The first month.

On November 20th I decided to make a commitment to God to abstain from dating for six months. I told myself that this time would be spent to focus on God and to heal my heart. Now after it being one month today, looking back I am proud of myself, yet know I have slipped up a few times in my heart. In some ways it is a lot harder than what I thought it would be, and in other ways it is an utter relief not to focus on dating. A month ago, I set up some guidelines for myself, but now looking at them I am not sure if one of them is realistic. Since I do have guy friends that I consider like brothers, I found myself in a compromising situation the other day. I told myself that I wouldn’t hang out one on one with any one guy in particular, but when I found myself after a random sequence of events at dinner alone with one of my good friends, there was no way it felt like a date.

I think the main idea of my whole concept is to keep my main focus on Jesus and to not be constantly on the look out for potentials. I constantly am looking for the next potential future husband instead of waiting for my prince to come sweep me off my feet. I still think most of my guidelines are still great such as; keeping all physical contact on a friendly level, and not excessively talking on the phone to a particular guy, things like that. I think I just need to continue keeping my heart focused on Jesus and not talking excessively about the latest handsome man, or trying to “run into him”. It isn’t about pushing the limits, or trying to get around my set rules, but it is all about protecting my heart.

I would have to say it is a relief to not have to focus on dating. It’s great not thinking that I have to constantly fix myself up just in case I run into a cute guy. (Although I am a simple girl as far as getting ready goes for everyday life anyways.) And when I get carried away with trying to get a cute guy interested in me, my promise to God brings me back to reality. It’s almost freeing in itself not having to worry about looking so hard for that guy, especially when as the majority know how badly broken my heart is at the moment. So I guess what I am trying to say is that after the first month of abstaining from dating it seems to be beneficial and as long as I am following God and protecting my heart, all of the other guidelines will just naturally fall into place.

Some people are skeptical about my decision and wonder why in the world I would choose this, or what happens if my prince charming comes along? My answer usually is simple. My heart has been badly broken by the one of women’s biggest distractions, men. It’s time for me to get back on track with the healer of the universe. If I happen to meet my prince along the way of this journey, then I’m sure if he is my real true love he will be patient and wait. They ask, “What if he doesn’t?” If he doesn’t, then to me that is a pretty good sign he wasn’t worth my time nor tears, and I didn’t waste giving away pieces of my heart to the wrong man.
Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.