For the boy who didn't wait.

( *** Tonight at Grace Midtown they allowed for us to experience God and hear Him talk to us in our silence.  I loved that, because a) how many churches are that open to the Spirit moving and b) that’s usually how the first thirty minutes to an hour of my quiet times go – I just sit and be still. Tonight I didn’t hear anything from God at Midtown, but I definitely felt his presence and left church feeling super refreshed. That being said, when I finally got home around 12:30 a.m., I walked into the door of my house and this one phrase was immediately placed upon my heart: “for the boy who didn’t wait.” And the more I thought about it and talked to God about it, the more my heart broke for the subject. So, here I am at 2 a.m. writing out a letter when I have to be up at 6 AM for school, but I’m just too invested in this subject right now to go to sleep and write about it the morning. If you are reading this, I’m praying that you haven’t had to deal with the consequences of sexual sin, and this will encourage you to continue your battle and journey towards purity. But if you are reading this and you are dealing with them or have dealt with them in the past, I pray this will touch your heart, speak the specific words of healing you need to hear this week, and encourage you as well on your journey towards purity. All that being said, I want to give you all a heads up that this post will be a bit more mature than anything I’ve posted before – I’ll be mentioning some pretty explicit topics. ***) 

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For the boy who didn't wait,

First and foremost, you are forgiven, you are worth it, and you are loved.  If I could just say one sentence to you, this would be it. You are not unworthy of Christ’s love, you are not unworthy of desiring a “pure” partner, you are not unworthy of getting to talk about and encourage others in their journey towards purity, you are not unworthy of forgiveness, you are not unworthy because of your past mistakes -- the God of the universe says you are worth it. And he said you were worth it and let His Son die for you on the cross knowing  you would mess up. His love speaks volumes. You. Are. Worth. It.  

Secondly, I want you to know that I understand God’s grace doesn't automatically keep us away from worldly passions. Titus 2:11-14 says that “for the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” I want you to know that I realize you can burn for Christ and still mess up and not say “no.” I want you to know I realize learning to say “no” is a learning process. I want you to know that learning processes always involve mistakes. I want you to know I realize that Satan strategically plans his attacks when we’re most vulnerable (and I've fallen prey to those attacks more times than I wish I could say).  And this doesn't make giving into temptation right, but it does make it awfully human to do so and then feel guilty about it – and I get that.

I’m not here to write a sugar-coated letter about how “yeah you sinned but everything is a-okay and there will be no consequences that stem from that sin and it really doesn't matter because Jesus loves you,” but I am here to let you know that your past sin doesn't define you, it certainly doesn't repel Christ-following people from you (just a side note: some of the most attractive God-fearing men I know have struggled with sexual immorality and it’s their testimony of their love for Christ and His mercy and ability to change their hearts and wipe their slates clean is what makes them so attractive), and it definitely doesn't prevent you from having a blessed and Christ-centered marriage/relationship in your future.

A lot of the time I feel like I can’t even touch on the topic of impurity because (by the grace of God) I can still say I haven’t had sex and, by the standards of the world, I should be considered  good-to-go as a Christian and, by not having sex, I’m  officially “pure.” But in Ephesians Paul says there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality in our lives – and there have been times where there was a lot more than a hint of sexual immorality in my life.

The Bible defines immorality as “any form of sexual contact outside of marriage” (1 Corinthians 7:2) and according to Hebrews 13:4, the “marriage bed” is pure and honored. So, according to the Bible, sex and any form of sexual contact, should be reserved for marriage.

Knowing this, I want you to know you’re not alone in your sexual sin – unfortunately, Satan loves to make us feel like we’re missing something and mess up our views on intimacy. And a lot of times, we give into that temptation. I've fallen victim to Satan’s lies of “oh, this isn't really sex, so it’s fine to do outside of marriage” or “oh, you want to make him happy and you want to continue to have a boyfriend, so you have to put out or he’ll find someone else” and there have been multiple times in my life where I didn't say “no” when I should have. While I may not be dealing with the consequences of having sex outside of marriage, I do have to and will have to deal with the consequences of other types of sexual sin despite the fact that I have been shown mercy and have been forgiven and renewed.

That being said, I think we can both agree that the reality of both of our sexual sin is this: we forfeit was really a good thing for something that only looked like a good thing, but turned out to be a lonely, imprisoning act of sin.

