Archives

Daughter of the King, Stop Conforming!

Mar21

“Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” -Romans 12:2

In other words …

You don’t have to dress provocatively and get lustful attention from men.

You don’t have to move in with a guy and have sex with him before marriage.

You don’t have to get married just to divorce and then remarry again and continue the viscous cycle.

There’s a best way to go about life and relationships: God’s way.

Instead of dressing provocatively and drawing in men that just want to have sex with you. Dress modestly and draw in guys that think you’re pretty and would like to get to know you better for you.

“Women are to dress themselves in modest clothing, with decency and good sense; not with elaborate hairstyles, gold, pearls, or expensive apparel, but with good works, as is proper for women who affirm that they worship God.” -1 Timothy 2:9-10

 

Don’t believe the hype: being overtly sexy isn’t liberating, it’s enslaving. You will always be enslaved to pleasing a man’s lustful appetite and competing with every other girl who puts herself on display. And if your main tool in drawing in men is your looks, as time works with gravity, and your beauty starts to fade, you’re gonna encounter some serious issues.

Instead of moving in with your boyfriend and giving him your body, wait for the man God brings you; who will respect and honor you and God by waiting for you until marriage.

Don’t believe the lie that men in our day and age just don’t wait till marriage anymore, because I know plenty of men who have–one of them being my husband.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. -1 Corinthians 6:18-20

 

Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. -1 Corinthians 7:1-4

 

Notice it doesn’t say, “For the girlfriend does not have authority over her own body, but the boyfriend does.” The HUSBAND has authority over your body. Get it together ladies!

If you’re having marital problems you don’t have to divorce like this world advises you to do.

The Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.” -Malachi 2:14-16

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 Forthe husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. -Ephesians 5:22-32

 

Notice a trend? It’s a command to love one another, not an option.

I know of couples who were already divorced–some thirteen years!–and God brought them back together! Check out this amazing testimony.

http://www.iamsecond.com/seconds/the-scruggs/

 

So enough conforming! Not only are we breaking God’s heart when we justify sinning, but we place ourselves in an unsafe place spiritually.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. -Hebrews 10:26-31

 

Know your worth,

Natasha

Ladies, Stop Makin’ Brothers Stumble!

Mar17

I’ll be sitting in church behind a girl who’s upper back and shoulders are out; no straps, just bare backs. Now I’m a girl, however, I know that bare backs can be alluring to men. I can just discern the men around me, forcing their eyes on the pastor, likely trying to not imagine this sister’s naked backside.

Call me over-the-top, but men are such creative visualizers. You give ‘em a little tease, and their minds are painting you nude!

Now, this is serious. Why? Because of your willingness to be a, “little sexy,” (aka to compromise God’s standard of modesty), you are causing a brother to stumble before the LORD.

May I remind you dear princess, that our Heavenly Father is holy, and His inspired Word says:

 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

We cannot think our God overlooks sin. He doesn’t. His desire is that we confess and forsake it by turning to Him and resolving to do what is right in His sight. But many in our modern-day Westernized Church are like babes being fed milk–God is love, He is loving, He loves unconditionally–and they’re not being fed meat–Just as God is love, He is also just, He hates sin, and avenges wrongdoers unless they repent.

Just ’cause we’re believers doesn’t mean we can get away with compromise.

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,  but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.  Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.  How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?  For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. -Hebrews 10:26-31

Jesus even went as far as commanding us to deny ourselves because He knows we’re prone to doing evil, thus to hurt Him, ourselves, and others!

Now, God is gracious and long-suffering; He knows we’re mere dust, but after warning us, when we don’t heed His voice but harden our hearts, He says:

because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

He will render to each one according to his works:  to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;  but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.  There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. -Romans 2:5-13

So Christian, do not take your walk with God lightly. Yes, we serve a loving God, but just as much as He is loving, He is holy, and we must strive for holiness if we wish to stand before Him for all eternity.

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ -Matthew 7:22-24

Sex before marriage. I gotta word or two.

Feb19

TrianaRosePhotography.com

Premarital sex Fornication.

