Dear Future Husband

Dear Future Husband:

If you get down on one knee, it is because you fit the qualities I have been looking for. I am not wanting perfection, but there are things I expect.

If you make it to this point, it will be because you respected me. When I set physical boundaries, you didn’t manipulate me to go further. I trusted that you would encourage purity for both of us. And you did.

If I say yes, it is because you will be the spiritual leader I need. I want and need you to pray with me. I  need you to pray for me. I want you and need you to study God's word with me. When we have children, I want to know that you will show them God's love. I need to know that you will lead us to Christ.

If my parents walk me down the aisle, it will be because you respected and loved them. They helped shape me into the woman I am today. They taught me about God, and encouraged me. 

If you disrespect your parents (especially your Mom), I will wonder if you will respect me.  Family conflicts are inevitable, but I know you will handle them in a Godly way. 

If I vow to submit to you as the spiritual leader of our home, it will be because I trust that you will love and respect me. If issues arise, I can trust that you will work them out with me. I can trust you won’t walk away from me when problems do come up. You have held my hands. You held me close during difficult times. You never belittled me for my feelings. You were honest in telling me that you disagree; but you never made me feel like I couldn’t open up to you.

Lastly, if I say ‘I Do’, it is because I can see, with your whole heart, that you love God.  I can see it in the way that you worship God. I can see it in the way you treat other people. I can see it in the way you realize you have made mistakes, and try to make it right. I can see it in the way God rules every part of your life.

In the end, what I want is a spiritual leader, best friend, confidante, and lover. I believe this is what God intended for marriage. I know that while it won’t be perfect, I will know I have found the love of my life.

Much love,

Chelsea

Let it Go!

This past summer has been pretty stressful and crazy.  Stressful because I was feeling  anxiety about this upcoming semester. When you've had as much difficulty as I have had in school, it can be easy for your mind to start being uncertain.

Last semester didn't exactly turn out the way that I had planned. Granted, I have some good memories from last semester. Yet, there are some things that I did that I will never do again at school. Not bad things, but not realistic for me and what I am trying to achieve.

When I graduated high school, I knew I wanted to go to college, but I had no idea what in the world I was going to do. When I started off at a local tech school, and then later on at an online college, things did not go well. I had so much trouble with school and my classes, that I ended up convincing myself that I wasn't capable. I told myself that I would never go back, and that it wasn't worth it.

 Sometime after I left beauty school, confused about my life. I felt disoriented and not sure of where to go next. Thankfully, God showed me the way through a job I had. Not only that, but through my sister who convinced me to give college another go.

During my first semester at Freed-Hardeman, I did better than I ever had before. That showed me, that yes, I am capable of doing this. And then, this past semester while I didn't do as well as I would have liked, I know what went wrong and I'm determined to fix it. I know that I can do this, because I have done it before.

I say all this to bring this up: regrets, mistakes, they are all inevitable. We are human and prone to these things. I have made some really dumb decisions in my life, but there is nothing I can do about them now. Where they were just silly human mistakes, I learned from them. Where they were sinful in nature, I asked God for forgiveness, and learned from them. 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Life is way too short to have regrets looming over our heads; especially in regards to sin. If you've repented and asked God for forgiveness, we should find joy in that fact! Our God has redeemed us! (Eph. 2:8-9, Phil. 4:4.) 

The longer we allow regret to consume us, we won't be very useful to God in His kingdom. We will eventually bear no fruit, growth stunted by a 'why bother?' attitude (John 15.)  In the words of Elsa of Arendelle, it's time for us (and myself included) to...

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