I have been having great victory in the Lord recently. I have been able to abstain from sex and even though this is extremely difficult for me I feel very rewarded by God in doing so.
A couple months ago I changed my profile on a dating site to say something like; "Tired of dating and am only looking for people that want to discuss how great Christ is. If you want or need prayer for any situation in your life send me an email with your name and the situation you need prayer about and I promise to lift you to the Lord in prayer".
I received an email from a lady asking me to pray for her Aunt that was having a leg amputated. She also mentioned that she had not found a church in the area and was hoping to get connected soon and find a way to juggle her work schedule as to find a way to publicly worship in a church again. I immediately prayed for the Aunt, her doctors and the family. I also sent the gal a message with a link to my church and asked her to check it out online.
A couple weeks had passed and the woman wrote me a letter of thanks as her Aunt was doing very good after the amputation. She also said she had found Reality Olympia but hadn't been able to attend services yet as she worked all day Sunday as well as Thursday nights.
We emailed back and forth several times for the next few weeks about God and church. I was not really interested in dating her or anyone else as each time I date someone it always leads to sin. After a few weeks of emails she sent me a text message. After many days of texting I finally asked her if I could call her. She agreed and we talked on the phone for over an hour and really hit it off. It was a Tuesday and we were both off that day so I asked her to lunch.
Now I have to admit I was really confused as I remembered from her pictures that she was a black lady but after talking to her on the phone she didn't sound like any black person I have ever spoke with. After we agreed to meet for lunch I actually went online to see her pictures again as I was convinced that I was confused at whom I was about to meet. Well, I was surprised she really was black. I immediately felt convicted for judging her solely on her voice and speech.
Well I met her at a restaurant for lunch and we just hit it off. We talked about God and family and past relationships and our desires for future relationships. We laughed, she cried, it was just an incredible first meeting. We both were at the same point in our lives and were tired of the dating scene. Yet we were both very attracted to each other.
As I always do I started moving way too fast and about scared her away. I quickly realized that by chasing women away from me was a defense mechanism that I had developed to not let anyone get all that close to me. Ah man, how great is God for giving me the ability to recognize my own faults and shortcomings.
As I mentioned things started to heat up pretty fast even though we both agreed how important as Christians it is that we remain celibate until we are married to whomever God brings us to. Of course this was much easier to say than to practice. We came really close to crossing that line that God had put on our hearts to not cross. Not once but several times.
We prayed about it together and independently to gain strength and courage to be able to spend time together and not disappoint God. We set some boundaries and it has been going well since.
Last week I let her stay on the couch one night as we had been talking very late and she has a 40 minute drive home. I felt really safe doing this as my daughter was home and I knew I would behave as my goal is to be a living example to Alexandria.
Yesterday I knew we were going to a birthday party after I got off work and so I prayed early in the morning and throughout the day for strength and will power to overcome sin with this lady once again. We went to the party and after went back to my house and watched a great Christian movie called What If? By the time the movie was over and we talked about the lessons of the movie it was after midnight. She was wanting to head home but was extremely tired and was dreading the drive. My first thought was she had to go as Alexandria was at her Mom's house and I can't be trusted with a sexy woman alone in my house.
That is when I said a quick prayer to God to continue to lead me away from sin. I then gave her the option of staying on my couch and she gave it some serious thought and accepted the offer.
I headed to bed and she hunkered down on the couch.
WOW, I slept great. I woke up with such thankfulness to God for giving us the strength and courage to live for Christ last night. This was such a huge victory against Satan for me. I have been praising God all morning. The reason that Christ gave me this victory so easily is I started laying this problem at His feet early in the day in anticipation of our date. I continued to pray for Jesus to deliver me from all temptation throughout the day.
Of course the answer as always is found in the Holy Word.
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Thank you Lord Jesus for once again showing me your greatness in delivering me from the enemy. I praise you Lord as it was your strength and will in me that kept me in line last night. I praise you Father for bringing me to You all day in prayer and the wisdom your Holy Spirit is providing me for your Glory. In Jesus name I give thanks as I love you Lord. You are my Life, my Peace, My Love, My Lord. In Jesus name I pray. Amen
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