Real life isn't always like the courtship books? WHAT?

Hey all!

So I am sitting at school

waiting for my 1st class of the

day to start.

I was thinking about updating 

and was just browsing through some post

over at 

Young Ladies Christian Fellowship (YCLF)

and came across an article entitled

"Real life isn’t always like the courtship books".

Instantly the title grabbed my attention

so I clicked on it and read it.

And I ask you to do the same thing.

Did you read it?

Awesome!

So you may be asking what is the point?

Well, I haven't really shared a lot of details about

my relationship with Jason because honestly 

I have been afraid to.

Why?

Well, because our courtship is not at all like all the books

I grew up reading.

And I was afraid that people would think I was less holy because of it.

Have you gotten the gist that I am a real people pleaser yet?

Writing a post like this absolutely terrifies me because 

I know that some of my readers will not agree with me and I hate 

even the possibility of conflict.

So why, if I hate conflict so much, am I writing this post?

Because I really felt I needed to.

I feel as though I need to share.

I feel I need to give you all a little glimpse into my relationship with Jason.

So I am going to share the comment I wrote on

Jessica Telian's Post:

"I really appreciate this post. I definitely agree that courtship books in and of themselves are not wrong but when I was younger I was obsessed with them to the point of creating very legalistic rules for myself (all while I was not dating or even close) that I thought would make me more pure and essentially more holy. I was in one courtship relationship and we did it all by the books literally. And yet-all the rules did nothing to prevent my heart from being shattered when some things in his life came to light and my Dad (who is my hero for doing it) ended our courtship.
I really struggled after that because we had done everything “right” and yet it had still failed and I still got hurt.
Well, the Lord is gracious and he literally plopped me in front of the man that on May 21, 2011 will become my husband. We didn’t do things by the books and yet…the Lord blessed. He kissed me the day we got engaged and honestly I waited to feel guilty (because of the years of my mindset that I would be less pure if I even dared to think about kissing my husband before my wedding day)  and yet-I didn’t. I realized that saving your first kiss for your husband does not necessarily mean that it will make you any less pure if it is not on your wedding day but before (even though I have the highest respect for those who do wait till their wedding day!). 

Our love story has been nothing like the books but oh our Father in Heaven has written us a beautiful love story! One that is a million times better then I ever could have imagined! For so long I tried to hold on to MY rules and the way I thought courtship should be…and in the end I realized my Jesus just wanted me to surrender my love story to Him so He could be in complete control and when I did-I realized that His ways truly ARE so much better than ours! "

The Lord used this article:

First Kisses

after I had ended my courtship with my ex-boyfriend

to really challenge me on WHY I had set the rules I had for my life.

As I prayed and went over and over things I realized

that for ME PERSONALLY

a lot of the reasons I was going to do or not do something came out 

of my own attempts to make myself more holy. 

The Lord really used the lady who wrote the article-Gretchen-

to bring me back to the realization that it is not about the rules and regulations

we can set for ourselves or think we need to set for ourselves 

but it is about going back to the Word of God and forming convictions

based on that and what we know He has for us.

SO there it is.

I feel like I just rambled but honestly it was relieving.

I have lived my life for years trying to have complete control of my love story

and have only just recently began to found

the amazing freedom that can be found

in surrendering completely to Jesus Christ and letting HIM write our love story.

Because in the end it really is all about Jesus Christ.

And bringing honor and glory to Him.

He is worthy!
Note:
A reader commented on this and brought up the point that we should have standards of excellence 

and I totally agree and am very glad he pointed it out. 

I am not condoning throwing out every single rule or standard

and I just wanted to make sure that was clear.

That was not my point.

What I am saying is that in my own personal life

I became so obsessed with man made rules and regulations

that I started relying on them to determine 

how holy I was or how unholy I was. 

I was so full of pride, 

arrogance, hypocrisy and self-righteousness 

that there was no room left for Jesus!

It comes down to our personal relationships with Jesus Christ.

Going before Him and seeking His face.

When we are living for Jesus we will WANT to give everything to Him

and we will WANT  to bring honor and glory to Him 

ESPECIALLY in our relationships here on earth 

because they are meant to be a picture of Christ and the church.

We can never serve the Lord too much! :)

Ps:

Just found these pictures of Jason and I that my 
good friend Olivia took
the day we left for Florida and
I thought it was so us I just had to share them
with you-

We constantly laugh with each other. We just bring it out in each other I guess!

See that look on his face? That is a look he gets often. Lol :) It is a "whoops shouldn't have said that look"

Did we know people were taking our pics? No. But we did for this one! We were FREEZING but happy to just be with each other. I am so excited to spend the rest of my life with this man!!!