"An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked."
Proverbs 29:27
When I started working at Menards, it was about two months before Clay and I got hitched. As weeks went by and my wedding got closer and closer, my coworkers started asking me questions like: how long have you guys been together, are you living together now, how did you meet, how did he propose, when was your first kiss, have you slept together yet, etc. When it came to the last two questions, my coworkers were baffled with my answers. At one point, one of my coworkers at the time said, "You mean you never kissed him until after you were engaged? What if he had been a horrible kisser?!" and, "How could you not sleep with him yet? Sex is how you know you love someone!" and still going, "Don't you want to live with him before you marry him? What if he has these horrible habits you don't know about?" My coworkers had their jaws to the floor when I told them Clay and I never kissed until after we got engaged, we never lived together before marriage, and we certainly never had sex before marriage. My straight path was an abomination to them. I got made fun of by some of them, but some of them told me they wish they could have been as strong as me and waited to have sex.
Now, please don't hear me wrong in this connection from my story to the verse. My coworkers were not wicked by any means. I actually liked most of them a lot! We became pretty decent friends. But my Godly life threw them for a curve. They couldn't understand it. Couldn't comprehend why I would live my life the way I did. Why not just give into temptation? Why fight it? For me, it was easy(ish) since I had the strength of God on my side and a man that was willing to fight to protect my purity through it all. I had a Godly man who waited for me and I for him. It was definitely something worth waiting for too.
Young women out there. You think you know what you're doing. And maybe, just maybe, you are with the guy you are going to marry, but what if you aren't? What if the guy you are with is someone else's future husband? What if you are destined for something so much more than that guy can give you? What if by waiting and by having patience and purity, God blesses you more than you could ever imagine? What if? Well, I can tell you from experience that the waiting is worth it. God has so much in store for you. Just follow him.
Now, to those of you who are thinking, "Yeah... uh, good thoughts, but this is so unrealistic. Be real. This is an exception to the rule and definitely not the norm." I hear you. I am an exception. An outlier. A fluke. Whatever you want to call me, I hear you. I'm not normal, but what if we started teaching our girls and showing them that this can be the norm--that if you say you're staying a virgin until marriage, people's jaws don't drop. We can change this perception. We can change the world together. I'm not sure how we do this, but if we start with the girls we see daily or weekly, we can start to plant a seed and help them help us to change the world one life at a time.
Proverbs 29:27
When I started working at Menards, it was about two months before Clay and I got hitched. As weeks went by and my wedding got closer and closer, my coworkers started asking me questions like: how long have you guys been together, are you living together now, how did you meet, how did he propose, when was your first kiss, have you slept together yet, etc. When it came to the last two questions, my coworkers were baffled with my answers. At one point, one of my coworkers at the time said, "You mean you never kissed him until after you were engaged? What if he had been a horrible kisser?!" and, "How could you not sleep with him yet? Sex is how you know you love someone!" and still going, "Don't you want to live with him before you marry him? What if he has these horrible habits you don't know about?" My coworkers had their jaws to the floor when I told them Clay and I never kissed until after we got engaged, we never lived together before marriage, and we certainly never had sex before marriage. My straight path was an abomination to them. I got made fun of by some of them, but some of them told me they wish they could have been as strong as me and waited to have sex.
Now, please don't hear me wrong in this connection from my story to the verse. My coworkers were not wicked by any means. I actually liked most of them a lot! We became pretty decent friends. But my Godly life threw them for a curve. They couldn't understand it. Couldn't comprehend why I would live my life the way I did. Why not just give into temptation? Why fight it? For me, it was easy(ish) since I had the strength of God on my side and a man that was willing to fight to protect my purity through it all. I had a Godly man who waited for me and I for him. It was definitely something worth waiting for too.
Young women out there. You think you know what you're doing. And maybe, just maybe, you are with the guy you are going to marry, but what if you aren't? What if the guy you are with is someone else's future husband? What if you are destined for something so much more than that guy can give you? What if by waiting and by having patience and purity, God blesses you more than you could ever imagine? What if? Well, I can tell you from experience that the waiting is worth it. God has so much in store for you. Just follow him.
Now, to those of you who are thinking, "Yeah... uh, good thoughts, but this is so unrealistic. Be real. This is an exception to the rule and definitely not the norm." I hear you. I am an exception. An outlier. A fluke. Whatever you want to call me, I hear you. I'm not normal, but what if we started teaching our girls and showing them that this can be the norm--that if you say you're staying a virgin until marriage, people's jaws don't drop. We can change this perception. We can change the world together. I'm not sure how we do this, but if we start with the girls we see daily or weekly, we can start to plant a seed and help them help us to change the world one life at a time.