New Tasks For 2013

I know I’m writing this when the month is more than halfway over, but I promise we’ve already begun to make some positive changes in our lives.

I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, but I did set some goals for myself. I’m much more likely to continue to work at achieving a goal than to stick to a resolution for some reason.

One thing that I want to be better at this year is to increase how often I cook. The past two weeks I’ve cooked dinner more nights than we ate out and I’m proud of that.

David and I have both set out to eat healthier and to get in better shape. We’re making small changes in our diet and we’re both increasing our exercise habits. I’m sure progress will be slow, but progress is progress. :)

This year I have been given the privilege of teaching the adult women and high school girls from our congregation about God’s word. I will be teaching two ladies Bible studies and a monthly devotional to the high school and college girls. These are both firsts for me and I know that I will gain a lot of knowledge as I study and prepare my lessons. I’m really excited and I pray that what I say will be spiritually beneficial for all of the women who attend!

More exciting news to come soon!  

It’s Been a While

Time has been speeding by and I didn’t realize it had been so long since I last posted. Oops!

To quickly recap: 

We’ve been busy with work, but we’ve also had fun on our time off. We went one weekend to see the latest Batman movie on an IMAX screen. It was quite an experience! That same weekend we were given free tickets from our friends to go to our first Rangers game! It was a wildcard game so it was all or nothing. Unfortunately they lost and ended their season.

Go Rangers!

Our pre-game view

Last weekend we went to Celebrate Roanoke. Tons of booths were set up down the main drive in town and there were a lot of family-friendly activities taking place. It was neat, especially for free entertainment. 

Wednesday I got to take our dog Petey out on a doggie play date. I’m a little disappointed that he wasn’t very social with the other dogs. He wasn’t bad, just not very playful. He was exhausted by the time we headed home though.

David teaches Bible class Wednesday nights to the high school students. I’m the assistant in the cradle roll (children under two years old) class on Sunday mornings. I’ve taught a couple of times when the teachers were unavailable.

I’m working with our preacher’s wife to help plan a ladies’ retreat in January for the women of our congregation. I feel like a planning queen with all of the coordinating I do for work and the church.

Sadly we haven’t seen our families in three months, but this past week I got to FaceTime with my mom. It’s not the same as seeing each other in person, but it’s closer than a phone call. She’s not great with technology so I’m impressed we accomplished the video chat.

We have another fairly busy weekend ahead. David’s giving the lesson at the high school devotional Saturday and I’m teaching Bible Class on Sunday.

Purity

Every quarter, the Southwest students take roughly 10 classes. The wives meet Monday nights for their own set of courses. This quarter our class was about how to teach Bible class and it was very helpful. We were all required to create our own lesson and present it to our classmates and teacher. I taught the high school girls age group and I chose to teach on purity.

Purity is something I really care about. I wish everyone held marriage and sex up to be as sacred as God designed it. I’ll try not to get too lengthy, but I want to share some things that I taught.

Statistics about Americans:

1. According to the latest census, the average age of the American man’s first marriage is 28.4 and average woman’s first marriage is 26.5.
2. According to the book “American Sexual Behavior”, in 2002 the average age for men and women to lose their virginity was 17.
3. According to the Center for Disease Control, in 2009, the estimated number of diagnoses of HIV infection in the 40 states with confidential name-based HIV infection reporting was 42,011.
4. The CDC estimates 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV infection. One in five (20%) of those people are unaware of their infection.

God planned for sex to come only with marriage.

• From Genesis 2:18, 21-25 we learn that God created Adam and Eve for each other and each other only.

• 2 Samuel 11 and 12 tells us the story of David and Bathsheba and the consequences they faced because of their sin.

• Hebrews 13:4 “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

According to this last verse, are we supposed to sleep with someone before we’re married? No. Are you sinning if you do? Yes.

I’m grateful that God plainly laid out his plan for marriage and sex for us. He knows what is best, so I do my best to follow his design.