Becoming a Hopeful Romantic- Interview!

Hey guys! (:

I recently sat down with Heather, the owner of the popular blog, Becoming a Hopeful Romantic. She was such a joy to interview, I decided to share the interview here with you guys. Here is an expert from her blog that will tell you guys what she is all about. =) Enjoy the interview!

"Welcome to A Hopeful Romantic! This "blog" is all about my convictions on everything from dating to marriage, and everything in between! I am very passionate to not only live out a life of purity as God calls us to, but also to help encourage others along the way. I do not and will not judge you no matter what you may have done in your past/are doing; that's between you and God, not me. However, I will challenge and encourage you to give up living your life your way, and to give it to God; the safest place to put it! I want to challenge and encourage you all--boys or girls(though I talk mainly to girls since I am one and understand where they are coming from better), to live a life sold-out for God, and to pursue a life of true purity; Purity of the body, mind, and soul."

Q. What stirred you to decide to create your blog, Becoming a Hopeful Romantic?

I created my blog, “Becoming a Hopeful Romantic”, during the time in my life when God was convicting me of my morals, where I stand on purity and how precious it is to Him.

The blog actually started off on the website for a Christian magazine (Susie Mag, whose editor is Susie Shellenberger; she use to be the editor for Brio Magazine before it was discontinued).

 On the online portion of the website, they had forums where teenage girls could ask each other questions.  Some of the most common and popular questions dealt with purity; “When is it okay to date?”, Should I save my first kiss?”, “How far is too far?”, etc. It was through these girls’ questions that I started “Becoming a Hopeful Romantic” through means of the websites blog application, and then I also moved it to blogger.com. I would pick a topic that I saw had a lot of confusion, and I would write about what God has personally convicted me of in that area, and shared it with them. I wanted to encourage girls to live out a complete lifestyle of purity for God, and to take the questions seriously and deeply to Him in prayer, and be willing to do what He convicted them of.

I wanted to be a tool used by God; He was changing me so dramatically in this area, and I found myself becoming so passion for true purity, that I decided to share with others what God was laying on my own heart. I wanted to help girls realize that purity is so much more then simply not having sex until marriage. This is how “Becoming a Hopeful Romantic” took off.
Q. What made you decide to live a life in purity?

When I was 15 years old, God started to really hit me hard and heavy on the topic of purity. I found it laying so heavy on my heart that I thirsted for real, challenging, God-convicting answers. I had known of purity rings, and that they represented a girl saving sex for marriage, yet it all seemed a little off to me. I knew God commanded us to save sex for marriage, and I told Him I knew that, but I still felt unsatisfied; I felt like I was missing the big picture or the whole key to real purity. I received a devotional book as a gift called “Pure: Body, Mind, and Soul” by Rebecca St. James. The title captured me—purity? It goes beyond your body? I devoured the book. It was meant to be a 90 day devotional, but that didn’t happen. I couldn’t get enough of it. I had never once heard anyone talk about purity applying to so much more then just being a virgin on your wedding day. This was the beginning of my passion for purity; this was what I had been searching for, longing for. The true, real, complete, God called lifestyle of purity. I then began reading a variety of different books such as “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” by Joshua Harris and “Wait for Me” by Rebecca St. James. I felt God teaching me and talking to me through these books—I did not simply accept what the books were talking about; I took all areas to God, and really felt myself being convicted by God to apply what I was learning to my life. I learned that God calls us to live out a complete lifestyle of purity—body, mind, and soul—and not simply wait for marriage. I became so passion for purity, and I found myself exploring more books, Bible verses, and then deep conversations and thoughts with God. It was a truly life changing time in my life, and I have been passionately striving to live out a lifestyle of purity ever since.

Q. What would you say to Christian teens that are striving to live life in purity but feel bogged down by the weight of the world?

I would tell you to run to God, and allow Him to help you each and every step of the way. God tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. 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 stand up under it.” God will help you—He wants to help you! Pray and pour everything out to Him, and then have faith and the willingness to do what He calls you to do!

Living a lifestyle of true, God called purity is not always easy, but it is always worth it! I would also encourage you to find an accountability partner who is older and wiser then you—that way, even when you are feeling the pressure of the world, you can go to this person and talk to them, get advice, have them pray for/with you, and encourage you to continue on your path of purity! James 5:16 encourages Christians to do this when it says “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

Q. Can you tell us the story of how you came to know Christ as your Lord and Savior?

I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior when I was 7 years old.

It was after my family had gone to a Carman concert that I over heard my two older sisters worrying about how none of us kids had gone forward during the alter call at the concert. It was then that I realized that I had never asked Jesus into my life, and that therefore my life was missing Someone very important. I decided to ask my brother how to go about asking Jesus into my life. He told me that I had to pray to Jesus, admit to Him that I was a sinner, repent from my sin and believe that He not only died on the cross for my sins, but also rose again the third day from the dead.

So that same day, I crawled into my bed alone, and asked Jesus to come into my life.