The purpose of marriage is to exemplify Christ’s love relationship with His church, His people. The Bible refers to Christ as the “Bridegroom” and the church as “His bride.” This relationship is to be a representation of Christ’s faithfulness to us, His commitment to us and likewise ours to Him, His unconditional love and sacrifice for us, and our obedience and submission to His guidance.

“Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.  But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.  Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,  so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church [q]in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.  So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;  for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body.  For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.  This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” -Ephesians 5:22-32

When you have sex outside of the holy covenant of marriage, you are being number one, unfaithful to God. You are disobeying His command because you are indulging in a body that has not yet been given to you by Him.

“Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” -1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Only when you have committed your life to a person through marriage does God share their body with you.

“The husband must fulfill his [sexual] duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.  The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does; and likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.” -1 Corinthians 7:3-4

Notice it does not say, “The boyfriend must fulfill his sexual duty to his girlfriend and likewise the girlfriend to her boyfriend.” Only when husband and wife are you to submit your body to the other person.

There is no real accountable commitment in a relationship outside of marriage.  You can move in with a guy and if things go sour, he can kick you out (I know several girls who have had this happen to them). You can cheat on your boyfriend or girlfriend, but in most cases you don’t have a family with this person so there’s not that extra pressure of hurting your entire family if you get caught.  In a marriage it’s a lot harder to up and leave. You gotta go through courts, judges, lawyers, money. You have to end things with the person you committed your life to in front of loved ones and God Himself.

When you’re fornicating you’re not displaying unconditional love. Your love is clearly conditional: you have to have sex with this person. If your love wasn’t conditional, prove it by refraining from using this person for your sexual desires until after you’ve walked them down the aisle.

When having sex with this person before marriage there is no sacrifice. You are getting everything you want from this person: full access. There is no sacrifice on your part, no holding back. Sacrifice by pledging your life and signing it away to this person till death do you part, being held socially accountable by loved ones and God, and legally accountable by the government. That holds so much more weight and is such a bigger sacrifice because you literally have to pay to get out of it.

Christ laid His very life down. He gave everything for His bride. If you have not committed your life to another person through God’s covenant of marriage, yet are touching them sexually, you are not representing Him well, and are hurting Him, yourself, the other person, the other person’s future spouse, and your future spouse. You are acting unfaithfully and selfishly. Yes, these are powerful words, but I say them to you in love.

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy.” -Proverbs 27:6

So if you’re having sex outside of marriage, repent. Turn away from that. Confess to God and truly surrender your will and desires to Him. You won’t be chained now by His “rules” but rather, you will be free to walk as the prince or princess He created you to be. You’ll be free from guilt and shame, free from addiction, free to walk in self control and purity and right standing with God, and that dear friends, is more enjoyable and pleasurable than any orgasm you’ll ever have. And when the timing is right, and God blesses you with a spouse, your sex life will be all the more blessed by Him because you obeyed Him beforehand. He blesses obedience, but disobedience reaps many consequences–some you’ll have to live with your whole life. Do yourself, others, and God a favor by choosing to follow Him, by His strength and with His might.

“For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” -Philippians 2:13

“I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me.” -Colossians 1:29

If you’ve given your life to Jesus and asked Him to come into your heart, He has given you His Holy Spirit. His Spirit abides in you, and gives you the power to live out His commands (so you have no excuse). Depend and rely upon Him, not yourself, and you will be able to wait until marriage.

Much love to you, and please know your worth.

Natasha

Give in to His love

Feb4

I had an appointment for a free leg wax today and honestly wasn’t too excited about going, but just decided to go through with it. So while I’m in the room, somehow or another we get to talking about how I knew Jonathan was the one (oh right, she said I looked young to be married), and then she’s like, “Oh my goodness, you sound just like my mother! She’s 100% Christian. The past four years she’s just become so Christian, and she’s always telling me about these amazing things God’s doing, etc. etc.” And I’m thinking man, this girl hears it all the time from her mom, about how amazing it is to be in a love relationship with the Lord, now here He is, bringing some random girl to tell her the same thing, and I’m like, “Man, God just knocks and knocks and when you sense Him knocking, He just gets louder and louder. He’s such a stalker!” And another girl there started opening up at how she just bought her first Bible last week and how she wants to really start following Him as well and telling me how He’s been calling her and we both were like, “Wow, it truly is amazing that the God of the Universe cares that much to have a relationship with us.”