For me, one of the most encouraging stories that speaks to this reality of sexual sin but also speaks to the freeing and redeeming power of God is the story of David. A lot of the times, I think God watched David’s story unfold like a giant messy soap opera. After having sex with another man’s wife, killing off her husband, and having an illegitimate baby on the way (which would eventually die), I can imagine David was in that lonely stage of sexual sin where he was hiding from God and trying to clean up his own slate when God sent Nathan to confront him. And as soon as David repented, Nathan said “The Lord has taken away your sin” (2 Samuel 12:13). And just like that, David was back into God’s presence – His sexual sin did not prevent God from using him to speak to others during His lifetime (and even speak to us through his testimony years and years after he passed). I think a lot of times, you may think that your sin has ruined you and it’ll be stuck with you forever – but that’s definitely not the case! Did you make a bad decision? Yes; you chose to ignore God’s plan and made a lesser choice. Is that bad decision your ultimate destruction? Of course not.  Ezekiel 18:22 promises us that “none of the offenses he has committed will be remembered.” Believe that. Know God’s truth. And stick it to the man when Satan tries to fill your head with his lies. David’s sexual sin didn't define him and it didn't prevent Him from loving Christ any less – after all, he became known as the man after God’s own heart despite his past mistakes. Allow God to make a message out of your mess.

“Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” Psalm 51:5

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23

“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.” Ecclesiastes 7:20

God desires “that you may become blameless and pure.” Philippians 2:15

Another thing I want you to be reminded of is that you weren't born pure but  you can become pure. One of the most impacting things for me was realizing that purity isn't something we have and lose, but rather something we work towards – the notion that we “lose” our purity is nonsense and that, plus the feeling that we let God down, is what I think our guilt stems from the most.  There’s this graphic from the book “And the Bride Wore White” that I love and it looks like this:

 Stick with me here while I attempt to explain it: The little squiggle represents us. We’re on a journey towards our end goal, “purity”, but we must encounter “lust” to get to “purity.” We are walking on the spiral path towards purity, but each time we get closer to purity, we encounter lust (because we’re walking in a spiral).  The author of And The Bride Wore White says three things can happen when we encounter lust: we can get breeze past it with God’s help, it can taunt and tease us pretty effectively causing us to sin but eventually struggle past it, or we can get stuck there with it for a long time.

What I want you to get from this graphic above is this: you shouldn't feel guilty or like you’re doing something wrong if you're ever tempted to commit sexual sin again. Just because you have repented from your first bad run-in with lust doesn't mean you won’t be seeing it again – because we’re travelling on a spiral road, you’re bound to see it again. My prayer for you is that, the next time you run into it, you’ll be further away from it than you ever have been before and you’ll be able to say “hey look, you’re a part of my past and I've struggled with you before – it’s not happening again,” and give it the cold shoulder. Being tempted by something you struggled with in the past is not a sin; rather, it is an opportunity to develop your purity. Don’t be fooled into thinking you’re not making progress.

Finally, I want you to know that there is so much more to you than your sexual sin. First and foremost you are God’s son – you have been made in His image. Don’t let your past sin define who you are. While I definitely think it’s important to confess your past sin (James 5:16) to others and I believe it’s freeing to tell someone about it (I’m not saying you should write a blog post about it or that the whole world needs to know – but I’d encourage and challenge you to confess to at least one person is older and wiser than you if you haven’t – don’t give into Satan’s lie that you need to keep your sin in the dark), don’t let it become something you fixate on and what you find your identity in. Your identity is in Christ, not your past failures. There is no room for guilt or shame in the heart of a Christ follower -- he has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. Remember to embrace and rest in that truth this week. Because you’re worth it. And because God’s going to work through you and use your testimony to rock His kingdom and bring glory to His name.

Stay gold, Ponyboy.

V.

gifts aren't earned.

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...  You are the treasure I cannot afford, the pearl of great price.  ...  You are worth my everything, you are worth it all. ...

Matthew 13:45-46:
MSG: “God’s kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.”
NIV: “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

 (The parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl is one of my favorites and I mention it a lot. Sorry.)

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I was in the Perk (aka a coffee shop for all of you who don't live in Gainesville) with my journal and a latte in a house cup (thanks Pat, you da best). I was reading over some passages in 1 Corinthians, and, while I'm still trying to figure out how this relates to what I actually was reading this is what I got out of it and wrote in my journal:  "I talked about grace last night and how everything is of grace -- that applies to gifts from God as well." 

Guys. I don't know if I've ever been more relieved or more convicted in my life. And this is why: God doesn't require His called to be qualified before He calls them. It's a cliche saying, I know, the whole "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called," but I think it's so true and so very easy to miss at times.

