When I turned 14, my Daddy took me out to eat for my birthday & presented my purity ring to me. He told me that by accepting the ring I'd be making a commitment to my future husband but also be making a commitment before him (my dad) & God. After talking to him in more detail.. I decided the path of purity is what I wanted to pursue. Ever since that day I've tried to always live above reproach & glorify God in all things.
(Note: I am human, I mess up, make mistakes, fail & fall like everyone else... but my heart desires to always honor God.)
Once my declaration of purity had been established- I prayerfully, & with the assistance of my parents, developed a list of attributes & characteristics that I desired in my future spouse. My objective in doing that was to eliminate young men who were the furthest thing from what I knew I needed or what God wanted for me. By forming my "list", with the help of my parents, I knew what I wanted, needed & would be approved of by my parents without having to date around from guy to guy trying to "figure things out". I knew that God already had my future husband picked out for me & since HE knows all things I thought seeking Him made more sense than trying to date around until I thought I got it right.
So, I created the list & began the waiting game. There were young men who came in & out of my life who acted or said they were interested but would run away as soon as the words "I'm saving my first kiss for my wedding day..." escaped my lips. There were young men who came in & out of my life claiming to care but God's plan included a young man who not only claimed to care but backed up his claims with actions. While I wondered if God would ever bring the one He had for me into my life, while I tried to combat the comments of distant family members telling me I was missing out on the best time of my life & I needed to be prepared to be single forever because "if there were a god" he wouldn't bring me "someone like that"... I waited, knowing they were wrong & that God would be faithful like He always is. Little did I know, God was working in a wonderful young man's life... helping to preserve him & keep him... all for little ol' me. :)
I teach a class called Decidedly Different for young ladies ages 12-18 at a local homeschool co-op. A mom who attended that same co-op had seen me around, gotten to know me some over the years & was impressed by what she saw.. so she casually told my mom one day; "Oh, I know of a wonderful young man I would LOVE to introduce Taylor to! He's a pastor's son & has all of the same values as she does, especially when it comes to purity... but he's career military & I just couldn't do that to a momma." Now, if any of you know the relationship my Mom & I share, you know we're the best of friends... so naturally her response was "Thank you for not doing that to a mother!" & that was about it. The conversation & thought of something developing between the two of us died.. or so we thought. Several months later though, God began to mightily move resulting in 3 weeks later, me entering into a courtship relationship with a young man who I would have never dreamed I'd come to call "mine".
This is just the beginning of a several part post on the crazy journey of mine & Brandon's courtship story (So be sure to stay tuned for there is still much to come!!). It's rather long.. but to try & quickly tell the story just doesn't do God justice nor give Him enough credit. He's done so much in our lives so I want to clearly represent Him & His marvelous handy work in the lives of two people who chose to defy the worlds way of doing things & embrace His idea of purity instead.
{ Brandon & I enjoying a fine day of blue skies, set painting & laughter (: }