I also began to share with her what the Lord had told me to read this morning from the book of Hosea; how Hosea was a prophet the Lord told to marry a prostitute because at the time, the nation of Israel, His people, were “playing the harlot,” that is, worshiping other gods. And how in the first chapter He’s very upset, calling Israel “Not His people” and a harlot. It deeply hurts Him that they have now given their love and attention to false gods, the gods the other nations worshiped, and how they had completely forgotten about Him. He’s so mad, He talks about how He’s going to give them over to their enemies and no longer have mercy on them, but then immediately, it’s like His love for them is so great, He just can’t–despite for how much and for how long they’ve been ignoring Him and showing other gods their love and devotion–completely cut them off. He says in verse ten that yet still, He is going to so multiply the children of Israel and that in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”

I’m just blown away by His love and grace. These people have completely turned their backs on Him, doing disgusting things: having sex with temple prostitutes of the false gods, sacrificing their children to these gods by burning them in fire and YET God says, ‘One day, you’ll be called My sons.” To be a son of a king means to be the heir of their throne. God looks at us, having premarital sex, going wild at clubs and parties, or just completely shrugging Him off, and yet He desires to make US His sons? The heirs of His kingdom? The kingdom where there’s no more pain, sorrow, or death, but just complete righteousness, joy, and peace?

Think about that.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………

In chapter two His love for rebellious people just further blows my mind. He begins to talk about how Israel was His wife, and He her Husband. That’s how intimate He sees His relationship with His people; He compares it to the most intimate relationship one can have on earth: marriage. And again, He talks about the punishment He’s going to bring on them; destroying their crops, taking away their joy, but just like in chapter one, right after He pronounces the well-deserved punishments, He starts talking about how He’s going to bless them again after these things (see He knows that unfortunately, all the prophets He sent before were to of no avail; they didn’t bring about a change of heart in the people. Israel could care less that God was sending them warnings through prophets so now He says, ‘I’m gonna take away all the things that cause you to prosper and have joy, because only then will you recognize that I was the One who gave them to you in the first place, and then you will return to Me). So He says after these punishments:

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
Will bring her into the wilderness,
And speak comfort to her.
 I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;
She shall sing there,
As in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.

 “And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the Lord,
“That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’
 For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.
 In that day I will make a covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,
To make them lie down safely.

“I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;
 I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the Lord.

 “It shall come to pass in that day
That I will answer,” says the Lord.” -Hosea 2:14-21

 

See ladies, the affection and attention you crave from men, it is a desire God gave you, but a desire only He could fulfill. These men breaking your hearts, or maybe even treating you like silver (not gold, unless he loves and honors the Lord), but it not being enough, that’s just because a man cannot satisfy and fill that need that you have for love. Only God can. Only the Lord who so desperately wants your attention and love, only He can complete you. Before Sir Jonathan was placed in my path, I was complete. For the first time in my life I didn’t care about having a boyfriend. I didn’t even want one! Why? Because I had finally allowed God to fulfill that void in me. And my, did He satisfy me! (My friends and family can tell you; they thought I was nuts!) But you know how when you meet a guy you think is just so hot and amazing, and you can’t stop talking about him to your friends? Well, that’s just how it was and still is to this day with Jesus. He is so amazing and treats me with such incredible love that I can’t help but tell others about Him. My husband is great, but like I’ve said MANY times before, Jonathan doesn’t hold a candle to my Lord. No man on this earth comes close to how wonderful God is.

Beautiful princesses, I plead with you, allow God to love on you, to pour out His love on you. It is His desire to just drown you with love. The Bible says like how parents decide to have kids just because they desire them and want to love them, God made all of us for, “His good pleasure.” It just pleased Him to have sons and daughters. It’s time to come home to Him. Only then will your heart be at rest, and your joy complete.

“These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” -Jesus (John 15:11)

How to fight lustful thinking

Jan24

Sir Jonathan and Princess Natasha answer viewer questions on relationships and God. In this video they answer the question: In a world consumed by sex, how do you fight lustful thinking? Send in your questions to BetterThanEdward@live.com

Ladies & gentlemen, whatever you do, DON’T follow your heart!

