Christ, Coffee, and Cornfields

  Jordan and I just celebrated our first year anniversary last week. We're both in awe of all the blessings and trials we've been given to walk through together during that time and are very much looking forward to many more years together (soon as a married couple)! Many of you know that most of our year together has been as an engaged couple, which is so much fun, but we will definitely be the first to tell you that a long engagement is not easy. At all . A 14 and a half month engagement was necessary to our life situation, but it certainly isn't something we would suggest to anyone.   Engagement is an interesting period of life. It's so much fun, but is also filled with lots of frustration if you're choosing to be chaste. Jordan and I are saving sex for marriage, and while it is easily the best decision we've made (besides following Christ, of course), it is also the most difficult. We've had to endure teasing and unwanted lessons about what to do or no...

  I read a really thought-provoking article by Matt Walsh today. It's actually the second time I've come across it, but it still makes me think. The gist of it is that love, specifically marriage, is a choice. It isn't predetermined and it certainly isn't like in books or movies. Entering the Sacrament of marriage is the most important and life changing decision a person could ever make (besides choosing to follow Christ, obviously). That's just it; it's a decision.   Maybe it hit me a little differently today because I am now reading it as an engaged woman. In less than 8 months, Jordan and I will be eternally binding ourselves to each other. Even though I'm very excited, the magnitude of the commitment we're making can be overwhelming to think about. We need to think about it. The reason I'm choosing to marry Jordan isn't because he's "The One." How could I possibly prove that anyway? I'll be honest here; I used to say that...

Our world is obsessed with sex. It seems pretty obvious given that the majority of movies or shows have sex scenes in them, or at least allude to hanky panky going on when the camera isn't watching. You don't even have to look hard. It's like the people on floats in parades throwing out candy by the handful. Sex, SEX, SEX.    It's particularly interesting to me because the way intimacy is portrayed from the perspective of secularism isn't even accurate . What do I know, though, right? I'm almost 20 and still a virgin. My fiance is 23 and likewise has not bedded anyone. Sex is a bad word, isn't it?! I couldn't possibly know anything about passion or love since we haven't slept together yet. I'm still so naive compared to those sleeping or living with their significant others or hooking up after a few drinks. Right?   Wrong.   Being a college student, I'm constantly surrounded by people who see sleeping with someone to whom you are not ma...