Sarah's Words of Wit(sdom)

Katelyn drew her legs up in her favorite chair and tapped the pencil on her notepad. The words flowed into her mind and she transferred them onto paper… May 10, 2010 Dear Future Husband, It feels kind of weird writing to you when I don’t even know you. But I know you’re out there. Somewhere. I’m writing because I want you to know I’m praying for you. To grow in the Lord everyday and become a strong man of God. I’m also writing to make a pledge of purity to you, God, and myself. Not only sexually, but also emotionally. I pray that you’ll be able to resist temptations and stay pure for me, like I am for you. With God’s help, I will do everything I can to stay pure. I promise myself to only you. Forever. With love, Katelyn Years later, Katelyn dug out the letter from inside her journal. Could the guy she just went out with be the one she’d give this letter? She smiled, remembering the time they had together and re-read the letter, reminding herself of her pledge to purity.

Growing up, I’ve always heard that sexual purity is important. But lately, I’ve been hearing how it’s just as important to save your emotional purity as well. Emotional purity? What on earth is that? I assumed it was much like sexual purity, but in this case, keeping my emotions pure for the man I’ll marry. But how do I do that? So I asked my friend, who has a lot more experience than I do with the ups and downs of relationships what she thought emotional purity meant. “When I start any kind of relationship with a guy,” she told me, “whether it’s dating or “just friends”, it’s my goal stay emotionally pure. This means I’ll only let him have a little corner of my heart and I’ll still have the rest of it. That way, if this guy ends up leaving me, the part he took with him can still grow back.” I nodded at the visual. “That makes sense…” I said slowly, “but especially if I’m dating a guy, I’d want him to know I like him, too. It just sounds like I can’t show him any emotion.” “

I am currently in a book study group and lately we’ve been talking about guys and dating. I had the chance to show them my future guy must-haves list and tell them about my standards of purity. When I was in eighth grade, not only did I make the pledge to God and myself and my future husband to stay sexually pure until marriage, I also felt led to promise to God that I would not date through high school. I had no idea why, but I just had a peace in my heart about the choice and felt it was better for me for some reason. Now I can really see why. Most high school sweethearts don’t end up together. When I made my list, I decided I was not going to date anyone who didn’t match up. That means I’d only date a guy who I’m thinking about marrying. We talked a little about emotional attachment and planning your life around the guy once you start college (I have something coming up about this in the future), which is another downfall of dating in high school. That’s not to say I haven’t be

Hi, everyone! Tommorow I'm over at RealTeenFaith.com , so be sure to check it out. I'm so humbled that the new editor of Real Teen Faith, BJ Hamrick , asked me to be a part of the RTF team! I'm so excited about this, I'm including a sneak preview. This is the first anyone (besides BJ) has seen this! That's right. You, my readers, get the first peek! Don't you feel special? :) Lists – Not Just For Christmas Could the way society presents dating be messing with God’s ultimate plan for relationships? Is the media so in love with the idea of dating that we forget it’s supposed to be a special experience? Since eighth grade, I’ve prayed God will help keep me pure and wait for the right guy to come along who I would eventually marry. I even made up a list of characteristics this special man of my future would have. Making a list is a great thing to do while you’re still single. We all think we know what we want in a dating relationship, but very few of us

As you may already know, I have been praying for my future husband for years. I have even made up a list of characteristics he must have – or should have. Some of the things on that list are going to be hard for the poor guy to live up to. That got me thinking: what am I doing to prepare myself for this amazing man of my future? Shouldn’t I be practicing character that’s hard to live up to as well? I read Proverbs 31:10-31 this week and it talks about being a “wife of noble character”. Now this is a difficult list to live up to. We don’t necessarily have to get up before dawn every morning to make breakfast and search near and far to find wool and flax, busily spinning and twisting the fibers. Unless you really want to, it’s a little outdated. Now we buy our clothes and blankets from a store and have pastries you can pop in the toaster oven for 5 minutes and voila! they’re done. But we can learn a lesson from this Proverbs 31 woman. The lesson is hard work and discipline . Th

I wrote this in January of ’09 for a Christian Writer’s Guild assignment. (laying on sleeping bags in a bedroom in their PJs) Girl 1: This youth group sleepover has been awesome! Girl 2: I know; I want to stay up all night! Girl 3: Come on guys, you know I need my beauty rest! (Girl 1 rolls her eyes) Girl 2: (scoffs) Whatever. Erica: Hey, I have an idea: let’s talk about our crushes! (Girls 1, 2 and 3 nod excitedly, Serena hugs her pillow and looks away) Erica: Okay, I’ll start. I have a HUGE (draws the word out) crush on Bailey McBride. He is so hot! Girl 1: Gosh, Erica, we already know that! Like, everybody knows that. But, anyway (lowers her voice) I have a crush on Johnny Childers. (all girls except Serena and Dana: “oooooooo…”) Girl 2: Oh my word, I have, like, a massive crush on David Turner! Girl 3: (Whining) Hey, wait a minute! I have crush on him too! Girl 2: No way, he’s mine! Girl 3: No fair! I should at least have a chance with him! (Girl 2 hits Girl 3 with a pillow and it