If anyone knows me, when it comes to tasks I'm assigned or projects I undertake, I'm a tad bit compulsive and a lot of a perfectionist -- if I'm told to do something a certain way or if I'm aiming to do something a certain way, I get it done that way and there's usually no question about it. And a lot of times I get tunnel vision when it comes to completing something for that very reason -- I set out a plan for how I'm going to tackle what's been placed in front of me and then I implement that plan and go for it.

I honestly felt like God was saying to me at that time, "Victoria, I'm not requiring you attain a particular state before I grant you a gift. It's all based on MY grace and MY timing and MY wisdom."

And all I could think of for a response at that time was:

"Oh."

Guys, we all know Christianity centers around grace -- we were freely given a salvation that no amount of works or good deeds can earn. And I think that concept applies to a lot of aspects, not just salvation. I hear a lot of people say or post something like this:  "Until you are content in your singleness, don't get married or don't date." While I don't think I've ever directly said or implied this, if I have or if you've taken something I've said as something that implies this, I'd like to apologize to you now for that -- because I'd like to humbly submit tonight that this "don't date until you're content in singleness" is an error in thinking. I realize that it's usually a well-meaning piece of advice that people offer up because we all want to see our friends content  and happy in God's provision, but I think the most flawed thing about his piece of advice is that it creates a work-based mentality to receiving gifts (and people like me can get caught and tangled up in that 'I need to do this to get this' mentality pretty dang quick if we're not careful).

I could go into a 2 hour typing spree about spiritual gifts and what Paul writes about singleness and marriage in 1 Corinthians, but I'm going to try and keep this short and only say a couple of things about it. So, rapid fire of a couple of points!

1) In Corinthians 7:7, the Greek word Paul would have used for "gifts" was "charisma." There are several different Greek words that could be translated to gift in English and they all imply different things -- one denotes a free gift of grace (are you seeing where this is going yet?). Charisma, the word Paul used in the passage, refers to a supernatural or spiritual gift.

2) The mini grammar lesson you just read is important because it helps us get a grasp on what kind of gift singleness actually is. It's not a gift we should have to spend time either worrying about having or trying to identify.

3) Because singleness, like salvation, is freely given by a gracious God, the questions "Do I desire marriage? Am I happy being single?" shouldn't be part of the equation. The emphasis should be on the gracious God who provides us with good and purposeful gifts meant to bring Him glory.

4) Are you staying with me still?

5) I'd like to call singleness (and marriage) a Spiritual gift -- not in the "spiritual gift" was in the sense that we've come to know in the church today such as a role or talent, but rather as a blessing -- just like salvation. It has been given to us without any merit of our own.

6) Fast forward to verse 17 in the same chapter of Corinthians. Our places in life are assigned by God. 

7) Our places in life may changed based on God's calling and His assignment. Our mindsets can change and grow with these changes. There's grace for being gifted either way.

8) We are single, dating, or married right now because that's God's will for us and His assignment for us right now.

(...are eight points considered "a couple" of points because I'm honestly not too sure but continuing on regardless...)

I know that a lot of those points may seem rudimentary or obvious to a lot of you reading this, but, despite the fact that I've said multiple times on this blog that we're in a relationship or out of a relationship all based on God's will, I don't think that concept ever clicked with me until I fully grasped those eight points. 

Are you seeing what I'm seeing?

To apply it in relation to the season I'm in now if you're not grasping the concept yet:
I am single right now because that's God's will for me right now. And that's it. It's not because I am too young, too immature, too tall, too quiet, too loud, too smart, too busy, too demanding, too picky, too expecting -- not because I have failed in the past or because I wasn't being "good enough" in the present, but because God apportioned this gift to me today and that's why I am single today.

So that is why I'd like to suggest that the "Don't date or marry until you're completely content in singleness" advice is a little off the mark. Don't get me wrong, I definitely think we should listen (and listen humbly and intently) to our friends and receive their input about cultivating contentment, but we definitely shouldn't attach commitment to an expectation of a blessing. It's OKAY to desire a relationship -- we were created for community -- you can have a healthy relationship with Christ while having a healthy desire for a relationship -- and that's the beauty of it all. 

So back to the Pearl of Great Price, why is it on my heart again tonight? Because it illustrates the one thing we are called to do regardless of what gifts we have: we are called to find the pearl of great value, seek it, and purchase it using everything we've got. I am not called to "better myself" to earn certain gifts, but rather I am called to simply passionately and pursue God with everything I have in me. Because He's the Pearl of Great Price, and his gifts and blessings will ALWAYS be worth more than what we sacrificed to pursue Him. He's worth everything, and He's worth my all.

Singleness, 8 months of learning, abiding.

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Hey guys, hey.

