The Grace of God
Before I get into the California trip, let me acknowledge what’s important. I am tremendously thankful when I think about the grace of God over my life. Time and time again, He has kept me from my own bad decision making. I can remember thinking how David could have been, “Just another bad apple.” Instead, God continually showed me His love through my very own Boaz. Take, for instance, the way David would converse with me during our relationship talks. There was no selfish gain on his part. There is a tendency of some guys to gain your trust and then once they have what they came for, now they are gone. David was not like this.
Case in point, David and I were speaking about premarital relations and how some relationships fail because of this topic. One party in the relationship may want to wait while the other has no intentions on waiting. I myself can remember facing this very issue in previous relationships. David said, “Some people think if you object to premarital relations, you stand to lose your relationship. If you lose the relationship over such an objection, then that relationship was never yours to have. The blessing is in that person showing you their true self. In doing so, you can now make a decision rather than compromise your standards for someone who was not ready for such a commitment. The most important relationship you have, is the one with God”
Unpacking
It is crucial for me to unpack the importance in some of these topics. No matter what stage of life we are in, we can find ourselves at a crossroads. For some of us this is not a one time thing. You have to continually self evaluate to keep yourself on the track you aim to be on. When we are in the dating arena, we are dealing with other peoples standards. If we are not careful, we take on their ways and outlook. What makes this easier is to not be unequally yoked.(2 Corinthians 6:14)
When you are yoked equally, you and your spouse can work together spiritually. You don’t have to compromise your relationship with God to keep that person happy or from leaving. If we are honest with ourselves, it doesn’t feel good to have a spouse not support who you are. If you continue to allow that person to diminish what you believe in, you will find yourself lost in that relationship. These type of pairings are damaging to the person giving in to pressure. Once its over and done, now you are left with the broken pieces. Your issue may not be premarital relations. But, whatever your achilles’ heel or vulnerabilities are, to this I am speaking.
California Bound
As my 2017 Birthday approached in October, I could not wait to head to Californ-I-A! More importantly, I could not wait to see David! We both prepped for our trip. Again, David flew in to my airport so we could make the trip together. We decided to stay in the lush Woodland Hills of California. It was lovely. We spent time hiking the trails of Topanga Park.
We chose to spend as much time as possible getting to know one another. David was determined to properly court me. You may say this is old fashion, but I find value in this. We took our time building a solid foundation before rushing in, smelling the flowers along the way. It took time for me to get to know who I was, so I don’t take for granted the time it takes with getting to know someone else.
Beach Day
We spent some time at the Santa Monica Beach. The California air was warm and the sun was shining. Melanin dripped, we made our way to the ocean and that chilled water was no match for the steam our affections for one another emitted! I was on cloud 9. Again, it was like there was no one around. The beach could have been empty for all I can remember. It was just he and I in the water together.
After the beach we walked the pier and enjoyed the festivities there. One of my favorite things was listening to music by the ocean. David met some of my California and Arizona family on this trip and they gave him the sign of approval lol. The Next day David gave me a few birthday presents and made sure I enjoyed every single moment left of this trip. Before long, it was time for us to leave so of course we were already talking about our plans to see one another next. Unbeknownst to me, David was already looking forward to seeing me in Vegas for his next company trip. I loved the idea of going back to Vegas with him so I happily said yes. All I could think of was, “I could get used to saying YES to him.”
