3 Full Years Later

It has been 3 full years since the birth of SingleChronicles7, and when I look back, I am in awe of how much God has healed me in so many ways especially in my once distorted view of singleness and purity, but most importantly, how I have touched the lives of so many people like you. I did not know what SingleChronicles7 would mean when I first gave birth to this ministry back in September 2020. It started out as a simple blog on a free platform; a platform that my twin sister had used for a project in one of her classes in college and told me about. I never had social media [only Facebook when I was in high school] and never cared for it. I deleted my Facebook account after high school and had peace not worrying or caring what this person or that person was doing. I was struggling with my own insecurities and the spirit of comparison, and I did not need social media to exacerbate that. Three months into blogging, God called me to social media where I began Instagram & Facebook Page followed by Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, Facebook Group, and lastly, Podcasts. Doing so forced me to seek God for healing continuously so that I would not allow my insecurities and the spirit of comparison to overpower me but for me to dismantle it by reminding myself daily of His truth and what He says about me.

When I started SingleChronicles7, I was also in a physically different season. The COVID-19 Pandemic happened where schools remained closed when the 2020-2021 academic year began. Because I was not a teacher, I did not have a class. I still had my meetings, and when I wasn’t in a meeting, I was mainly creating SEL (social-emotional learning) resources for teachers, and pushing into classrooms and doing SEL lessons. Support Staff (school psychologists-like myself, speech-language pathologists, school social workers, and school counselors) had less of a demand placed on their job because of not being a teacher. We were all still providing our services but from a different approach. We all had wiggle room and more flexibility. 

From September 2020 to now October 2023, my life looks very different. Many of the things that I have prayed for (e.g. developing friendships in my new state and having something fun to do afterschool hours) came to pass during these 3 years. I was tired of moping around and feeling sorry for myself about being single. I wanted to live my single life to the fullest regardless of if marriage was on the horizon or not. Take a look at how much my life has changed:

1. I was living by myself for about 10 months back in September 2020 during the remote school year. As a result, I was able to devote so much time to my ministry, creating content and being extremely consistent in posting, not worrying if I was disturbing someone. I do not live by myself anymore [which makes recording hard sometimes] and I am back in the school building full-time. I went back into the building around the Winter/Spring semester of the 2022 school year.
2. I am dealing with a lot more behaviors in the school system, especially at the lower level, and more children are being referred to special education than ever before so my job is so much more demanding and can sometimes be overwhelming. [How 3 years have made such a huge and drastic difference in the schools!] By the time work is done, all I want to do is go home and sleep. 
3. Whereas I did not have a social life [I moved to a new state in August 2019 and schools had shut down months later (March 2020)], I now have a very active social life where I go out at least weekly/biweekly with friends after work. Every now and then, I hang out on Saturdays.
4. I was not physically going to church at the time so although my church was remote, I still had a lot of free time on Sundays. Now, I go to church just about every Sunday and sometimes stay back to talk with friends. 
5. I officially began an extracurricular activity-dance- last year September 2022 and I currently go twice/week after work hours. In addition, I have been helping the 4-5 year olds with their dance routine these past weeks.
6. Saturdays? All I want to do is sleep from such a busy week!

This is just a snippet of what my life looks like now and it is very busy! If I am completely honest with you, for the past month, I have been contemplating if I wanted to continue with SingleChronicles7 because of how much my life has changed to the point where time is not on my side as it was back in September 2020. It has been a lot more challenging finding the time to devote to my ministry. Not because I don’t want to but because God is allowing me to live out my singleness. I’ve talked to you on countless occasions about doing things in your singleness and I had to practice what I preached. My life has been so rewarding and fulfilling these past 3 years because I have been keeping myself busy in a healthy way. I still have my moments where I experience sadness and discouragement in my singleness but my recovery time is quicker now than it was 3 years ago. I am more at peace, have experienced God’s freedom and provision over and over again, and am doing more for me than ever before. 

I have been praying and talking to God about next steps for SingleChronicles7 as I walk out year 4. Do I take a break? Do I stop completely? What should I do? As I’ve been praying and seeking God for direction thus far, a dear sister in Christ who has been following me from the very beginning messaged me randomly the other morning telling me how much my ministry has been blessing her and helping her with her walk with God. It encouraged and blessed me beyond words. It’s crazy how right when you are on the verge of giving up, God will send you a reminder [you have to continuously seek Him though] to not quit. I can indeed slow down due to my busy schedule but I do not have to stop. When I started SingleChronicles7, it was never about me. It was about a strong desire to share my story to help someone else who may be struggling in the areas I was struggling in and find healing in it. To know that I am blessing somebody and saving someone from throwing in the towel, even if it is just one person, is enough of an answer for me. I do not know what year 4 holds for me, but one thing is for sure, I cannot stop!

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