It’s been forever since I've had the time to sit down and type out some of my thoughts (…I should honestly be studying now, but hey, procrastination, right?), so I’m hoping to spill out a bit of my heart tonight before I get back to the books. I’m functioning on two hours of sleep today, so if anything seems super jumbled or super spacey, well, hold my poor time management and my ginormous pile of school work to blame.

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       A question that has been burdening my heart lately and a question I've been offering up in prayer these past few weeks is “Lord, in Your heavenly plan, what are You teaching me and how long does it take?”

I think I've briefly mentioned this on the blog before, but high school was a dark time for me – I had little to no self-esteem, I was struggling with some dark stuff, and I didn't have any kind of leader or friends pouring truth or encouragement into my life.  My parents didn't allow me to date until I was 16 (at the time I hated them for that, but looking back I am so appreciative of their wisdom in relationships and parenting), so while the people at school were going on dates when they were 13,14,15…I was stuck hearing  about their “love” stories between class changes. I had assumed that once I turned 16, it would be like a fairy tale, a guy would suddenly gain interest in me, and we would ride happily into the sunset of oh-so-romantic high school love -- but that wasn't the case. No one showed interest in me until I turned 17. And as soon as I was asked on that first date, I didn't care about who was asking me, I didn't care about his lack of faith or his friends or what others would think – all I cared about was a guy finally being interested in me and not any of my other friends. I was being chosen and I was being wanted. And that was all I chose to care about.

And, of course, choosing to turn a blind eye to the fact that the relationship I was about to enter into was not a relationship that God would have wanted me to enter into would eventually blow up in my face. Around the end of my junior year, after the relationship had gone on for about seven or eight months and we had already broken up and gotten back together twice, we broke up for the third and final time…and then after that third breakup, I found out that for almost half of the relationship, my ex and a friend I had thought to be a very good friend, even best friend of mine, at the time had been getting together behind my back…and that the majority of my classmates had known about this fact but had chosen to not to tell me about it (talk about hitting a girl with already low self esteem right where it hurts, right?). This obviously created quite a bit of drama in my classes, especially since I had five out seven classes with my ex, ex friend, and the same group of IB peers. Long story short, I ended up being the target of a lot of undeserved mean words, a lot of undeserved isolation from the rest of the class, and I felt even more alone than I had before I entered the relationship about a year prior.

Since that relationship in my junior year of high school, I've been in and out of two (not so healthy and not so long term) relationships; instead of seeking out a relationship for partnership in servitude with Christ, to be honest, I was reverting back to my high school insecurities and seeking out relationships solely for acceptance and companionship. I was simply trying to fill my desire to be wanted by a guy again. Against all logic and past experience, I wasn't content in being accepted and loved by Love Himself, I wanted imperfect and conditional humanly love, not the perfect and unconditional love of a God.

For those of you who don’t know, for the past eight months, I've been making it a point to remain single and grow and mature Spiritually in a season of singleness for a year. And I never set out on this journey to prove a point to myself; rather I set out on this journey simply because God told me one night to abide in Him and in Him alone until I was completely content in having only His attention and affections, no one else’s.

And I won’t lie, it’s been tough. When God originally spoke to me, I distinctly remember thinking “oh, okay, easy peasy. I’ll stay single like I was for my three years of middle school and first year of high school – I've done that before, no big deal.” I laugh at myself for thinking that now just because it was such an indicator of just how unaware I was of my own heart problems at the time.

I've never thought of myself as “boy crazy” or as someone who needs a man in her life to make her happy, and I still don’t consider myself those things today. However, I've realized that a few months ago, I was a girl who was starving for companionship, acceptance and love…and I was looking for all of those things in all of the wrong places while trying to gain them in all the wrong kinds of ways. I was so consumed with the idea of giving myself over to someone emotionally, I was constantly looking for acceptance from others -- especially boys. Quite honestly, I don’t even think I was looking for a relationship with a guy; I was just desiring constant communication with someone of the opposite sex so I’d know that someone was potentially interested in me and I’d ride on that fact for my self-confidence and self-worth. And when the guy I was talking to left the picture, I would experience a sudden drop in confidence, quickly rebound to talk to any other guy that seemed remotely interested in friendship or more, and then regain that misplaced and fake confidence I was so desperately clinging to. …Are any of you guys seeing the path (or rather cycle) of destruction I was unknowingly travelling on??

This is the main thing I've learned over these past eight months: my will constantly crosses God’s will and my will must die.

Ephesians 4:22-24 (NLT): Throw off your evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God’s likeness – righteous, holy and true.

Ephesians 4:22-24 (MSG): “…everything – and I do mean everything – connected with that old way of life has to go…take on an entirely new way of life – a God-fashioned life, a life reserved from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces His character in you.”

