I don't profess to be any more knowledgable than any one else, but after a good deal of thought and two wonderful conversations (both of which were revealing and confirming), I have decided to share two things: 


*This pertains specifically to my friends back home in the homeschool community.

Dear Guys: Do not despair!!! Don't think that just because girls are going "off the market" sooner than expected, that your prospects for marriage will quickly diminish. God has a perfect plan for your life and for your spouse. Trust me. It will be better in the long run if you wait. God's timing is always perfect. "The right girl at the wrong time is the wrong girl."


Dear Girls: I'm not completely sold on courtship or dating or specific formula for relationships, but one thing has been made very clear. Our sole purpose in life is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. I understand that each person has different convictions, but these are mine (a dear friend helped to articulate this):  I will only enter a relationship if I am serving God better in it than if I were single. What's the point of a relationship if it detracts in any way from my relationship with God? There is none. Unless it is made perfectly clear that being with a particular person is more glorifying to God than being single, I am going to serve God and bring glory to him in the best way I can with the years that he gives me while remaining single (as hard as that may be).

(Lord willing, God's plan for me is to get married..... I very much want to get married. :P :) But I can bring just as much glory to Him and devote just as much, if not more, time and energy to him, if I'm single).

Dear All: As I mentioned earlier, there is no perfect formula for relationships. Don't base your hopes on what you see in other relationships, but rather base your hope on God's perfect plan for your life and for your loved one. Just like there is no perfect formula, there is also no perfect age. Now of course we hear this all the time, but it is always helpful to be reminded. Just because someone is courting or dating at a very early (or late) age does not mean that suddenly that is the perfect age in which to enter a (hopefully @least somewhat purposeful) relationship. Don't let your standards for a relationship be based on your surrounding culture. Rather, always go back to scripture. It is there that you will find your ultimate guide to glorifying God (which after all is the chief end of man).

I'm sure many of you already know this, or understand this, but I think it's always helpful to have it reiterated. God bless you all.