Day 9: An advice you will never forget.

Back in Oman, my dad and I had a little talk about my course choices for college, where I would be studying at, and my reasons for choosing it. So, it was a real shocker when our topic turned towards relationships and maturity, about preserving purity for my future hubby (if God wills it) as a gift to him. This wasn't my dad's exact words, but he said:

"Looking for a man or partner in life is like playing darts. When you enter into a relationship too early, when your mind and heart are still ripe and have yet to mature, your 'must-have's' for the perfect guy are way off from what a practical child of God would have: good looks, rich, good at playing an instrument or other physical attributes. Like playing darts, you won't land at the center. You'll miss it and land outside the rings.  

But if you wait until you mature in the Lord, until after He prepares and readies your heart for a relationship, your dart would land right on target. You wouldn't make mistakes unlike other teens who've entered into a relationship and came out pregnant. This is because the man you'll be bound to meet would be the man God has chosen for you to spend your life with. Because you had waited patiently for the right time, your reward from God would be a happy, fulfilling life with your husband."

Yes. My dad is so deep he can practically "out-win" Sadako's well. Well yeah. I mean, he's a pastor, and long years of study had equipped him for these kind of talks, so I'm very, very happy to have him as my dad. If you knew my dad well enough, you wouldn't believe we'd had this talk at all. Haha. He's not usually the guy who talks about relationships with his daughter, or so I thought.

I learned much during our talk that afternoon. And I definitely won't forget what he told me. He didn't give me nonsense, shallow advice like "follow your dreams" or "things will just fall into place", because I'd definitely be confused with that! Dad detailed things out for me, and now, I'm aware of the choices I can and must make to lead a life pleasing to the Lord. Yes, I have tough times where temptations are just too hard to resist, but in the end, I realize that I could've prevented falling into temptation. God had given me power in His name to resist the works of the evil one!

I encourage other teens (and even the not-so-teens) like me to have a talk with their mom or dad once in a while. Not only does it show you respect and love them enough to want their advice, it also gives you new ideas to think about. Ideas that'll help you cope with life when everything may seem to fall out of place.