I'm trading in my fishin' pole...

I have a long-standing love/hate relationship with online dating.  In fact, it has often been a topic of discussion on other blogs and social networking sites of mine.  Being the eternal optimist that I am, I always seem to hold out hope that Mr. Right will click on my profile...even though my track record is anything but impressive.

Finally, after more than a year of wrestling with the decision, yesterday was the day I said, "I give up."  No, seriously, Plenty Of Fish (the dating site I was using) gave me a list of options for why I was deleting my account and one of them said "I give up."  Needless to say, I chose that one.  Some of you are probably thinking, "Don't give up, Amy.  You'll find that handsome, God-fearing man one of these days.  Hang in there!"  To those readers I would like to say, I'm not giving up on a future marriage or family, I'm simply giving up control.  It has become painfully clear to me that in using dating websites, I have been attempting to control and manipulate my hapiness, my circumstances and my life.  The truth is three-fold.

1. A significant other is not the path to happiness and joy.  The Lord is my joy.
2. My life is not mine to control.  My life belongs to Christ and I submit to HIS control
3. The Lord can and will accomplish His will in my life and does not need to use the internet to do it.

So that's that.  I've traded in my fishing pole for a peace that passes all understanding.  Maybe you've noticed, but it seems like a lot of my posts lately have been about giving up stuff.  I certainly don't want to give the impression that the Christian life is all about doing without and giving everything up.  As the title of this post suggest, it's more about making a trade.  Trading our sorrow for joy, trading our sickness and pain for healing, trading our shame for glory - God's glory!