The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."

Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for [or corresponding to] him." So out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

"This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man."

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:15-25)

Before anyone ever sinned, God gave those made in His image a task. Man was to work in the garden and keep it. And woman was to help. Man can't find solace and consolation in his work alone. He can't find comfort in the companionship of animals alone. But the one who corresponds to him, who was made from him and for him, this is the one who joins him in a "one-flesh" union.

"Happily ever after" in the Garden of Eden is based upon a relationship with God, a humble acknowledgement of His boundaries, and a delight in the tasks assigned by the Creator. A wife's task is to help the man who is holding fast to her. There's so much more to this concept than merely being "chosen." It's not enough to just get married. The credits in a chick flick nearly always start as the happy couple exits the wedding chapel and waves goodbye.

But that's exactly where God's story is getting started. The grand adventure of being a loving helpmate to a particular man is only just beginning, even though the threshold of “getting married” has already been crossed.

Carolyn McCulley works for  Sovereign Grace Ministries in church and ministry relations.  She is also an author ( "Did I Kiss Marriage Goodbye? Trusting God with a Hope Deferred") and blogger (solofemininity.blogs.com).  Carolyn is also a member of Covenant Life Church where one of her favorite ministries is the single women's discipleship program.  She highly recommends the resources for singles from the New Attitude conference and blog.

Your questions answered!  Carolyn will periodically answer Crosswalk.com reader questions in her Singles Q&A columns.  While we can't guarantee that each question will be answered, we do hope to hear from you!  Please send your questions regarding singleness and related topics to Carolyn at info@carolynmcculley.com.