Whassup, Everyone! 
I was reading an advice column yesterday about a couple who had started an intimate relationship on the grounds of being "friends with benefits" because they were lonely and going through rough times. What really struck me was that the woman wrote that she was reminding him that he was a man and that he was helping her realize "the woman she used to be" before she got into, and left, an abusive marriage.
This seems to be a common theme for relationships that we as Christians could not be a part of. But so many people are seeking that special someone of the opposite gender to fulfill a need to feel "like a man" or "like a woman."
While I can certainly sympathize with people's loneliness and the reasons why they get into such situations, we know that as Christians, this is not the right choice.
So, my question is this: the world often seeks wrong relationships and sex to feel masculine or feminine--as single Christians, how do we feel, experience, and express the unique, God-given characteristics of our own gender without falling into sin?
What makes you feel like the empowered, special, and talented man or woman that God made you to be?
Having been on my own for so long, I'm getting to the point where I think independence is what makes me feel like a woman--not in a rebellious way (though I do get accused of being a bit feisty by my guy friends, and believe me, God has had to work on me a lot over that), but in the sense that I can sit down and design jewelry for my sisters-in-law at Christmas... and then go out and saw down tree branches in my yard. Figuring out how to relight the pilot on my furnace was also a big triumph (it's a two-person job, but I've mastered being able to do it by myself.)
I hope that when God does bring me the right man, I can be a a much better companion and helper in his life now because of how much I've learned and can take care of instead of adding to his burdens. Before, I would have wanted him to try to take care of many things but have finally learned I can do a lot of things on my own, which would hopefully divide out more of the work between us and cause less stress.
How about you? When do you feel most proud of who God made you to be?
I was reading an advice column yesterday about a couple who had started an intimate relationship on the grounds of being "friends with benefits" because they were lonely and going through rough times. What really struck me was that the woman wrote that she was reminding him that he was a man and that he was helping her realize "the woman she used to be" before she got into, and left, an abusive marriage.
This seems to be a common theme for relationships that we as Christians could not be a part of. But so many people are seeking that special someone of the opposite gender to fulfill a need to feel "like a man" or "like a woman."
While I can certainly sympathize with people's loneliness and the reasons why they get into such situations, we know that as Christians, this is not the right choice.
So, my question is this: the world often seeks wrong relationships and sex to feel masculine or feminine--as single Christians, how do we feel, experience, and express the unique, God-given characteristics of our own gender without falling into sin?
What makes you feel like the empowered, special, and talented man or woman that God made you to be?
Having been on my own for so long, I'm getting to the point where I think independence is what makes me feel like a woman--not in a rebellious way (though I do get accused of being a bit feisty by my guy friends
, and believe me, God has had to work on me a lot over that), but in the sense that I can sit down and design jewelry for my sisters-in-law at Christmas... and then go out and saw down tree branches in my yard. Figuring out how to relight the pilot on my furnace was also a big triumph (it's a two-person job, but I've mastered being able to do it by myself.) I hope that when God does bring me the right man, I can be a a much better companion and helper in his life now because of how much I've learned and can take care of instead of adding to his burdens. Before, I would have wanted him to try to take care of many things but have finally learned I can do a lot of things on my own, which would hopefully divide out more of the work between us and cause less stress.
How about you? When do you feel most proud of who God made you to be?