Be back soon!

I am taking the next two weeks off for prayer, so that I can come back to you with more blogs... I am truly out of blog topics right now, and need a little vacation. Thank you for being faithful readers!

See you March 2nd...

Thoughts on Dating

As Valentine’s Day approaches, it seems that more and more people are pairing off. As I looked back at my blog one day, I realized that I haven’t really said what I think about dating, marriage, etc. Please do not be offended…these are my personal views, and you have the right to agree or disagree with it.

1. Dating/Courtship

I am not going to date until college. This may seem crazy or impossible, but all I see in young relationships is heartbreak and impurity. I know there are some that are beautiful and pure, but I do not want to make a mistake so young. Also, it takes away from my thoughts on school and I just don’t think it is necessary to date at an age where you can’t get married. What’s the point?! The purpose of dating/courting is to lead up to marriage, and I will not date until I reach the age that I could (legally) get married. I also will date for several years, so that I do not rush into anything in blind love. Marriage is tested by the trials of courting, so that is why I will not date any less than a year.

When I do start dating, I will never be alone with him in an apartment, house, or dorm. This simply leads to a temptation that I want to avoid like the plague. It is a prudent choice that will help keep me from the sin of pre-marital sex. I also will not date a non-believer. I do not want to fall in love with a man that will not share my faith, and could drag me away from my God.

2. Marriage

I am saving my first kiss for my wedding day. Most people look at me in a surprised manner when I say this, but it is true. In my lifetime, I want to only kiss the one man I marry. I simply don’t want my lips tainted with the kisses of other men, but want my husband to know that I held out completely for him. This promise also holds that I will be pure as well. This choice comes from Hebrews 13:4 which commands all people to remain pure until marriage.

I am writing letters in a book, having started when I was fourteen, and I plan to make this part of the wedding ceremony. I will present it to my husband, showing him the inner depths of my heart and the many times in my life that I have prayed for him, whether I knew his name or not.

These are my thoughts on dating, and they may be slightly extreme, but I know that holding out for the man I will marry will forever be special and pure, causing no past issues with immorality to come between us. I do not know who God has in mind for me to marry, but I know that I can’t wait to meet him.

(I urge you to make your own outline of what your standards are for dating, so that you are not confronted with a question or problem that you are not prepared to accept or reject. Being prepared is always a good thing!)

Brainwashed?!

Several people have told me or my parents that I am brainwashed by my parents’ views. This really makes me mad. Although I have been greatly influenced by my parents’ choices and decisions, I really CAN think for myself.

No, really.

My views are not copied from the same page that holds the views made by my parents. I have shaped and formed them through the fires of trial and mistakes. Yes they are similar, but I can think for myself, thank you very much.

My modesty standards are different than my mother’s. There is nothing wrong with hers, but I have decided for myself what I will and won’t wear, and she respects my decisions. Hers are neither higher nor lower than mine, simply different.

My thoughts on dating are also different than my mom and dad’s view used to be.
Although I have not gone into this view (just wait until next week…) I can promise you that it started out as something much different than it is now. God has opened my eyes to many things throughout the years, and I have changed with every lesson from Him.

Although several have said that I am not old enough to think and make decisions for myself, I can assure you that I am and I can. They may not always be the right decisions, but they are ones I can make all the same. I don’t understand how someone can say that I am not old enough to think for myself now (at sixteen), and yet the day I graduate I will somehow be old enough to make my own decisions. What magical transformation makes me more capable overnight?! If I don’t start trying out my beliefs before I turn eighteen, how will I ever be ready for the real world? The mistakes I can make now to learn a lesson will have consequences that are far less great than those I can make when I am older.

“I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw,” says Proverbs 24:32. I am not brainwashed, I simply have a very similar Christian worldview compared to that of my parents. I am not perfect by far, but neither am I stupid nor helpless. I lean on God for my worldview and my answers, and since my parents do as well, they become very similar.

I am not brainwashed. I am a student of Christ and a follower of my Lord.