not having someone or something that we wish was in our life, is because we were created with a need to be complete and whole.

Looking around my home, it is not necessarily finished with all the “things” that I would want to fill it with. Nor is my marriage the perfect marriage with nothing left to work on. My career is currently on hold and limited funds prohibit me from grabbing hold of things this world craves. Yet, in Christ, I have absolutely everything I need and more. My home and marriage are richly filled with the love of God because it is built on the solid foundation of Jesus. Though unfinished, they are held by the working hands of God, who is faithful to do His work in my life.

With my career being on hold, children I am longing for, weight I want to lose, clothes I want to have, and so much more, these are reminders of my great need to be in God’s presence to be affirmed that I am His and am complete in Him.

Ladies, the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that no temptation has overtaken us except which is common to man. And so when we are tempted to complain to God that He has not given us something that we feel is in our right or something we feel He is holding out on, God understands and He sees. He sees your heart and the need for it to be filled. Be assured that God is faithful and will not let you be tempted beyond your ability (1 Corinthians 10:13). When the voice of social media or the lies of the enemy flood you with words or thoughts that you are not whole, or incomplete, and tempts you to take matters in your own hands, do what Hannah does and pray to the Lord.

After her husband told her, ““Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” Hannah went into the tabernacle of the Lord and wept in anguish (1 Samuel 1:8-10). As she wept before the Lord, a priest came by who misunderstood her anguish. Sometimes people will think we are crazy for focusing on such things and hurting over them, but God hears us and sees our pain. In those moments, Hannah wept and in the “bitterness of her soul,” she made a vow to God and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head” (1 Samuel 1:11).

Her response to her situation could have been anger, retaliation, or rebellion because not being able to have a baby was not her fault. Having a barren womb was out of her control as it was God who closed her womb (1 Samuel 1:5). We can so easily blame God for our situations, but Hannah chose to keep praying and placing her faith in Him.

For some higher reason, God chose to close her womb temporarily. In that hurting and in that searching for explanations why her life wasn’t the way she wanted it to be, God was teaching Hannah to find all her longing in Him. God was pruning Hannah of her heart issues that a need for a baby brought out of her. God was shaping Hannah for a life of godliness and dedication to Him.

All her pain and all her longing had to drive her to God in the way that it did because it made things clear. It showed Hannah what had to be. Though she yearned for a child, she had no choice but to dedicate her life to Him. In the grand scheme of Hannah’s life, yes, God blessed her by answering her prayer and gave her a child, yet she needed to find everything she yearned for in Him.

You and I have many things that we are asking God for, whether that is marriage, children, jobs, success, beauty, or answers. We need to be reminded that those things are all added blessings and not the core of our longing. We are complete in Christ. We are whole in Him. We are richly blessed by a life with Him. We are made beautiful because of the beauty of Christ who lives in us.

Maybe other things in the world look more attractive right now than a life dedicated to God, but be assured that those things will keep you wanting. Friend, keep pressing, keep letting your longings drive you to Him because He is the real prize in all this, not the things He gives us or does for us, but Him. We were made to be loved by Him and to give love to Him.

Heavenly Father,

I pray for my sister who reads this message, that You would adorn her with Your ways and satisfy all her longings with You.

In Christ,

Amen.