We must walk away from anything that hinders our love for God. To know if something is doing this, we must keep God involved in our lives. We must choose to give things up to Him and choose to tell Him everything.

A few months into my “man fast” (don’t laugh or judge --  that’s catchy and great and you know it), I realized that I needed to give up a lot more than I initially realized and I also realized that God had a lot of work to accomplish on my heart to make it undivided for Him. I wrote this in my journal when I had this revelation:

“God, I think it’s so cool that you know how hard it is for us to cut things off, and that’s why you offer us the gift of an undivided heart. While you and I both know I’m not in a relationship right now, before I even get into one, if I ever do, God, I want an undivided heart. I realize that my Spiritual heart needs for my physical heart to be in tune to it, but I know I can’t make that happen alone. God, you know I’m consumed with the idea of love and being accepted and wanted by a guy who can lead me in a Godly relationship. And while I realize wanting a relationship is a healthy desire to have, I don’t want it to be more of a desire than me desiring You only. I just pray you’ll instill discernment in me as well as an undivided heart. I want to be Your servant and I know your plans are the best for me – replace any desires for finding myself in a guy with finding myself and my identity and confidence in You and You alone.”

And since writing that and really meditating on God’s word and the truths and love He and He alone has to offer me, I can honestly say that He’s made great strides with me in chiseling my heart into what He wants it to look like. Now I find myself flipping over to Bible verses I have marked in my Bible, or turning to God in prayer when I need encouragement or a reminder of who I am as an individual in Christ --  not swiping over to the messages app on my phone and texting a guy to try and gain empty confidence and worth through them.

However, I feel like the hardest part of my season of singleness wasn’t willing myself to turn to God for attention when I really wanted attention from a guy or memorizing verses of encouragement instead of texts of sweet talk. Rather, I feel like I’m experiencing the hardest part of it right now: abiding.

And this is where the question I mentioned at the beginning of this post comes into play: “Lord, in Your heavenly plan, what are You teaching me and how long does it take?”

It seems like I am being bombarded with sermons about dating/marriage or seeing one of my friends either enter into a dating relationship, enter into an engagement, or enter into a marriage. And my heart is joyful for them – their seasons are all something to rejoice in, but my heart is also a teeny tiny bit impatient for my own self to get to the seasons that they're currently experiencing already.

“Lord, I know I only desire finding my self-worth through your truths now. Lord, I know that only You satisfy and I’m not actively seeking out ways to try and fill that void anymore – You have filled me up.  Lord, I know that I would put Your and Your visions and kingdom first in relationships now. Lord, I know what a Godly relationship looks like now. But Lord, it’s only been eight months. What in the world are you wanting to teach me in these next four months that I simply must learn while remaining single? Why did you speak and tell me to enter into a whole year of singlehood if we’re already seeing these results only eight months in? ” Those are the kind of questions I've been wrestling with God about lately. 

For the first time in years, I feel like I feel confident enough in my identity in Christ and confident enough in the strength of my relationship with Christ to say that I could enter into a new season of dating and continue to rely on God first in all things. But for the past weeks, despite all the new relationships I've witnessed my friends enter into and all the new engagements I've heard about, despite the cracks my family has been making about my singleness, despite everything, God has been continuing to lay one word on my heart: abide.

So all of this is to say that I don’t know what kind of season you’re in or entering into this autumn – maybe you’re like me and you’re single and planning on remaining in that season for a while, maybe you’re actively seeking a partner to serve Christ with, or maybe you’re entering into the exciting yet foreign life of a married couple – the possibilities are endless. While I don’t know what kind of season you’re in and I don’t know what you’re excited about or struggling with or intimidated by, I do know that in whatever season we are in, as Christ followers, we are always called to be praying for our “Lord, use me’s” to become “Lord, make me usable’s” in whatever situations we are in.

Ephesians 2:10 NIV: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for all of us to do.” 

Despite the season you are in, right now, if you are surrendering your will for God’s will your life is NOT off track. Every inch of who we are has intentionally passed through the Maker’s hands when He wove us together in our mother’s womb. Where we are in life right now and what we’re learning (even if, like in my case, we’re struggling to see what exactly we’re learning) is being learned for a purpose and has intention. ABIDE in that and fully embrace whatever God is going to do in and through you to affect the eternity of those directly around you.

  

Shepherd your flock where you are and abide in that – I’ll be doing it right along with you.

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2 John 1:9: Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.

John 15:4-5: "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

1 John 2:27-28: As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him. Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

John 15:10: "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

John 15:7: "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.