Romance and Relationships, Part 1

I think every girl dreams of getting married someday....I do. 

I'll be honest - I want to fall in love.   I want a strong, handsome guy who is romantic and everything masculine to come and totally sweep me off my feet. 

This desire isn't exactly a new one.....I think just about every girl dreams of something like that.  I believe this is a God-given desire that is meant to be fulfilled, in most cases. Of course, God's plan is going to be different for each individual, but it is the norm for most people to marry.  God created us to have feelings like that.  He is the Author of romance - He knows our desires!

Just one problem here - I'm not married.  (I'm only 18 - a little young yet, I know!)  Generally speaking though, most girls my age already have a special guy that they hang out with.  Most of them aren't married yet, but they're already knee-deep into romance and relationships.  I'm not.  Believe it or not, this is a deliberate choice I've made. 

But....why?

I'm trusting that if God wants me married, He already has the perfect guy picked out for me and is preparing him even now.  In fact, if God's plan for me includes marriage, I am relieved!  Because that means that my future husband...exists.  He's out there somewhere.  I don't have to worry about "finding a guy" because my guy has already been located.  And God has already planned out when we'll meet.   

Just knowing that my romantic future is in God's hands makes everything so much easier.  I don't have to worry about catching eyes, turning heads, flirting, etc.  That would be way rushing ahead of God's plan because that's presuming that it's up to me to find a husband. 

Guess what - it's not!  And diving into the pool of secular dating will only leave me with a broken heart and a lot of wasted time.  It's a system that has already proven to be a failure.  I don't need to try it because I already know where it ends up.  Wouldn't it be an awful travesty to be running around from guy to guy, basically asking "Are you the one?" when God already has your husband "picked out", so to speak?

Marriage is not a guessing game - I don't have to go "try out" a set of guys until I stumble upon one that suits my tastes.  Most everyone does this though, and most everyone ends up with at least one or two "break-ups" before finding Mr. Right.  I don't want to go through all that heartache.  And God didn't intend for us to, either. 

Believe it or not, God is not anti-romance and anti-relationships.   God is the Author of romance....and because of this, I know that He is far better equipped to play matchmaker than I am!  Because He can see ahead and knows the best guy for me.  If He has planned marriage in my future, that means He's known about this plan since I was born.  Which follows that He has also known my future husband since he was born, too. 

That's why I'm not too worried. 

So in the meantime, I wait.  I trust God to bring about His perfect plan for me in His perfect time.   Because I know how special marriage is, I'm willing to wait for it.  And let me be clear in saying that I'm waiting for a pure relationship.  I'm waiting for a guy.....who's been waiting for me.  I'm waiting for a guy who's never had any kind of romantic entanglements.  A guy who hasn't had four girls prior to meeting me.

Maybe you're thinking that's way too high of a standard; a little on the pie-in-the-sky optimistic side, right?  Guys are just guys - you can't actually expect them to wait, can you?

I can honestly say that these kind of young men DO exist.  There are guys out there that have chosen the same path of passionately seeking God and waiting for his one sweetheart.  And when these kinds of marriages occur, it's the most awe-inspiring, romantic thing ever.  Because it's pure.  Untarnished.  New.  Special. 

How romantic is that?!

That's not just romantic, that's an example of incredible faithfulness.  Faithfulness to your one and only spouse before you even get to the altar.  Before you even meet each other!

So how do you do that?  How do you actually stay faithful and honor your future husband before you've even met him?

*Stay tuned for Part 2!*