Since then, I have been learning more and more about Him, and falling more and more in love with Him every day! I have learned that it is not just some religion, but a relationship with the King of Kings!

I pray that I will never be ignorant enough to believe that I will ever reach a point in my life where I am done growing in Him’ not until I close my eyes for the last time and awake in Heaven!

 

Q. What is your biggest temptation or struggle when striving to live a pure life for God?

My biggest temptation or struggle in striving to live a pure life for God is to guard, monitor and purify my thoughts. A thought can happen so quickly, and can sometimes seemingly come out of nowhere, that I find it the hardest aspect for me personally when it comes to purity. However, God has been teaching me to closely monitor what I take in (movies, books, television, people’s opinions, etc) and to see if it matches up to Philippians 4:8. I remember praying to God, and literally asking Him to help install a “filter” in my mind, that would help propel anything bad or inappropriate out, and not allow me to dwell on it. It worked!

Q. How do you keep coming up with fresh content for your blog?

Anything that I blog about comes from something I had recently gone through, something I felt laid on my heart, something God recently taught me, or something that a reader asks me about, that I feel may apply to more girls out there.

This is the reason why my blog posts aren’t all that often like a typical blog tends to be; I only write when one of the above occur. I suppose you could say it’s like an open journal, because I am sharing what God has convicted me of, with other girls, and I encourage and challenge them to talk it over deeply with God, and listen to what He is telling them. For some topics—such as whether to save your first kiss for your wedding day or not—it is especially important for girls to talk to God, and look to Him for an answer, because it will not be the same for every girl. He convicted me to save my first kiss for my wedding day, yet for other girls, He may call them to wait for engagement, or for someone extremely special. In these such cases, it is so important to look to God, and not to me, to find out what He wants for you. For other topics, such as having a pure mind, body, and guarding your heart, God does make it clear what He wants us to strive for, and in that case, I encourage and challenge girls to strive to live it out in their daily lives, yet I always want them to walk away from what they read, and to turn to God, and simply talk it over with Him. This is the key to absolute purity—allowing God to mold you, convict you, and to lead you!

Q. If you could tell other teens who are also striving to live a life of purity one thing, what would that be?

I would encourage them to make sure that they are completely sold out to God and His will, and that they are fully living out the pure lifestyle He is calling them to live. So many girls who sport “True Love Waits” rings are only saving themselves sexually for marriage, but God calls us to live out true purity; purity of the body, mind, and soul! God is with you, He loves you, and you aren’t walking this road of purity alone!

Despite the lies you may hear from your peers or the media, it does pay off beyond your wildest imagination to allow God to take not only the pen of your love story, but also the pen of your life story!

 If you guys want to check out her blog, follow this link. (: Becoming a Hopeful Romantic Blog

Taking Advantage of the Beautiful Single Season

To anyone reading this blog who is single, I want to offer you two words of advice; seize it. Being single is not a punishment, demerit, or any other negative correlation you—or the world— may have linked up with the relational status.  As hard as it may be to believe, this single season in our lives is a gift from God. “What!? You call being lonely and unsatisfied a gift?” It’s all about perspective. If you associate being single with a negative meaning, then it’s going to be lonely and depressing. On the other hand, if you associate being single with positive words (a blessing, a gift, a special time, joy, etc) then you will end up seeing how God puts you through it for a good reason.


The first and foremost reason why God allows us to go through a single season in our lives is because He wants us. God wants us! He wants us to fall passionately and deeply in love with Him; He wants us to learn about Him, tell Him about ourselves, talk to Him, sing to Him, dance for Him, paint Him a picture, laugh with Him, etc! He wants us, and everything that comes with us! He paid the highest price possible for us, and He wants us! If you didn’t experience a single season, and went straight into relationship after relationship, then you would constantly be distracted, and not make time to fall in love with Him. Plain and simple; God needs to be our Number One in our lives. We want, want, want from God, yet we barely stop to think about what GOD wants for us, what we can do for Him, how we can serve Him, how we can worship and praise Him and how we can fall deeply in love with Him! Before He shares your heart with an earthly man, He wants to first make sure that by adding ‘the one’ to your life, that it will only end up making you love Him even more! You and ‘the one’ will become one body and unit, serving, praising, and loving God with all of your hearts! But that can’t come about until you both learn to do so as single individuals, without the promise of ever having an earthly marriage.

This brings us to our next reason for single hood; becoming a complete, whole individual without a spouse/romantic relationship. Many girls buy into the lie that they can’t be complete with a man. Let me tell you, you are complete as long as you are in love with The Man! Jesus Christ fills a void in your life that nothing else ever can; sadly, many people try to fill it with men, drugs, alcohol, partying, being popular, etc. Nothing—I repeat nothing—can fill that void except for a personal, growing relationship with the King of Kings, Jesus Christ! Being single is when you discover who you and what you are made of. If you enter a relationship not knowing who you are, what you believe in, what you stand for, what you like, what your morals/standards are, then it will fail. You may convert to his beliefs—or lack thereof—and you may change to please his interests. God doesn’t want that for you. He wants to be the only person gently telling you if something in your life needs a makeover (such as being impatient, dressing provocatively, etc) to better reflect Him. When its just you and God, then you can be molded into who you are through Him, and become a whole, complete individual—without even needing any earthly man in your life!

