All in God's Timing

Welcome back to our 6th story of the year. Emily and I can’t believe that we are halfway through the year, it is truly flying by. We hope that you all are still enjoying each and every story as they will all speak to you differently. A real life moment for you, Emily and I struggle to keep this thing going, as some days are just hard to commit to this, especially since we do this on the side of our full time jobs and full time life. But each time we don’t want to go to an interview or it’s hard to sit down and write these stories, we are reminded by the powerful experiences and words that we get to hear each time we sit with each individual woman. We see this opportunity as a gift and it’s extremely rewarding to share these women stories. So I hope our June story can be an inspiration to you as it is to us. All our ladies are so different and bring something amazingly unique to the table and we hope that even on your toughest days, these words can brighten your day as it does ours. So enough about that, here’s to our next story.

Her name is Kylie Davis

Fun Fact: Emily nor myself knew Kylie super well, which is rare for neither one of us to really know the person we are interviewing. Emily did know Kylie a little bit as they grew up in the same neighborhood but Kylie was a little bit older than Emily so they never hung out with each other. Emily came across an amazing post that Kylie had posted about singleness that made her stand out and we knew she would be someone that needed to be interviewed. You will get to hear more about her post later, but it’s what allowed us to see Kylie’s heart and encouragement. Kylie welcomed us to cozy home and it was great to see all the kiddos on the couch and to be welcomed into her life. She took us back to her room where the kids could have their time and we could sit down and talk with her. Kylie sat at her desk, where she spends a lot of time editing photos (as she is a photographer) and we got to hear about her life. It was the perfect setting to describe what all she has overcome and now we were able to look and see where she is now.

As we always do, we asked Kylie to start by telling us a little about herself. She answered, “I’ve been a single mom for about 5 years, so it’s pretty much been the girls and I. I have an eight and half year old and a five year old. A day in my life is chaotic. Everyday is chaos. We are never on time anywhere we go, but we get things done. Just everyday stuff with school, work, homework, housework, bedtime routines, and editing until midnight… then we do it all over again. It is really hard though to try to juggle everything by yourself. But I love my job that I have and I’m grateful to be able to have the photography business as it has been such a blessing in all aspects, especially financially. There was a time that I was really struggling and the photography really made up for that. Y’all, daycare is not cheap (all you parents out there know this). So the photography has really helped us.” (You should all go check out Kylie’s photography, she is extremely talented so it does not surprise us in the least that she has been able to maintain her business and watch it grow. She is reasonably priced, works really hard, and does great work. So as a side plug you should all look her up and book a session with her).

Apart from her everyday life, Kylie got to open up to us a little bitt about the struggles that she has faced over the last couple of years. She explained, “Becoming a single mom was really hard for me and it’s a feeling that I can’t really described. On top of that transition, when you get ready, starting to date again isn’t easy. That’s a little bit about what I posted on Facebook. I have had the worst dating experiences ever. I have truly had a terrible 5 years of dating. A question that would constantly tear me down is ‘why am I still single?’ I couldn’t help but think that something was wrong with me or that I was doing something wrong. I have a had a few different relationships over the past 5 years. I had 1 ten month long relationship. That stuff that I have gone through in the relationships wasn’t great. I would tell myself that I would let God handle the things in these relationships but then I would end up trying to handle it myself, and it will always blow up and never work out. I kept ignoring signs in some of those relationships, and it would end badly. I even explored tinder and bumble and all those dating apps, which that’s a whole other thing.”

This lead us to talk with Kylie about any advice that she would give to single moms out there trying to get back in the dating scene. She discussed with us to make sure that you don’t force it. She mentioned that even if you are lonely, not to let that get the best of you. Truly just waiting for the guy the Lord has for you. She even mentioned being a peace with your singleness.

