Steph Penny's Writing
  • Home
  • About Steph Penny
  • Steph’s Blog
  • Steph’s Books
  • Steph’s Music
  • Contact Me
  • 0 items - $0.00

single

Myths of Singledom

19/06/202519/06/2025 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom

I met my husband later in life: I was twenty-nine. OK, that may not sound like a ‘late’ marriage, but in my church circles everyone was married by the ripe old age of twenty-one. At twenty-nine, I was considered practically retired. Or a leper. During those years of singledom, I encountered some interesting myths and […]

Continue reading


Single AND Content? In This Economy? 

21/07/202321/07/2023 Steph Penny 2 Comments Surviving Singledom

It’s funny how contentment can shift as time passes. For years, I was content being single. People around me were getting married, having babies, trialling separation. I felt genuinely happy for them (or sympathetic, in the case of separation), without even a glimmer of jealousy or discontentment. Occasionally I felt lonely, living solo in my […]

Continue reading


Being Single is Now OK, Apparently

26/05/202326/05/2023 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom

‘Single people must be valued at the heart of our society,’ declares a recent article in The Guardian*, boldly restating what many single people have been saying for years. The article, popularised on social media in recent weeks, highlights a report on a 2-year commission into relationships and family in the Church of England, ordered by […]

Continue reading


Singledom in the Church 

24/03/202324/03/2023 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom

‘So much of the church,’ said Desiree, ‘is about marriage.’  Desiree was giving a talk on singledom at C3 Ballina*, and I love that the first thing she does is acknowledge how much of church life is focused on and revolves around couples. (Disclaimer: Desiree also references my book, Surviving Singledom, so I am somewhat biased […]

Continue reading


Welcoming Vulnerability? 

17/03/202317/03/2023 Steph Penny 4 Comments Surviving Perfectionism

Why do we struggle with vulnerability so badly? I find myself constantly coming up against the vulnerability of mystery in my life: the mystery of why I was single for so long (it felt interminable at the time), the risk of pregnancy going badly wrong, the insanity of chronic illness, and the way God sometimes […]

Continue reading


Alternative Dates for Valentine’s Day

10/02/202310/02/2023 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom

I have never liked Valentine’s Day. Not when I was single. Not now that I am married. To me, if you want to show someone you love them, including yourself, there is no reason to wait for a commercially driven fest like Valentine’s Day. You just do it.  When I was single, I did just […]

Continue reading


The Benefits of Being Single

19/08/202219/08/2022 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom

‘Sometimes I wish everyone were single like me—a simpler life in many ways! But celibacy is not for everyone any more than marriage is. God gives the gift of the single life to some, the gift of the married life to others.’ (1 Corinthians 7:7 MSG)  This famous (or infamous, depending on who you talk […]

Continue reading


Single, Lonely…and Content?

20/05/202220/05/2022 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom

Have you ever been told you should be content with being single? Has anyone promised you that as soon as you find contentment, your spouse will magically appear? These might sound like rhetorical questions, but I genuinely want to know. Because when I was single and lonely and frustrated about it, I was flooded with […]

Continue reading


False Hope or False Economy?

01/04/202201/04/2022 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom, Survivng Childlessness

When I was single, I was the unwitting recipient of false hope. ‘It will happen for you.’‘You’ll meet someone.’‘You’re gonna make some man very happy one day!’ And of course, the trump card from Christian friends: ‘God will not deny you the desire of your heart.’ The same thing happens to childless people as well. […]

Continue reading


Real Family

11/02/202211/02/2022 Steph Penny Leave a comment Surviving Singledom

Ugh. It’s Valentine’s Day again. The time when everyone worships at the altar of dating, romance and marriage. The time when talk of ‘family’ means you have to have a partner (and usually children too). I can’t stand it.  And I’m one of the marrieds.  My heart goes out to single people this time of […]

Continue reading


Posts navigation

Older posts

Paypal

Now Accepting PayPal
How PayPal Works

Contact Me:

    Search:

    Search for:

    Recent Blogs

    • Myths of Singledom 19/06/2025
    • Survival Skills: Grace in the Flames 12/06/2025
    • Survival Skills: It’s Not Fair! 05/06/2025
    • Survival Skills: Scriptures for Illness 29/05/2025
    • Prayer of a Disfigured Christian 18/04/2025
    • Survival Skills: The God Who Allows Pain 11/04/2025
    • Survival Skills: Beauty and Breath 28/03/2025
    • Survival Skills: Find Your Illness Tribe 21/03/2025
    • Survival Skills: Upending Ableism 14/03/2025
    • Survival Skills: Grieving Spaces 07/03/2025
    Welcome to Steph Penny's Blog! (c) 2021 Steph Penny. All rights reserved. Theme by Colorlib Powered by WordPress