Of Souls, Symbols, and Sacraments

[Anonymous]

QuestionAbound wrote:

I may have an interesting story…at least it’s interesting to me…but it might help others?

I used to see church rules as very black and white…at least, after I got married I did.

Before marriage, I dabbled in the grey quite a bit.

I dare not tell my “number”, but I did choose to share myself with others and I thought I was having a great time. :shh:

I will tell you that for SURE, those were my darkest days. Even my memory of those days is clouded. It’s the absolute strangest thing. I can look back and actually see the “darkness” of that time. I remember the boys I dated. I remember many things that we did…but I also don’t remember a great deal of it. I hate that I lost those years of my life.

Even with my daily activities (yes, daily…but in my defense, I did date the same young man for a few years ), I still went to church. It was a house rule. I didn’t take the sacrament, but never told anyone why.

Finally, I was asked to be in a class president…and I had to say “no”. I wasn’t ready to “confess” b/c I wasn’t ready to stop my “fun”, but I knew I needed to stop, so I told my bishop all about my transgressions. I went through total heck and back with 2 bishops (first bishop was amazing…second was just not). I even had to go as high as the stake president (and stake disciplinary council…that was after two ward disciplinary councils) who handled it very poorly and threatened ex-communication if I didn’t tell my dad about my sins. Still can’t figure that one out.

Contrast that to my sister who moved in with her boyfriend for a few years, suddenly came back to church and never once faced disciplinary action…and now pretends that she has always been pure and holy. 🙄

But…I’m telling you this b/c I do believe that engaging in sexual activity before reaching a more mature age can really affect the mind and spirit and emotional well-being of an individual. I am sad that my memory is so clouded, but I honestly believe that I simply lost the light of Christ and that clouded my mind during those days. I don’t want MY kids to experience that same “loss”, so I will be encouraging them to wait for sex. I want them to have a healthy sexual relationship with their spouse when the time comes. I don’t want them to blush when they come back from their honeymoon and stupid people ask, “Did you have a good time?” lol. I want my kids to say, “Yes! It was amazing, thanks for asking.” and do so with a huge grin.

I’ve already had “the talk” with my older kids. I presented it as an incredible, amazing, super cool thing that will need to wait. We giggled our way through the talks, but I wanted them to know that if they will wait, they will understand how amazing it is. The only advice I plan to give them for their honeymoon is this, “Be patient, have fun and know that it gets better.”

As far as a teen going solo…I’m still trying to figure that one out. :geek:

That was a great post. I really apprecaited it.

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