What Are You Waiting For?

Today, I went to a mini-retreat with some girls from my school.  The woman who hosted the event gave us french toast with strawberries (oh, how I do love strawberries!), time to talk in pairs in order to share our struggles with each other and to encourage one another in prayer, and then gave us time to work on a craft: making a cover for a notepad! It was  extremely wonderful, being in a room of young women who I know, that were free to love on each other and express their own creativity God has blessed us each with. Here are the pictures of the front, back, and inside of the cover.

Front cover

Back cover

Inside cover/note pad

Sitting on the tables where we ate and worked were gift bags. And inside the bags, including gum, fruit leather (yum!) and other little goodies, was a book titled What Are You Waiting For? by Dannah Gresh. At first I found it odd that we would be given such a book- the subtitle says "The One Thing No One Ever Tells You About Sex"- but then I was suuuuper grateful to receive such a gift. I have found it rare to hear about the importance of healthy sexuality, even from the Church body, sadly, and also difficulties to live it out in this post-modern and humanistic society I live in. Dannah isn't afraid to cut to the chase and tell all about why waiting is good with Biblical research she has done personally, what makes it such a struggle, and how to practically battle for a thing called purity.
This afternoon, I sat down with God and we have currently read through the first seven and a half chapters together :] I enjoyed stopping after reading a sentence that struck a chord in me, and meditating on it with Holy Spirit. Or reading a statement that was confusing, and asking Papa for clarification. It has made clear things that were foggy in my mind, and reaffirmed many truths I was already aware of.  So, I recommend this book to all single women (and to single men, too :] )

The part in the book where I stopped, meditated, and got drunk on Holy Spirit's revelation :]

One part of the book that I want to share talks about Genesis 4:1 when it says, "Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain." The the Hebrew word used for "lay" (cause we all know he wasn't just lying there) is "yada", which literally means "To know, to be known, to be deeply respected."  And I realized, I deeply desire to be known. Not just in the physical, but even more so emotionally and mentally. I want my husband to know my favorite flower and randomly give me a bouquet of them, to know to order a side of chili instead of coleslaw as a side for me if I'm in the bathroom when the waiter is taking orders for my food, and other things that make me unique and set me apart from all other women in his eyes.  The cool thing about all this, is knowing that he will. I know he won't be perfect 100% of the time, but  he will pretty darn good at knowing me intimately. My favorite thing about being known, is that I am aware that God already knows me, and loved me so deeply, even before the day of my creation, to prepare for me everything that I have or will ever need in my life, as well as give me gifts that He knows I would enjoy, just to make my heart smile and my countenance light up.

And so the Author of Romance continues to draw me in relationship, being the supreme example of Love. <3 It's good stuff, peeps!