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Fifty Shades of Virginity
[Guest post by Arleen Spenceley] – In the twenty miles between my house and my office, there are at least six strip clubs. As I write this, ‘Magic Mike’ – a movie about a male stripper – has been in theaters a week and has grossed an estimated $63,322,000. Fifty Shades of Grey is novel about a woman who gives her virginity to a guy whose version of sex is violent and demeaning. It is now a New York Times bestseller. All this is to say I was not surprised that when my own grandmother learned that I am a virgin, her eyes were wide and her surprise obvious when she fumbled for the words: “You are?” It’s…
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Pre Engagement Questions Series
During the month of July I will be doing a series on Pre Engagement Questions before popping the question. I will be highlighting a few guest posts, book giveaways, and 5 key questions to ask before getting engaged. This time last year, Marc and I were thinking about getting engaged. We spent much time discussing these are six areas. We purposefully wanted to ask all our questions BEFORE we got engaged. Plus, after you get engaged–all you think about is planning a wedding. We heard how potentially stressful wedding planning could be. Instead of discussing important matters over designing invite cards at my parents house–we decided to intentionally talk about…
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Same Sex Friendships
I bet I wasn’t like you growing up. I was taught not to become friends with boys. Boys had kudies and could get you pregnant just by looking at you. Gross. I developed an unhealthy fear of boys at a very young age that stuck with me until college. Even then I was always cautious. To this day, I can still hear my parents yelling “10 inch rule! 10 inch rule!” Don’t lead him on. So I didn’t. Don’t let him get too close. So I didn’t. But when it came to girls, no rules applied. I could have late night phone conversations, sleep overs, and hang out pretty much…
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A Woman Unashamed
[Guest Post by Sarah P] – This is an emotional message, and I don’t like writing out of emotions. But since reading Friends With Girls, I’ve been eaten up. I didn’t want to spill my guts on your blog–and probably should be writing this to someone who actually knows me. But I just want to vent. I’m thirty-two. God started working on me in college, almost thirteen years ago now… I had pretty much rejected femininity. Saying I was uncomfortable in my skin was an understatement! Through the process I discovered that I had been sexually abused. With dear friends and mentors I worked through that, and began to let…
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Friends With Girls
[Guest post by Andrea Marbach] – I know the feeling of being friends with girls and being left out in a conversation. The feeling of being less important and ignored. Being single is all I know. I have never been on a real date. Never been asked out for drinks. Never been kissed. I’m almost 25 years old. Growing up in a Christian household did not protect me from some really bad, life changing things that happened to me when I was a child. For many years, I struggled with self-confidence. At the age of 22, I was finally able to look at myself in the mirror and like what…
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Friends With Boys
[Guest post by Clara Bastidas] – Sometimes I wish love wouldn’t have such a huge hold in our lives as women. Love is an important part of our lives whether we want it or not. I wish it was the topic of politics, or gardening. But I know God created us this way, and if He did, He must have meant it for good. I’ll try to get to the point of my post. Even though I know any advice on this earth will provide me with the peace that only my faith in Christ will bring, I could use some insights from others who have gone through some of…
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Married With Friends
Since Marc and I got married, I’ve been thinking a lot about friendships. There’s a difference between being a private person and hiding your sins, or a public person and wanting attention. I’m an author so I automatically fall into the public arena. Some days this is great. Other days I groan inwardly. My husband does not share the spotlight. He is a private person. He refuses to use social media–if at all. This is more than okay, actually. I recently found out that Facebook is now a cause of 1/3 of divorces. WHAT? I remember how difficult it was for me to wait a few weeks after Marc and…
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What's Your Story – Carla
[Guest post by Carla] – I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be married, a time when I wasn’t desperate for someone to love me. I feared that I would be alone forever. You would think that after two divorces I wouldn’t want to be in a relationship any more, but that fear was still very alive inside me and so I launched my dating career. Yes, it became a career. I was 28, mother of three and on a mission to find someone to love me. I have since gone on more dates than I should ever admit out loud. Some of my dates have been…
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What's Your Story – Samantha
[Guest Post by Samantha Krieger] God interrupted my story the summer after I graduated from college. I interned at a Christian publishing company in Nashville. I loved my work and what music city had to offer. I wanted to plant roots there but two weeks before my internship ended, I felt God leading me to pursue seminary. The funny thing is that seminary was never in my thoughts. Not once the whole summer. Then after pondering the idea and really considering it, affirmation came from those closest to me. Coincidentally, they were praying about the same thing. After talking with different seminaries, to my surprise, I received a full scholarship…
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What's Your Story – Ashleigh
[Guest post by Ashleigh Slater] – My oldest daughter celebrated her eighth birthday two Saturdays ago. As she blew out the candles on her “Sew Cute” Lalaloopsy cake, I marveled that I’m “Mom” to a second-grader. Not to mention a first-grader, preschooler, and toddler. Let’s just say, over a decade ago it wasn’t where I’d expected to find myself at 33. Me, filling sippy cups up with pink milk throughout the day? No. Me, carrying snack-sized bags of Goldfish and Chex Mix in my purse? Nuh-uh. Me, making multiple trips to the grocery store for that bottle of ketchup that’s perpetually forgotten? I don’t think so. I wasn’t attending grad…
