I've never considered myself an overly religious person. Throughout my life, I've waivered to & from God in fleeting moments. Like most, in those times when I've seen trials I've leaned on God for comfort, compassion, and prayed like there was no tomorrow.
In my quest to find God time & again, I've often wondered why it is so easy to fall away from God when times are good versus in times of tribulation. I think I may have found the answer last night. 
My ten year old daughter took ill in the night. She awoke with one of those nasty stomach bugs that every parent dreads. It was about 12:30 AM & I knew we were in for a long night. When my children get sick, I don't sleep well. Last night would be no exception. To pass the time while my daughter rested I did something I do don't enough of...I read the Bible. 
Being awakened so abruptly put me on edge. It wasn't like I hadn't been through this before with my kids, but I was anxious for this storm to pass. It hadn't been that long ago when my daughter had another stomach bug. Typically when my kids come down with this type of illness, I usually don't have to worry about them getting it again for a good while. 
Unlike before, I found myself worrying about my daughter like I'd never done before when she's taken ill. I needed something to help contain my worries & put my mind & soul to rest. If you read my earlier post, you know this hasn't been the best of weeks for me. So her getting sick was almost the icing on the cake & definitely made me glad we are on the downhill slope towards Friday.
I read several passages in my Bible. I prayed on what I'd read. I asked God to lessen the blow of this bout of this stomach bug in my daughter & help her to feel better sooner rather than later like last time. 
Flipping through chapters and pages throughout the New Testament I came upon a passage in 2 Corinthians 1: 3-11. I was immediately blown away because it was as if the words jumped off the page at me & were speaking to me. The passage talked about suffering and how when we suffer we turn to God for comfort. God's comfort is what allows us to show comfort & compassion towards others. I couldn't believe it! There was my answer to the question I had pondered so many times before. 
Not only that, but that answer gave me peace about my daughter's illness. It was as if the moment I read it, I had a full understanding of the grace & mercy of our Father. God allows suffering to take place in our lives so that we never become totally dependent upon ourselves to find the answers to the struggles we face. If there were no suffering, we would never find our way to God & seek His wisdom so that we might find peace & comfort to know all is going to be okay in the midst of the storms of life.
It is such a comfort knowing that I don't have to shoulder life's burdens all by myself or feel alone in the midst of them. God knew what He was doing when he designed that plan for each of us. We can grow apart from Him, but we can never live without Him.
It was the first time in well over two years that I'd taken the opportunity to get involved with someone. I had been on this long 'dateless' hiatus due to my misfortune with past relationships & had had enough. I decided after my last relationship that I would just take a break & do some things for me for a change. 
And it's been nice. No man to worry about, deal with, impress, look after, etc...okay...well, I think you get the picture. But most importantly, no 'man drama' as I had experienced in past relationships. NEWSFLASH: We, women, are not the only ones to have drama in our lives. I think 'man drama' is much worse than anything we women could come up with!!! 
So it goes without saying that for the past two years, I've not had to deal with 'man drama'...that is until I got involved in the relationship I just ended on Monday. Sheesh! You'd think in the time that I've been out of the dating loop, that the all too common negative things one finds in relationships would have improved. But no, quite the contrary, as I quickly learned, 'man drama' still looms large & in charge among men. 
The 'man drama' I was unfortunately privy to, concerned past relationships. The guy I was involved with had not fully dealt with the past year of his life and the relationships gone wrong. He got involved with me because as he put it, 'I was not like the other women he had dated'. (I guess not! I've been out of the dating scene for awhile & had ample time to get over my last break-up!!)
While in the throes of this relationship, I was reminded why I had elected to remain happily single & carefree for the past few years. And I'm not convinced that there's a man out there who has it together emotionally. (At least not the ones that have graced my life anyway!!!) 
The older I get & the more I learn about people, I find that everyone has issues to some degree and most people are just emotionally unstable & generally unhappy. Life has a way of throwing curve balls & that's a given. But what most don't realize is that how they handle catching the curve ball determines the outcome! 
I don't think I've set the bar too high on my expectations when it comes to men. I believe I'm no different than most women. We all want a good guy in our lives who can have issues but knows how to handle them. We want guys who are emotionally in touch with themselves & us. Above all, we just want a guy who has his act together. Is that too much to ask for????
I have yet to know or understand why I've had the relationships I've had. Granted I've learned something from each one. A good friend once told me that each relationship was a stepping stone to where we were meant to be. I wonder how many of those stepping stones I'm supposed to step across before I reach the final one along my path of life??? 
Ultimately my post-relationship reflection has been mostly trying to grasp why I was graced with someone in my life at a time when I've been my most content? I wasn't looking for this person when they arrived. Just minding my own business, doing my own thing, bouncing right along, all by myself. To me, the aftermath feels a little bit like a shake-up to my normal routine over these last couple of years. For the past ten weeks, I've tried to balance (and have completely abandoned at times) my daily routine for this relationship. 
I'm now trying to figure out why God felt it was necessary to put someone in my life? I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere, but all I've been able to see thus far is the past two months of my life were a waste of my time because the end result was the same as in the past. It was what prompted me to take time off from dating in the first place!!! 
I'm also trying to assess if this person was sent to me to help teach me something. This person told me on our first date that maybe he was opening me back up to the possibility of dating again! Hello, but I don't think I summoned him to 'rescue' me from my happily single status!! After all, as I told him, if I'd wanted to date, I would have been out there dating. There's a big difference in not being able to get a date & not wanting a date!!! 
Now I'm left having to regroup & return to my normal routines of life. It's one of those things that tells me in time I will know why I had this moment of togetherness with someone, but I sure feel like I've lost a lot of ground in spite of it all. I'm off track & trying to get back on is proving to be a much, more difficult feat than I would have imagined. 
Oh the trials & tribulations of the dating world. Why does it seem that there are more trials than tribulations?? And then one wonders why I've chosen to be single? But never fear! I typically bounce back pretty quickly from a break-up (most of them anyway...there have been 1 or 2 that threw me for a loop). I don't feel spending two months with someone will warrant eating a whole pint of Ben & Jerry's!!! But time that I could have & would have otherwise spent on all my other 'non-man related' projects has been lost! That is time I won't get back. Heck, if I wanted to goof off for ten weeks, I could have done that, not had to deal with 'man drama' & not had my peace disrupted in the process!! 
Many of you know that I am an aspiring writer & have recently finished my first fiction novel. Thus far, I'm thinking maybe this experience was the making of a good book! Hmmmm...now there's a thought! 