So you are probably wondering how this pertains to my trip or if it even does. Well I feel that God has put this on my heart a lot lately. It has become something that I think about and dream about. It is something that I have come to be firm in. So I thought I would share with you my perspective of it.
Recently I was talking with someone that had just gotten married. We were talking about qualities, they were mentioning things that they didn’t know about their spouse before marring them. I even mentioned “the list.” They asked me what “list” was I talking about. I told them you know the list you make before you actually marry someone, the one that you pray for the qualities that no matter what you won’t settle for. They then proceeded to tell me and the others around that they were getting old and it was time to settle plus no one will ever meet your requirements. I on the other hand took that as I will not settle for anything but my list.
My list
- Loves God more than he could EVER love me.
- Will love me more than anything
- Beliefs are the same.
- Honest
- Can make me laugh
- Compassionate
- Laughs at my jokes
- Loves kids and will be a great father.
- Hardworking (would do anything to provide for a future family)
- Loves Guns
- Republican
- Gets along with my family
- Loves animals
- Enjoys traveling
- Smart with money
- Spiritual leader
- A planner
- Gentleman
- Thoughtful
- Last but certainly not least HANDSOME ( cases if he has these qualities, he will be attractive on the inside which will be attractive on the outside)
That may have sounded like a lot to ask for, but someone once told me you can never be too picky, after all you will have to live with them forever. My reasoning for a list is that when I marry someone I want to be so in love with the person that I have no doubt that I can and will spend the rest of my life with them. I have had a great example of parents that have been married 17 years that love each other still and find joy and happiness in each other. But I have also seen people who have divorced because when they did get married they settled, or they had too. I want to be so sure in my decision that I know beyond a doubt that God had put the man here on this planet just for me and I for him.
If I haven’t mentioned or some of you already don’t know, but one of the requirements for the trip is that you remain single the whole way leading up to it and while you are gone. I have thought through that when I get back I will be 19 and with that being said that when I do start dating someone, it will be only with the intent that I could see myself marrying them one day. Because my view on it for myself is what is the point of wasting time if you have no intentions of being with that person forever. I have been privileged to talk with my group about this and their view. We all stand on solid grounds about it.
I know this is all early to be thinking about, but I just want it to be so stuck in my head that compromise will never be an option. I have made stupid mistakes in this area in the past, and I don’t plan on making those again so I want to be more than sure. I know that God will bless anything if its with the right intentions. I just want to leave you with verses that remind me of the meaning of what God has intended marriage for.
The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him’…and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.’ For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh
Genesis 2:18 21-24
… It is good for a man not to marry. But since there is so much immorality, each man should have his own wife, and each woman her own husband.
1 Corinthians 7:1-2
God has someone special out there and I’m praying for that day in the far future when I get to finally meet him. I hope that he is as ready for that moment as I am.
With so much love,
Lexi
