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I Survived My 20s – Dateless
[Guest Post by Lindsay Blackburn] – I survived my 20s. In fact, I survived my 20s–dateless. Yep, you read that right. No coffee dates. No dinner dates. And, most of all, no wedding date. This is my story. When I moved back to my hometown after graduating from college at age 21, my priorities were finding a full-time job, moving out of my parents’ basement, and reconnecting with some high school friends. Sure, I wanted to get married and have children someday, but I just assumed it would happen in the perfect linear fashion that most 20-somethings expect. Go to college → Graduate from college → Get a job &…
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I Survived My 20s – Change
[Guest Post by Tracy] – I tried to stifle the tears as I watched my parents drive off. What had I done? I graduated from college and secured my first job; that’s what. Earlier that week I said my goodbyes, loaded the car, and moved across state lines to New Mexico, the “Land of Enchantment.” Gone was the familiar sound of my parents’ voices. Gone were the opportunities to hang out with friends who knew my intimate details. It was just my mini cactus, “Larry,” and me now. We would face the change in my new life together. Ironically, my first year in the “Land of Enchantment”… sucked. Even Larry…
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I Survived My 20s – Failure
[Guest post by Allison Vesterfelt] -I only have one year left of my twenties. It’s been a crazy, wild, ride, and it’s going to be over really soon. I have mixed feelings about that. Part of me is bummed to get old. You know wrinkles, slowed metabolism, an inability to operate basic electronic equipment, that sort of thing. But part of me is excited to kiss my twenties goodbye and say hello to my thirties. People say the thirties are your best years and, let’s be honest, my twenties have been fun, but it hasn’t been all that pretty at times. When I look back over the last almost-decade of…
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I Survived My 20s – Idols
[Guest Post by Kimberly Davidson Campbell] – Although I enjoyed my 20s–and now definitely enjoy my 30s more–there was one problem: where I found my identity. Idols. The biggest heart struggle I had was not just about being single, but pleasing men. Not in the “dress cute so someone will ask you out” men pleasing way; but in something that was for me much more dangerous to my walk with God. I thought if I could be involved enough, cool enough, and popular enough, pretty enough, stylish enough, smart enough, relevant enough–someone would give me my dream ministry position on staff at a church. There was one church in particular…
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Pre Engagement Questions
I want to thank every single person who wrote down pre engagement questions for Marc and before getting married. Thanks to my best friends, parents, and mentors for throwing me three separate Bridal Showers–I have notebooks full of encouragement, wise words, and tips. Here are 35 of my favorite pre engagement questions suggestions below: 1. Don’t Think…Enjoy! 2. All you need to know you can read in the Song of Solomon. 3. Remember, variety is the spice of life. Make each “encounter” a new adventure! 4. Tell him what you want and how you like it. He will appreciate you (get excited about) you sharing dirty details with him 🙂…
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Can you talk about marriage?
[Guest Post by Emily Miller] – Our pastor asked my now-husband and I an important question at our first premarital counseling session. “When did you first start to talk about marriage?” And, we answered honestly, we really hadn’t talked about marriage in the two years we had dated until Joel gave me a ring. Not unless you count the time he asked, hypothetically and completely without context, how many kids I wanted to have someday. Or the time he asked, generally, what kind of “jewelry” I liked. Of course, we hadn’t talked about dating until after we had been friends more than a year and he snuck his hand across…
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Afraid of Marriage
There are many reasons to be afraid of marriage. Thanks to Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, we will never forget the title of “Runaway Bride.” The movie follows Julia who freaks out in epic fashion and ditches the groom. Three different times she runs away from her wedding. Enter Richard Gere. He plays the journalist who covers her fourth wedding. There is something about his presence that forces Julia to reconcile her fear of marriage. Obviously the “Hollywood” ending is perfect, and they end up together–but it’s the process I found fascinating. So I have a question for you. What about marriage are you most afraid of? Recently, I received…
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Can you Take a Risk?
[Guest Post by Lore Ferguson] -The air in the car was solid, thick with humidity and silence. It was late and it was August. This conversation was going nowhere fast and everywhere slowly. Tangents kept us from landing on solid ground and fear was keeping us from saying everything swirling inside of us. What he wanted was for me to take a risk on him and what I wanted was for him to take a risk on anything. It was against this wall that we faced the end of the what had barely begun–without risk, no matter how small, we could not move forward. A friend tells me recently that he…
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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…