Jan17

So I’m reading the book of Jeremiah (Old Testament), and I’m noticing a trend:

“But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’  Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.”-Jeremiah 7:23-24

And the Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice, nor walked according to it, but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts…”-Jeremiah 9:13-14

“For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, ‘Obey My voice.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart…”-Jeremiah 11:7-8

“This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them…”-Jeremiah 13:10

“And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.”-Jeremiah 16:12

There’s more where that came from, but I think you get the point. Yet still, allow me to expand on this.

Whether you realize it or not, left on their own, our hearts can be quite evil in God’s sight. That word “dictates” in the original Hebrew actually means “stubbornness” or “hardness.” And it comes from the root word “Sharar” which means “to be an enemy.”

When we allow our hearts to be stubborn or hard regarding God’s will for us, we become His enemy, and trust me my friends, that is not what you want to be.

Is your heart surrendered to God?

If it’s not, I can tell you right now, you’ve either been hurt many times by following its desires, or you soon will be.

Rule of thumb: Don’t EVER follow your heart unless it is completely given over to God, meaning you’ve literally accepted the free gift of His Son and invited Him to come and live in your heart. It’s that simple. But once you do this, you have to keep falling in love with God.

“Natasha, how the heck do I fall in love with God?”

Get to know Him. Spend time with Him everyday; reading His Word, praying to Him. Regularly hang out with people who love Him and follow Him (not those who just say they do, but those who actually live out their love for Him by the way they do life. They’re out there, just pray He puts them in your path and then pursue those friendships).

Before Christ, my heart was pretty wicked. I didn’t realize how selfish I was. Always wanting to see my ex, always wanting to touch him and kiss him and do other things with him because of how he made me feel. Not wanting to do chores for my mom because I didn’t feel like it, never regarding how much she’d done for me my whole life, always wanting my way. The stuff that would come out of my mouth, every other word was a cuss word, threw God’s name around for every little thing. The list goes on and on.

But when I truly surrendered my heart to Jesus, when He wasn’t just my ticket to heaven, but also the Lord of my life, that’s when my heart just organically began to change. Till this day, four years later, He continues to change my heart! It’s incredible. Every good thing that now springs forth from my heart is only because Jesus dwells inside it. Every time something ugly jumps out of it, it’s because in that moment I chose to follow my selfish desires and ignored the new ones God has placed there.

What I’ve learned in my four years of walking with the Lord is that when I surrender my heart and all its desires to God, He gives me better ones, ones that are beneficial to me and others! And, desires that are pleasing, perfect, and acceptable–ones that God can and will grant me! Now who doesn’t want that?

If you haven’t been getting what you want, maybe that’s exactly why: it’s what you want, not what God wants for you. So, do a heart evaluation. Begin to really delve into God’s Word so you can see what His desires are and then compare them to what you desire, and to what you’ve been asking Him for. Then pray and ask God to change your heart, to come inside and give you His desires, and watch how much better life goes for you.

Love you prince and princesses. Know Your Worth.

Natasha

I don’t care what Hollywood says, ladies, You’re Not an object for man’s pleasure

Jan7

Hollywood can go to hell.

As you can see, I’m a bit hot-headed at the moment. Allow me to rephrase. Hollywood’s ideas concerning women can go to hell. I pray for the salvation of the souls from which these degrading thoughts stem from, but nevertheless, their ideas are absolutely despicable.

“Dang, Natasha, you usin’ some straight up powerful words here.”

I most certainly am because the Holy Spirit of the living God that has dwelt within me from the moment I invited Him inside stirs me to such anger because He too considers the way Hollywood depicts women as–dare I say it–abominable. Think about it, these are His daughters they’re messing with. If you have a loving Father (whose love comes nothing close to God’s), imagine if some men invited him for dinner and then told him several times how they think you’re just an object useful for their own sexual desires and not much more, and that all they wanted to do was bang you until they got tired of you and then moved onto your sister.

WHAT! Your father would be outraged! He’d likely grab a dinner knife and need to be restrained or he’d be in jail for life for murder.

