You ask for miracles, yet I would have you first consider what manner of miracle makes a life shine before God. Did John the Baptist work any sign? The evangelist says he did no miracle, yet he fixed the attention of cities by his zeal, his poverty, his boldness for truth. David was found a man after God’s own heart, not by raising the dead, but by a heart wholly given over. Miracles, without a sober and humble mind, do often harm: they puffed up Simon the sorcerer, they divided the Corinthians. But care for virtue and the love of holiness, these take away our craving for signs and make us fit vessels for whatever God wills.
You long for a wife, and this is not a thing condemned. Marriage is honorable, yet it is not an end in itself but a state of much occupation, that your leisure might be spent in serving God. If you abstain from marriage for a season, do not think the life unworthy; if you seek it, do not imagine it will satisfy the soul’s deepest hunger. The true bridegroom is Christ, who came down to our lowly nature and raised it to His Father’s house. Keep that divine marriage before your eyes, and every earthly relationship will find its proper measure.
Therefore I do not urge you to cease praying, but to pray with a right spirit. Ask God to shape your character, to make you a man full of patience and kindness, whose life is a miracle of endurance firmer than adamant, like Job. When you meet a woman, do not demand a sign that she is the one, as if God must compel her interest until you are bound. Love does not clutch; it waits and serves freely, as we have freely received. Rather, pray that you both might have true devotion to Christ, so that whether single or wed, your mutual care might be for virtue and good works, as the widow who diligently follows every good work.
Practical steps? They are not beneath God’s providence. Go about your days with honesty, show kindness to strangers, serve the saints. If a godly woman crosses your path, let your conduct commend the faith, not a demand for miracles. The greatest miracle is a soul turned wholly away from self, and such a soul is ready alike for the gift of marriage or the gift of a life undivided. God knows your need. Trust Him to write the story, and you will find that the quiet miracle of a transformed heart outshines all the signs we so eagerly chase.