A young girl asked me for advice the other day. Advice about BOYS. She
met a nice young fellow at camp, and he wanted to communicate with her
as a boyfriend. Now, I understand the young man’s perspective more than
one might think. I know him, and he’s been saved for three months of
his fourteen years. He’s excited about everything that has to do with
church, and he’s lost all his previous ambitions; he only wants to
preach. A young lady who wants God’s will for her life is something new
to him, and it is attractive. (Nothing wrong with that) He doesn’t
yet understand about how to have a Christ-honoring relationship with
such a person, so he is relating to her according to the rules of his
old life. At this point, I assume he doesn’t know any better,
especially since I sent a similar young fellow packing in my first year
of college right when he wanted to “go steady” with me. It wasn’t the
time for me to be thinking about marriage, and I didn’t need any
distractions with my first year of college. When God put me back
together with that guy after we had both matured a bit, we knew it was
His work! For more on this story, go here, here, here, and here!
I
told the young lady these things, and also this: You are in a very
important time of your life, and it is a time to guard your heart!
These years, if you are submitted to God’s Holy Spirit, He is preparing
you for His will. He’s building something precious in your life, making
something beautiful. Your relationship with Him is being established,
and you don’t need distractions. These years don’t come back when they
are gone; don’t lose what God is doing in your life!
This is for
the young ladies that read my blog. Those of you that I know personally,
I want you to know I pray for you by name often! I know that God has a
plan for you, that it is the best plan for you, and there is something
in your life right now that can destroy you. I don’t know what it is,
but our enemy always puts up something that we have to make a choice
about. Am I going to trust God, or worry about my family? Am I going
to make room for Him in my life, or am I going to seek my own interests,
and let Him have my leftovers? Am I going to pour out my hurts to Him
and leave them there, or am I going to get bitter and angry? One of
these things that can turn us off the path God has laid for our feet is
wrong thinking about romance, boys, marriage, and the future.
You see
we ladies are full of dreams! Exciting dreams, dreams that make our
heart go pitter-patter-pumpernickle! There is a powerful ton of emotion
built up behind those dreams, and the hope that those dreams might be
realized in this amazing person is enough to sometimes shut down our
ability to reason. If you have seen the movie Bambie, think
“twitterpated”. And I know whereof I speak. I have talked to a lot
of twitterpated young ladies. You are a smart person, but emotion can
turn the heads of the brainiest among us. For this reason I offer you
my advice. (Yes, unasked for by you, but I love you all to bits, so you
have to put up with it!)
• Keep your relationships Christ honoring.
•
Make good friends, and keep your closest friendships at a spiritual
level. (I'm talking about all your friends, not just guys, but
especially guys!) Be aware that extra time with someone builds
intimacy. If you run out of things to talk about, you will be tempted
to start bringing up more personal things. Not a good idea!
• Always
keep Christ first, and if any friendship is pushing away your thoughts
of Him, step away from that friendship! Believe me, I speak from
experience, Mr. Right, at Time Right will not push away Christ! I am so
glad I told my “Mr. Right” to “just be friends” when I did! God's time
was perfect. If he’s got a spiritual bone in his body, he will
understand and appreciate what you are saying; if he doesn’t
understand, you really don’t want to tie your heart up with him!
•
Also, if God has placed authority in your life, honor it! Honor your
parents, and don’t hide anything from them. Respect your pastor and
consider his advice carefully.
• Find spiritual older woman who can
hold you accountable, and pick their minds! Don’t worry about bugging
them, they will love it. Just don’t say you are following my advice to
find someone “older”, or you will get me into trouble!
Most
importantly, keep your dreams and desires subjected to God’s will. Seek
His face, and determine in your heart to never deny the Holy Spirit.
You can’t afford at this point in your life to let something come in and
mess up the amazing things He’s preparing you for!
