Tag Archives: Relationships

Hope for Singles Waiting to Find Love

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Are you frustrated with being single? Have you been wondering where God is in the midst of your life and its seemingly missing “love story?” So was I. For almost 39 years of my life. I tried to pen what that love life should look like (with my purple pen, in my journals. Ten, twenty. Okay, maybe more like thirty journals worth?) But seriously what I penned was no where near my reality.

So I turned my pen over to another outlet. One in which I vent my frustrations, my questions, prayers, and cries out to God. I turned it into a book, Finally the Bride: Finding Hope While Waiting.  Now, it’s available in audio form.

One of my  most popular blogs has been:

16 Ways to Pray for Your Future Husband

So I know there are a lot of people out there waiting, searching, wondering what God is up to in this area of life. That blog is excerpted from a chapter of this book. The list is available in the link above.

FinallytheBrideAudio

I was very blessed to find such a delightful voiceover talent, to capture the heart of “me” and all my angst. Her name is Shawna M. Washabaugh. She can be just as snarky as me when moaning to God about “why is this taking so long?” She did a wonderful job, not only voicing the book but producing it as well.

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Shawna M. Washabaugh

(Narrator / Producer)

It’s a great alternative to the print book for those who would rather listen to audiobooks or for book clubs who want to go through the book together. You can listen to chapters during your meeting and then discuss them.

You can listen to a sample on any of the sites where it’s on sale at these following links:

Finally the Bride on Audible.com

Finally the Bride on Amazon (Under Format: Choose Audible Audio Edition):

Also available on Itunes. Search: Finally the Bride in Audiobooks or search by Cheryl McKay

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I pray that my story encourages you in your waiting, and that you will know you are not alone in what you feel. I also recently started a Pinterest board, hoping to collect various quotes, articles and such that could be of encouragement to singles:

Hope for Singles on Pinterest

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If you prefer to read print or kindle versions, visit these links:

Finally the Bride: Finding Hope While Waiting (Paperback):

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Finally the Bride: Finding Hope While Waiting (Kindle) :


Speak Well of Your Spouse Publicly

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While some who submitted marriage advice cards to us were coming from the perspective of the newly married, offering how to get things started on the right footing, others who submitted marriage advice cards have a long history of marriage:

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“Always believe the best of each other and never speak poorly of
your spouse in public. After 37 years, what started off as a practice is now a way
of life.”  (PP)

“My favorite piece of advice for someone getting married is this:  ‘Remember, you are now the reporter or press agent for your husband-to-be.’  What you say about him to others will either be good or bad.  Choose the right way and be a terrific reporter for him.” (BH)

Speak well

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See Your Spouse as a Gift

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“Take care of the gift you have been given.”  (GS)

“Marriage has been a source of many blessings in my life. It fits in beautifully with one of my favorite quotes: ‘Man will fully discover himself only by making a sincere gift of himself.’ One of my fervent prayers is that I can always be a sincere gift to my wife and children. Not that I’m fully there yet, but like all of us, I consider myself a work in progress.” (DR)

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“Take care of the gift.” This was a gift I had asked for, for years, before God “finally” blessed me with a husband. He is a gift. I think sometimes, it can be easy for people to forget this was something they longed for. While we have only been married for almost 2 years, there isn’t a day that goes by I don’t thank God for Chris. He definitely is a wonderful gift. I hope I never make him feel like he isn’t or start to take him for granted. I also love the second piece of advice along the gift lines that encourages us to pray we are a gift to the other person. Chris often tells me I am a treasure, which means the world to me because of a time when I was told I was not a treasure by someone I loved. I pray Chris always sees me as a treasure and that I always give him reasons to think so.

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Wisdom Wednesdays Launch – Bonding with Your Spouse

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What is Wisdom Wednesdays?

At my bridal shower and our various wedding parties, men and women filled out advice cards filled with wisdom about how to have a happy and peaceful marriage. I put them all in the decorative box below, and we read them throughout our honeymoon.

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Then at our one-year anniversary mark, I took a Facebook survey, asking people to post comments with additional advice. I made Chris a special book of advice that we read during our anniversary trip where we renewed our vows (something we want to make a yearly tradition). We’ll use our blog on Wednesdays to share these nuggets of wisdom.  (We will use initials or first names only, to protect the privacy of those who filled out the cards.) We got some terrific advice that we have followed and can attest these little pieces of advice truly matter.

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We’ll kick off our Wisdom Wednesday post with a piece of advice we have followed every single night of our marriage since the beginning. Except those very few nights one of us was out of town in the past “almost” 2 years of marriage, we have never missed a single night; it’s been one of the best choices we’ve made in our marriage:

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“Go to bed together each night.

It keeps us on a schedule together and those final moments before you fall asleep where you can talk and cuddle are so precious. I hear so many people that go to bed at different times and have excuses like, ‘I’m a night person, they are not,’ but they end up missing out on a precious time of day, and then both of your schedules are off.  I think if you start from day one, it becomes a routine and you end up not wanting it any other way regardless of who is a night person or not.” (GV)

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The following photo is of Chris & Cheryl, renewing their vows on their one year anniversary trip in Harmony, CA.

The book with the vows also holds the marriage advice cards from our FB anniversary survey:

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