Author Archives: Hannah Grace

When you start dating and later move into a relationship, your life will change and that means a change of mindset too. There must be a shift as you prepare your life for a new relationship – before and after you meet someone. Afterwards, there will be personal adjustments from both sides to make the shift work. The good news is there are simple things you can do to get ready for a new relationship while you are still single.

The dating world can be a lonely place, where we actually end up spending a lot of time wishing for a relationship and don’t embrace being single. The grass always seems greener on the other side. Wishing our lives were different can sometimes lead to discontentment and dissatisfaction. We can become insular and feel lonely but if we can change our attitude we can enjoy the time that we are single as it is a precious time between you and God without distractions. If we wait around to do certain things until we have a partner, we could be waiting a long time especially if God calls us to singleness! It also means that we miss out on many opportunities and exciting things in life, if we were only brave enough to do it ourselves. My advice to you would be to stop waiting, and to start doing!

Entertainment, social media and adverts all fuel our idea that romance should be relatively plain sailing. You search for a harmonious and happy relationship but you end up on a bumpy road with constant dating dramas instead of the joy and connection that you hoped for. Instead of a straightforward and stress-free path, the road you’re on has too many twists and turns. Knowing how to avoid dating dramas is the goal. The alternative can be draining, upsetting and exhausting, so how can you not let yourself get sucked into someone else’s tricky situations and how can you avoid being the person creating drama in your dating life?

How you communicate is key to building trust, and trust is foundational to any relationship. Trust takes time to develop but can easily be lost in a second. It’s precious, valuable, to be treasured, protected and constantly built on. Without trust, a relationship falls apart – communication fails, insecurities creep in and it’s no longer just the two of you and God. Instead, it’s the two of you and doubt. Trust needs to be built from the very start of a relationship, be it friendship or romance.

Time is precious. 24 hours in a day can seem too little as we fill it with work, family, friends and hobbies. How easy it is to make time to date too? Trying to find time to spend with God seems to be a challenge, let alone start a relationship or online dating. When everything else already needs to be scheduled into our busy lives, how do we make time for getting to know someone new? It’s a balancing act, but God knew exactly how many hours we need in a day – we just need to make sure we use them wisely! So how can we make time to date when our lives are so busy?

Whether you are dating, in a relationship or married for a long time, one of the main keys to a successful relationship is finding ways to show appreciation. If your ‘appreciation box’ is filled up, you’re more likely to give out love more easily. If your box is empty, then it’s very hard to maintain a healthy relationship. If you appreciate your partner, then they will feel loved and filled up, ready to show you appreciation. If you feel appreciated by your partner, then you are going to find it much easier to show love and appreciation and be happier in a relationship or when dating.

Lent is a time where we typically give up something in order to focus more fully on God and spend time with Him, so that we can grow as Christians. Sometimes it’s food that we love (chocolate!), time spent on gaming, or something else that matters to us. We give up these things so we can focus our attention on God and listen to what He has to say – but it’s not always the most obvious things we’d benefit from laying down. If you’re single during Lent, here are a few suggestions for things you might not have thought of giving up during this time…

Before I met my husband, I was saving myself for someone special. My parents had told me to make a wise choice when choosing a life partner and instilled in me only to go out with someone who I could actually see a future with. I don’t think I really appreciated all that meant until now, five years on, and it’s interesting to reflect on things I wish I knew before I got married. I started thinking about new relationships and what advice I would give someone looking now for the best chance of a long-lasting relationship and marriage.