Tag: abstinence

What convinced me to get married young

I Had My Whole Life Ahead of Me. What Convinced Me to Get Married Young? Exactly That.

Posted on by Ashley Giovannucci in Relationships, True Love Stories

I didn’t think I wanted to get married so young. I wasn’t looking for a husband. I was looking for a career. Marriage and family?  That could wait until after I’d put my degree to use. Maybe 28. Maybe 30. That’s when it would be time to settle down..... Those were my thoughts as a nineteen year old girl. I knew that I wanted to get married… someday. But that someday seemed a lot farther off than the two years when I’d be standing in front of the altar exchanging wedding vows at only 21 years old. So what changed? My perspective on what marriage is and what marriage isn’t. As a 21 year old bride, I realized that marriage isn’t just a season of life. It’s doing all of life... together. 

The Honeymoon Isn’t Over Until You Say It’s Over

Posted on by Ashley Giovannucci in Holy Living, Relationships

My husband and I are celebrating our five year anniversary. In some ways it seems new. Like we got married yesterday. And in other ways, knowing him feels like knowing every last word to my favorite song.

My “Ring Thing” – The idol of sexual purity

Posted on by Emmarie Moon in Reclaiming Purity, Sexuality

The devil has taken the message of purity and warped it - to make us believe that our virginity makes us worthy in God’s eyes. It has caused the church to turn sexual purity into an idol. Sexual purity is a gift from God, and it is just that - a gift. It reveals God’s heart to us. The gift of sexual purity should never take precedence over the Gift-Giver.

Sex is not an evil to be avoided. It’s a good to be protected.

Posted on by Ashley Giovannucci in Reclaiming Purity, Relationships, Sexuality

The Purity Movement of the 1990s and early 2000s encouraged women, like myself, to save sex for marriage. Unfortunately, sometimes the message sounded more like this:it’s wrong to be sexual.

Rather than looking forward to their honeymoons, women felt like their sexuality was a bad thing, and these same women reportedly had trouble “flipping the switch” to enjoy sex in marriage. It’s no wonder!  They perceived sex as bad for so long that they continued to do so, even after they tied the knot.

Let me do you a favor and clear that up right now. Sex is NOT bad. It is good… in the right context.

Emotions: Can I Control Them?

Posted on by Alyssa Nicole in Body Image, Holy Living, Identity, Relationships

We’ve all had days when life won’t let up. Days when when our circumstances just seem to drag us down. Days when we feel the brokenness of our world so keenly. On these days, the despair threatens to swallow us up. Our circumstances bring feelings of loneliness. Hopelessness. Negativity. Anger. Defeat. Stress. Rejection. Anxiety. Shame. Fear. Bitterness. Our emotions can blind us and tell us lies about our circumstances. It’s only when we encounter Jesus, the Truth, that we can be set free from these lies.

Wishing Wells, Magic Mirrors & Poison Apples

Posted on by Mandi Mauer in Fantasies and Fairytales

Sometimes it can be difficult to draw any sort of parallel between our lives and fairy tales. Is that because they don't exist or because we don't spend enough time looking for the lessons hidden within these stories? Snow White is one of the most iconic and difficult to relate to fairy tales, but even in her story there are treasures to be applied if we just open our eyes to them.

The lessons I didn’t learn from Disney fairytales

Posted on by Amber Impellizzeri in Fantasies and Fairytales

When we just consume media, and don’t take time to dissect what we are consuming, we gain nothing of value. If we want to gain anything of positive impact we need to be diligent in looking for it. The Bible can be used to help us see what is good about a story. What we should take away and maybe even allow to impact our behavior. The Bible also can show us what is not good.

The dream that you wish will come true… but what if it doesn’t?

Posted on by Ashley Giovannucci in Fantasies and Fairytales, Holy Living

Despite what Disney tells us, a happy life isn't about all your wishes coming true, it's about the motives of your heart. What are you wishing for in the first place?
John Piper says,"We can live for our will or God’s will, or we could have our passions so transformed that we need not choose between the two."
If the desire of your heart are properly aligned with God's will, when you love what he loves, when you want what he wants, that's the real dream come true.

Happily ever after…will there be marriage in heaven?

Posted on by Alyssa Nicole in Fantasies and Fairytales, Relationships, Sexuality

Is there marriage in heaven? If it is such a good and beautiful thing, shouldn’t it last for all of eternity? I was always puzzled and upset by Jesus’ response. My idea of the perfect fairytale had me believing that marriage was the ultimate.