Recently, Amy and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. Shortly before our anniversary Amy found some old notes/lists that we made when we were dating and when we were newly married. I want to share one particular list (that I had completely forgotten about) that reminded me of the intention we had in our relationship even before we knew we were going to get married.

I want to share this because in our society, we often lose sight of intentional dating, and whether we are the young daters, or the older parents letting our kids date, we must be intentional (and teach kids to be intentional) with the time we spend with the opposite sex, especially the opposite sex that is called boy or girl friend. Too easily can passion and lust arouse couples with “good” intentions and bring a lot of damage upon themselves, not to mention sin. Too often Christians are slothful and lazy in the way they date. So, the issue I want to press is for Christians to date intentionally with a purpose to make Jesus look beautiful by the way you go about dating and remaining pure through the process. Okay, no more chit chat, here’s the list:

Why we’re taking a break from dating and our prayer during this time (1997):

1) humbling

2) dig into the Word

3) learn to take our thoughts captive

4) act of obedience

5) to truly seek out God’s will for the future

6) build our character in the Lord

7) test our faith

8) understand, grasp, and be thankful for FREEDOM IN CHRIST

9) stretching our hearts so that we desire His desires

10) prayer life

11) build our friendship

12) to see the work of the Holy Spirit w/out human infuence

13) be thankful for this lesson

14) building spiritual warriors

15) examine our hearts