So, I missed the mark. I never wanted to coin myself as the "single girl."  You know her—the one in her late 20s who rallies the young women at conferences to talk about the values of living the single life. She has written books and speaks with passion about the challenges and perks of being single.

Though I fully supported and valued how God uses me as a single person, the problem with these token single women was that they never got married. They seemed destined for a life of singleness—and that was something that I didn’t want.

So as a writer for Veritas, I avoided the subject. The last thing I wanted to do was pin myself as the singles' expert. If you had met me in person and asked me about the fact that many of my friends my age have married and started their families, I would have gladly told you about my confidence in my identity in Christ, that I love to see God using my life, and that God gets to use me in unique ways as a single person. But to publicly proclaim myself as single…that’s just another story.

But a few weeks ago, I entered into a relationship. Leaving singledom was not necessarily a no-brainer. I was giving up a little bit of my platform to speak (and write) on the issue. But for eight years, I chose not to date. I decided to battle discontentment—and, in faith, I took God up on his claim to be enough for me.

And I am glad that this was the way I chose to live my life. I spared myself some unnecessary heartache from men who were not going to be my husband, but most importantly, I developed an intimacy with God that provided the foundation for my contentment.

Because the reality is that contentment is not a singles-only issue. Contentment is an issue that we must strive for throughout our entire lives. When I get married, I will have a voice inside of me that longs for the independence of my single years. I may want children before the Lord provides them…then when I have children, I will surely want to be single again.

Yes, greener pastures. There are always greener pastures, but joy in the Christian life comes from a life of gratitude. The beauty of the Christian life is rejoicing in the plot of land that God has for us. Psalm 37:3 says “Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” Our biggest responsibility is to live where God has placed us, developing greater devotion to him.

On Thursday, we will look at eight things that I've learned in eight years of singleness.