Now consider the God of all creation, who created you out of love, with love, and for love; who says you are marvelous, who when he saw man by himself said it was not good for him to be alone and thus decided to make you as someone suitable to *help* the man; who entrusted you with the great responsibility of housing a child inside of you, protecting and nurturing it until ready to enter the world, who commands the man who marries you to love you as he loves his own self, to not be bitter toward you, to protect and provide for you (as a king would a princess), to not even look after another woman with lust but to enjoy you his wife for all of his days, and to literally die for you if need be.  Imagine how He feels when men so exploit you, His precious and prized creation. (Now, this also goes for women who objectify men because there are some who do this as well, and all of God’s creation is prized in His sight).

Well, it’s about time women stop buying into the bull-crap, and start buying into what the God of the universe says about them. It is time to get to know God so you can truly discover your incalculable value and stop settling for guys who would tell you you ain’t worth nothin’ but a few drinks or a movie.  It is time to toss those Cosmopolitan magazines that on every wicked cover shout that you’re just a sex-toy in the trash and time to pick up a Bible that says you’re a princess who is to be loved and cherished, and is to to have a man commit his very life to you before he can have access to your body which isn’t some object for pleasure, but a sacred temple.

These aren’t Natasha’s made-up words and ideas, this is what the Inspired Word of God has to say about every woman.

Hollywood’s lies end right here. Share this truth with every woman you know. For you are all worth so much more than these liars make you out to be. Be free from the bondage of their demeaning conditioning in the name of Jesus Christ and be loosed to walk as the beautiful princess He created you to be in Him.

Know Your Worth.

Natasha

The Dangers of False Romance Ideals

Jan2

Hollywood’s definition of romance/love: When a man takes you out, get’s you to sleep with him, and then moves in with you.

The Word of God commands that we take every thought captive and bring it into submission to the obedience of Christ. It also says not to be conformed to the pattern of this world (e.g. Hollywood’s view on love and romance), but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, and that we, in Christ, are given the mind of Christ. It also says in Jeremiah that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Our sinful nature is inclined to lie. Our hearts, apart from being utterly surrendered to Jesus, are wicked little liars who tie a rope around our necks and drag us into heartbreak after heartbreak.

We also are very influenced by the world who bombards us with romanticism lies. I’m not saying that love can’t have moments of sweet romance, but true love is not only romance, nor does it seek to only romanticize, but it is sacrifice, loyalty, kindness, patience, or as the Word says, “long-suffering.” Romance is nice, but anyone can romance a person. But it takes real love to commit your life to someone, to stick it out in the hard times, and to sacrifice your very life if need be for the other person.

Many Hollywood films show these good looking men romancing women–sleeping with them–and then they live happily ever after. How many men who do such in real life truly love the woman they’re romancing to the point where they’d give their life for her?

So if you’re married yet thinking about an ex it is partly due to your heart lying to you, plus the influences of the worldly views on romance. Just discern that, and then do as the Word says, take those thoughts captive and replace them with Christ-like thoughts. How you are a woman committed in marriage to a man who pledged his life to you and that you will love, honor, and respect your man by only thinking about him when it comes to the opposite sex (and Jesus).

OR if you can’t wait to meet the man appointed for you to marry because you’re craving some endless romance in your life, know this hard truth: not every waking moment with the man God wants you to marry will be romantic. Heck, many moments won’t be. (Be realistic, two sinners living together under the same roof having to share everything can get pretty messy). But, loving that man through rough times and even when he’s not romancing you is oh so much more rewarding because you’re doing what Jesus does on a daily basis: loving unconditionally. And when you do that, you’re obeying Him, and He says in His Word to obey is better than sacrifice.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not living for endless romance. I’m living for Jesus. And doing so isn’t always easy, nor is it always painless, in fact, many times it can be painful, but I don’t focus on the pain, I keep my eyes on the One who suffered torture and death for my sake. The One who promises me an unfading crown, a new name, VIP access to fountains of living water and the tree of life. That is what I look forward to. I promise you, if you do the same, this life will be more joyful for you than the most romantic getaway fathomable.

Until next time, Know Your Worth,

Natasha