The Post I Wasn't Gonna Write.

Here I am, writing a post I didn’t intend to ever write, I don’t feel qualified to write,
and would prefer not to write. But, I'm writing it anyways, because for some reason, I feel like it’s what I was supposed to write; it’s what God wanted me to write.

Quite a bit lately, Lana and Luke have been writing about love, romance ect. Don’t get me wrong, I think love is great; after all, there’s a whole book in the Bible about love. Well, if love is so great, shouldn’t we all dive headfirst into it?

Years ago, my parents decided that none of us kids should date. It’s never made me upset because at the time that they told us, I was too young to care, and as I got older, it was easy for me to see how awful the dating cycle really is.

My parents told me that each time you have a relationship with someone, you give them a piece of your heart that you can never get back. In this day and age, not dating is a thing unheard of. Some people, if asked, would probably say that if you don’t date, you’ll never get married.
I’m sure there are also people that wonder how you’ll ever meet that “special someone” if you
don’t date (Luke and Lana are solid proof against that one :^).

I remember one of my relatives was bragging one time that he had, like five girlfriends in one semester. Once again, I was too young to care. But looking back, I can see that not only did he have five girlfriends, he lost pieces of his heart five times. People want to give their whole heart to their spouse, not just the crumbled remains of it.
One thing about not dating (or having dating-type relationships) is you can honestly say “there was never anyone else”. There’s no pressure from worrying that you might see an old boyfriend/girlfriend. Obviously, this has never happened to me, but it seems like it would be really awkward.

So what’s the alternative to dating? It’s called “courtship”. One of the best things about courtship is that the parents are involved every step of the way, ready to help and encourage you whenever you need it. When my parents first decided against dating, they didn’t even know what the alternative was called, much less how courtship was supposed to work. Years later, they found a book “When God Writes Your Love Story” by Eric and Leslie Ludy that helped encourage them that it could be done .

Through this book, the Ludys share how they came to realize that dating isn’t the way to go. They share how they overcame obstacles and ridiculing to stay pure. And of course, they
share their love story. I would encourage all of you to read this book if you haven’t already. It’s more proof that you can get married without ever dating.

One more thing that kind of goes along with this is another piece of wisdom my parents gave me (it’s mostly for the guys but it won’t hurt for girls to read it). This is what it is - start saving now! I don’t mean save for a x-box360; I mean save for a house. I’ve got a head start over lots of people since I started saving when I was about ten. Jeremiah and Josiah are going to grow up their whole lives saving. Saving for a house, saving for their futures, and saving their hearts for one person and one person only.

So to answer the question at the beginning, no we shouldn't just dive straight into love.
What should we do then? Well it says in the Bible, "do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires". We should save our hearts until the proper time comes.