Posts

Choosing Discernment Over Desire

One of the hardest things I see young Christian people face when it comes to romantic relationships is the fact that we think we won’t be attracted to those who are not Christians. The reality is that this is not true, and it happens all the time. It’s so easy to find yourself attracted to someone, but your mind tells you that he or she isn’t right for you. Yet, you choose to follow what your heart says rather than use your discernment. It’s shocking, right? It’s amazing how easily you can tell yourself, “I know this isn’t right, but I want it to be.” So, you turn that person into someone who could potentially be a great follower of Christ. You begin to think that you can change the person when, in reality, that’s not your job. For those who are struggling with this, it’s not a bad thing to feel attracted to someone, but if you’re looking to get married, it’s important to marry someone with similar beliefs. That is one thing that can build a strong foundation. Also, wouldn’t you want ...
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The Reality Behind High School Relationships

For generations, we have seen young teens enter the high school dating scene, wanting to be in a regular boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. Some even say that they are so in love that they would consider marrying that person. They might have talks about the future early on, but mostly just fantasize about it and decide to see where the relationship goes. But if a bunch of couples say they want to make a relationship last, why do most of them fail? To figure this out, we are going to have to dive deeper into one of the biggest causes that makes these relationships fall apart. Many young kids in high school end up dating because it seems to be a part of the whole teenage experience. It's a time in your life when everything feels new and exciting, and when you finally get a relationship going with somebody, you can feel as though you're on top of the world. You begin to stay up late calling each other, watch movies together, and hang out almost all the time. Maybe there's some...
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Balancing Out Roles In Marriage

For years, we have seen in more traditional households, that the husband always goes to work, while the wife stayed at home with the kids and handled the regular housework. Many young women today would be offended by that way of going about a marriage which is understandable. There has been a long debate on whether the husband does more work than his wife or the other way around (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracking confirms that working women perform an average of two hours more of household labor per day than men). We have seen over the past couple of years that women feel like there is a massive imbalance with having their husband work while she stays at home. Sure, there are plenty of women who might want a career as well, which there is nothing wrong with that. Maybe they want a life beyond just being a mother and wife. Whatever it is, we see that the times have definitely changed (modern economic surveys note that dual-income couples now account for nearly 60% of all married ...
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The Art Of The Page

Journaling is a wonderful way to get your thoughts onto paper. You might wonder why you would ever want to do that. Isn't it way too much work to do at the end of the day? The truth is, it really isn't if it's something you're just trying to get out. For example, maybe you have these strong feelings for someone, but don't know how to overcome them. So you decide to go to the store and buy a journal. In doing so, you might be looking online, or maybe you go to Target or something, and just see multiple shelves of journals, but you don't know which one to get. Also, you might want to buy some really nice pens to get with it. Then you go over to the sections where all the pens are, and notice you have so many options. This can be one of the hardest things, because you might want one pen, and then want another, if you're picky. If you don't care that much, it's easy just to grab a pen and get on with your day. Once you've found your pens, you might g...
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Why I Still Reach For Pride And Prejudice

I have read the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen many times. The reason I loved it was that it was a relatively clean romance novel compared to what you might find on the shelves today in that genre. Additionally, I appreciated that marriage was regarded as a highly valued aspect of life. It was beautiful to see that Bingley and Darcy didn’t treat their relationship with the Bennetts casually at all. I just find that even though it was a different time, maybe where women didn't have rights the same way, I loved how intentional Darcy was in how he pursued Elizabeth Bennett.  Sure, it wasn't all hearts and Butterflies with Darcy and Elizabeth, but it was wonderful that they had integrity and spoke honestly. Plus, it was authentic to constantly see Elizabeth challenging Darcy very early on. It was a good lesson to learn in life not to just judge people by a cover. I remember attending a summer camp a couple of years ago, and I happened to be carrying the book with me every...
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