Lola loves watching as students work through phase one, when they’re doing a lot of the inner work. She loves seeing the light bulb go off for them when they start to see healing. She also loves having to relearn the material as she goes through it. 

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Jayme loves inspiring students to date differently. So many people, herself included, had such a negative mindset towards christian dating. Going through the program completely transformed her and she loves that she gets to share that with her students.  

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Michael loves journeying along people who are in the same season of life as him. He feels like one of the giftings God has given him is a pastoral heart to come alongside people. Being able to see students who want to be equipped in the realm of how to navigate singleness, dating and how to do it in a way that’s healthy. He loves being able to help students ocme in and personalize and process the content. 

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Jeff loves getting to see so many more men coming in and taking the program. Seeing men getting into healing themselves and being serious about that has been awesome for him. 

Jayme feels completely different going into next year than she has in the past. After going through SOD and being a coach, doing the dating challenge, she has one word for the new year and it’s READY. She feels ready to continue the dating challenge and for whatever God has next for her in this season. In the past Jayme has had a really hard time in the past on New Years and honestly a lot of shame that her life hasn’t looked like what she thought it would. It’s so cool how this year is a total 180 from that. 

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Michael goes into the New Year with a lot of excitement. There’s an anticipation that comes up for him about what God has for him in the next year. While at the same time he so understands the aches and pains around navigating the New Years season. For him he reflects on in years past he didn’t even think about dating at all because in his satisfaction in singleness he would solely focus on what God has for him. But, going through SOD he learned about his attachment style and has had to challenge himself to not avoid potentioal opportunities for dating in the midst of being content being single. It’s the first year he’s going into the new year not taking a break from dating, he’s still doing the dating challenge. 

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Lola is going into the new year with anticipation but the interesting thing is that it’s not always been that way. There have been times where she’s felt like she knows God can do mighty things but struggling with does he want to do mighty things for her. God has been challenging her to hold onto hope, because sometimes it feels like if you don’t hope you won’t be disappointed. But God is saying, no, be brave, be vulnerable, and hold onto hope. So going into next year she’s super excited about what God is going to do. She’s a foster parent and she’s discerning if she goes back into that full time and if she does what does dating look like as a single parent? She’s super excited about that and she’s ultimately trying to rest and live well in the tension of the good and the hard. 

Lola will often spend some time on new years eve journaling and inevitably that includes some tears and some grief. For Lola in the past that has been a lot more grief while now it’s a lot more hopeful and celebratory over what God has done. 

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If we’re not careful the grief will compound if we’re not willing to process. 

Michael says to choose to participate in love means that there is an opportunity or potential for us to get wounded or hurt. For Michael, as someone who has felt content in singleness but has also at times avoided the opportunities to engage in dating because as a single he’s thinking, ‘what would happen if I lose certain aspects he enjoyes in singleness?’ He’s avoiding engaging out of fear. So one thing that has been a challenge for him this year is to not stay in a place of avoidance based on the fears of losing things in singleness but really the hope of belief systems he can learn from the Lord and those who model healthy dating and marriages to pickup and realize things that could be longterm benefits of dating. So recently he’s been journaling honest thoughts about where he’s at in singleness and then also journaling what the only times things are that he can engage in God. If we can invite God into the process, that’s where hope is found. Hebrews 12 hits this on the nail. 

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One of Jayme’s deepest desires is to give singles hope. God is not done yet. That’s her hope and what she’d love to tell every single person out there. Don’t give up, keep going. 

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Lola says that around the Holidays is when people expect you to feel happy but sometimes that actually amplifies the hurt and pain. So she encourages singles to name it, name that it is hard. AND at the same time, don’t stay there. A scripture that Lola has been clinging to is Romans 15:13.