to women and girls and everyone in between (like britney spears)

Let's be honest, ladies. It's happened to the best of us.

You spend three hours doing your hair and makeup and choosing your outfit because you're going to be seeing a certain guy. You fall asleep with your cell phone beside your pillow waiting for a guy who said he'd call. You get so upset at a guy that you scream and throw things and act completely irrational. You sit on the floor with your friends and cry over a guy who chose someone else.

Sound familiar? Maybe I'm the only one crazy enough for all that, but I think it is safe to say we've all had our hearts broken a time or two. And, to put it bluntly, it stinks. It hurts and it can make you feel pathetic and worthless. And it doesn't matter how many friends you have who crowd around you and love on you because that one person not wanting you makes you feel completely alone.

Women want love. Probably men too, but someone else can talk to them. I'm speaking for us females who, even as Christians, really long for a relationship. We wait and wait and plan for our wedding day. We want to be loved, and want to be wanted. I watch girls who claim to be content go from guy to guy trying to find happiness.

Don't get me wrong. Guys...some of you are fabulous. I mean, absolutely fantastic, Godly men. But--listen to me girls--no matter how awesome some of them are, they will never be awesome enough to completely satisfy the longings of a woman's heart.

Because, you know what? Our hearts weren't made for men. Men were not created to fill the void in a woman's heart and satisfy her desires and give her joy and contentment (Just like women weren't made to do so for men).

But so many women look to men for those things, myself included. We look to men to love us and care for us and desire us and make us feel beautiful and make us feel like we have worth. We base our value in what men think of us and if we are in a relationship. And even women who genuinely love the Lord can mess up and do this. We get in relationships with guys who are Christians and we go to Bible study together and are being a great little Christian couple and loving Jesus together. But, when that falls apart, when your boyfriend cheats on you, or your fiance leaves you or your husband drops dead from a heart attack, how many of us would really look to Jesus and say "God, you are good and your ways are just. You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Your love is better than life" ? When God calls you to spend your life as a single woman serving in some foreign country, how many of us could easily give to God our desires for companionship and serve Him gladly and wholeheartedly, without feelings of missing out?

The whole Bible points to a redeemer who is all-satisfying. Christ was sent to meet all our needs, satisfy all our longings, provide all our contentment, and be all our joy. Jonathan Edwards said:

"There is more good to be enjoyed in Him than in everything or all things in this world. He is not only an amiable, but an all-sufficient good. There is enough in Him to answer all our wants and satisfy all our desires."

Psalm 43 says that God is our exceeding joy. Psalm 16 says, In His presence there is fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures forevermore. He delights in having mercy upon us, and pouring out His grace on us. Jesus will love you like no man could even dream of loving you. He is greater than any man who has ever lived or ever will. He will never leave you and never forsake you and never break His covenant with You. He will love you with an everlasting love, and His glory and excellence and loveliness and benevolence are the only thing that can satisfy the wants of a woman's heart.

To clarify for a minute, I'm not hating on marriage or relationships. Marriage is an incredible institution. The flaw is in the thinking that marriage is an end in itself. Wrong-o. Marriage was created not only to delight in the love and companionship of another, but more importantly as a reflection of Christ. Christ has this incredible, covenantal love with His church. Marriage is a picture of this relationship, and is meant to make us love Christ more. If you put your husband above Christ, you are doing a disservice to Christ, yourself, and your husband. But if you put Jesus first, you will love your husband better and have a better marriage.

So, yes. Marriage. GREAT. But only if it's founded in Christ. Because marriage is only temporary. Relationships and guys will pass away. But God loves us with an everlasting love. Jesus is our ultimate love, and his covenant with us is far superior to any earthly relationship.

Ok. So, ladies. Do yourself a favor. Don't look to men to make you happy or make you feel loved. You are loved beyond comprehension by your Creator, who is far more excellent than any man. Let Christ be the fulfillment of all your hopes, desires, joy, contentment, and peace. Ask of God, with the Psalmist "Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days," and He will give You of Himself. You will not regret it.

So while you're living life for Jesus and not stressing out over silly boys or getting sad at weddings, I leave you with Elisabeth Elliot's (I. love. her.) wise words:

“Often a Christian man or woman falls prey to that cruel and vexatious spirit, wondering how to find marriage, who, when, where? It is on God that we should wait, as a waiter waits--not for but on the customer--alert, watchful, attentive, with no agenda of his own, ready to do whatever is wanted. 'My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.' (Ps. 62:5 KJV) In Him alone lie our security, our confidence, our trust. A spirit of restlessness and resistance can never wait, but one who believes he is loved with an everlasting love, and knows that underneath are the everlasting arms, will find strength and peace.”