Like I mentioned earlier, we wanted to share Kylie’s facebook post as some more encouragement, so here are some more words of wisdom for you ladies out there: “For some reason God laid all of this on my heart and I feel led to share… To the single twenty-thirty something year olds reading this. By now, you probably thought that you would be married, have a house full of kids ect… or maybe you have been through a divorce and you’re raising kids alone. This letter is for you. I use to get so discouraged watching everyone around me get engaged & married. I thought I would be re-married by the time I was 25 or 26. Jokes on me! I am now 28 and I’m STILL not married but I’m perfectly ok with that! Back when I fell into the tinder/bumble trap, I found myself carelessly dating because I didn’t want to be alone. I got on there out of boredom and to make the time pass by. I thought maybe just maybeeee I would find my husband on there. HA!!!! If you want to be used, cheated, emotionally abused and lied to then hey, tinder is for you!!! Let me be the first to tell you, THAT is NOT how God designed relationships. I only thought I knew what Love was. If you have to question whether or not he or she is the one, chances are they probably aren’t. I know that’s probably not what you wanted to hear. Best thing to do is pray and ask God to close any door that wasn’t opened by him. God will remove that person because they can’t go where he is taking you next! That person has served their purpose. I have always said, ‘either they will be a blessing or a lesson.’ There IS a purpose for you season of waiting. Don’t force it!!! Sometimes God will get your attention and makes you wait and walk through a season alone in order to grow. God wants to mold and prepare you before he gives you someone!!! In my season of waiting, I have learned so any things…. Ok here it goes… Ladies… listen to me for minute… YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL and YOU ARE ENOUGH!!!! Don’t ever let a man make you feel like you’re not good enough. You are valuable and worth of being loved! You deserve to be respected and loved. You deserve a man who tells you that you’re beautiful even when you feel like roadkill! You deserve a man who pays attention to you. You deserve a man who is there for you no matter what! When you find him, Marry him! God is writing your love story. Don’t be discouraged! God sees your tears, he hears your prayers, He is listening! I don’t know what God has planned for me, but I trust it. God’s timing isn’t our own timing. It is sometimes inconvenient and often slower but ALWAYS better! Dance with God and he will let the perfect man cut in! Everything will happen how it’s supposed to be. Use this ‘you time’ to have fun! Try something new, fund a hobby or run that 5k! Whatever it is that you have always wanted to do. Go after it and give God the glory!”

Since that Facebook post, Kylie has really seen the Lord’s faithfulness and she now has a wonderful guy in her life that has two amazing kids. It was such a treat to hear how they met and how happy this man makes Kylie. The way she lights up talking about him, I’m sure she would say that he has been worth the wait. Despite that last 5 years of singleness, she is now seeing the Lord’s hand it all of it. She even mentioned that this has been one of the greatest experiences in her life. She got teary eyed expressing how much love she has for him and his children and what a gift they have been to her life, when she least expected it.

As Kylie got to talk about her love life, we got to hear her talk about her other loves, her two girls. I asked Kylie to give some insight on what she is trying to teach them as young girls and what she hopes they learn. She answered, “I want to protect my girls and keep them pure and innocent from the world, because it can be bad out there. But a big thing I want to instill in them is to wait for marriage for sex. I want them to understand their value and what it really means to be valued.” Kylie really does have such love for her girls, and you can tell she truly wants them to understand they are loved and know who they are.

As we always end, I asked Kylie to tell us her definition of beauty and if she finds herself beautiful. She stated, “I don’t base beauty on appearance. I think it’s the way you treat people. Be kind and respect people. I think beauty is people loving someone despite what all they have done. We need people to love more. And for myself, it depends on the day if I feel beautiful. Right now I haven’t felt so beautiful appearance wise, but my boyfriend has made me feel like the most beautiful person on the planet.”

We can’t thank Kylie enough for opening up her home and her life to us. She was such a treat to be around and again, check out her photography business. You don’t want to miss that.

As always, this couldn't be possible without Emily, so here's to her and her amazingness.

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Thank you to all you readers out there, your support means the world, so keep sharing with your friends and keep encouraging each other.