This after all, is something we should expect; to be single for life, yet satisfied fully through God. After all, we are not guaranteed that we will find an earthly spouse during our time here; however Psalms 37:4 tells us “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Once again, if we solely focus on loving God and growing in Him, then all else will fall into place according to His will for your life. You may be thinking “Well, the desire of my heart is to get married, so that means I will get it, right?” Actually no…you see, sometimes the desires of our heart becomes shaped into the same desires and dreams that God has for us—which is beyond what we could ever dream up! Whether that includes a husband or not, all the love we could ever need/want is satisfied through God Himself! Even if marriage happens, our husband could never love us more then He does! So, this single season helps prepare us for living a happy, thriving, fulfilled life—without a spouse! All our needs are met through God Himself! Being single prepares us for whatever path God chooses to lead us down; single or married.

 Your current single life of living at home with the family is the perfect training ground for either direction in life because;

 1. It Helps You Install Virtues; if you can learn how to be patient by waiting your turn for the shower after 8 siblings and a dog take one before you(and consequently the water is now freezing), then you can be patient with your own future husband, future children, future co-workers, future in-laws, future (fill in the blank here). Your family tends to be the hardest people to be patient with; so if you can conquer being impatient with them, then you are set for life! Your family is really the best training ground for practicing and gaining the virtues of life; whether it’s allowing your sibling to watch the show they want too instead of you watching the brand new episode of your favorite show, or doing the dishes for your sibling who still has to finish their math homework. Opportunity is smothering us within our families, and it’s all a blessing in preparing us for our future lives—whether we spend it as a single or married!

 2. It Helps You Learn Basic Life Skills; When you are single and living with your family, you can learn so many basic life skills, that most singles choose not to learn while they can, and suffer from it later. For example, can you cook? I’m not talking about throwing a frozen pizza in the oven! I’m talking about actual home cooked meals, with good, nutritional value and great taste. After all, whether its preparing food for yourself, friends, visiting family, your husband, your children, your in-laws, etc, the ability to cook is one highly prized and of great use! Why not start practicing from the safety of your own home? You can start small and try your hand at making eggs for breakfast—practice making them a bunch of different ways. Watch your mom cook in the kitchen, and volunteer to help her. Take advantage of learning how to cook without having to sign up for a course!

 How about finances? After all, whether you are budgeting for yourself, or for a family, you need to know how to be financial smart and fit for life. You need to learn how to shop smart, learn how to tell what’s the better value for your buck, how to set aside enough for basic necessities such as the electricity bill and house payments, etc. Why not tag along grocery shopping, and watch your mom hunt down the best bargains? Why not pick up a pair of scissors and help her clip coupons? Why not going along with your dad as he makes sure that the car he’s getting is a good deal? Why not practice by budgeting your allowance or current part-time job income?

 Being single is not about moping about your room, looking out the window, waiting for some boy to throw a rock at it, and for your life to begin. Newsflash; your life is happening now! Seize it! Take advantage of it! See this single season as a blessing, not a curse! It really is a beautiful gift from God! You will never need a man besides The Man—Jesus Christ!—to fulfill you! The only way to be complete and feel whole and worth while is through Him! Live your life vibrantly and thank God for this single season—this season of opportunity to serve, worship, and fall madly in love with Him!

 Will the world approve of you seeing being single as a positive thing? No way! It’s the world—anything they say, shouldn’t go! Your own family and friends may  even be giving your grief about being single; they may say things like “When are you gonna get yourself a man?”, “What are you waiting for?”, “I want some grandchildren someday!” Whenever you feel down, lonely, and discouraged, remember this; Jesus went through the same thing. The world hated Him. Did He let that get Him down? No way! He changed the world, and created a way to save those drowning in their daily sins! He reminds us in John 15: 18 "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” Talk to God when you are feeling down and lonely! He does understand, He does care, and He does have a plan for you!

 Are you seizing this most important, crucial and set-aside-time for growing single season, or are you wasting it away, and being ignorant of the fact that God wants you now, and want to work through you, and mold you into something truly one of a kind and beautiful?

Wake up, and seize the day for Him!





Soak up these Words of Truth from God’s Holy Word, the Bible!

• “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” – Phil 4:19 
• “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
• "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths."-Proverbs 3:5-6 (NKJV) 
• "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."-Psalm 90:12
• “God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, Only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.” –Psalm 68:6
• "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"-Philippians 1:6
• “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” –Jeremiah 29:11

Used from Becoming a Hopeful Romantic Blog- All credit goes to Heather