"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a WRETCH like ME! I ONCE was lost, but NOW I'M FOUND! I was blind, but now I see."

The media that is bringing up this are the ones who are re-victimizing the four ladies who wanted to keep this buried and forgotten. The girls aren't in distress. They're not the ones who brought this to light. And if anyone had the right to bring this up, it would be them - if they didn't experience healing or resolution, or if they felt that Josh Duggar has not cleaned up his act... it would've been the VICTIM'S right, and ONLY THEIR RIGHT, to bring this to light.

But they didn't. And I'm not interested in judging a man for something he did 12 years ago. Thank the Lord I'm not being held accountable for the person I was when I was 14 years old.

I was raised under income all the time. Credit wasn't an issue; we were always struggling to pay rent and bills and keep food on the table. I found as an adult I have inherited this somehow as well. Some of it is spiritual, other is Financial IQ. But God is good and He is teaching us. We're learning to get above it and He provides. Glad I read this post too, from the Equipping Godly Women link up!
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Yes! I agree! I know from personal experience that my finances spiral out of control as other areas of my life do (spiritually or emotionally). So thankful you shared what you received from this conference. Glad I stopped by from the Equipping Godly Women Link up.
My recent post Guest Post: Paleo White Chicken Lasagna

I would say what is explicitly outlined in Scripture is that we are to raise our own children.... Nobody else is supposed to do it for us! Whoever has your kids for the most amount of time is raising your kids. Deuteronomy says we are to talk about God and His ways when we get up, and when we lie down, on the road and at home, to our children in order to train them. How does that happen if we're not home with them?

So I read the posts and the comments and I'm going to respectfully add my two cents, starting with two words: I agree. Wholeheartedly. And I wrote about this in a few of my blogs regarding the dangers of the 50 Shades phenomenon that has also infiltrated Christianity. But the reason why sex is not used in the kjv Bible is because the original Hebrew word God uses to define the relationship is "yada" which means to be intimately known. This same term God chose to describe how Adam and Eve procreated to have Cain is also used in Psalms 139 when David said, "Lord you have KNOWN me". This all to confirm what everyone is saying; sex is a holy act in matrimony. Nothing else is so deeply rooted in our minds, hearts, bodies and soul! That is why God created sex in the context of marriage - to keep it safe. That is also why the Bible doesn't just talk about sex as a physical act, but Jesus said that even lusting after someone we're not married to is adultery! Sex is deep and is sacred for marriage.

Because it's more than just physical arousal and stimulation, but it's intimacy (all the time!) it is always a two-way street. Hear me out for one second. You bind yourself to what or whom you have sex to ("the two become one"). If it is not your spouse whom you are legitimately married to, you are still binding yourself to whomever or whatever you are having a sexual experience with! There lies the grave danger of sex and why God wanted to keep us safe by reserving it only for marriage.

Last point; many people at this junction think that if they watch pornography or read erotica they are having a solo sexual experience (no one else in the room but them, right?). This is one of satans biggest lies. Sex is always a two way street. When you have a sexual experience with a book, magazine or screen, you are having a sexual experience with all the demons of hell involved in that junk. Pornography means you become intimate with demons, who come to know you deeply and bind you like you couldn't possibly conceive. This is why it's such a stronghold to break and should be avoided at all costs.

It really is life or death for us, our spouses, and our children and not an area we can afford to be lax in. Thank you for this post!

how I know this! I worked full time up until December of 2013. It was a battle to "come home". Bills, finances, stress, the kids were fighting me on it too. But now the blessing is so tangible I do not see myself living any other way.

Health issues have made me permanently sterile but I'm of the posture that God can do anything. I know this because all three of my kids were conceived while I was using birth control. I take it as God's sense of humor and mercy, reminding me that I don't have the right to tell God under what terms He can build my family.

I agree! I believe that modesty is a posture of the heart more than a style of clothes. You can wear only skirts and be immodest. You can wear a one piece bathing suit and be immodest. If your heart is right and you don't desire to be sexually stimulating to men you're not married to, you can find the right balance and feel pretty, even fashionable, without disrespecting yourself.

The vow will carry you when the feelings don't!

I've voiced my thoughts on this too. I agree with you whole-heartedly. What is breaking my heart the most is not all the unsaved people that want to watch this film, but all the Christian-professing women who justify watching this as a "love story" and tell at us that we are judgmental!!! I wonder if there's no discernment, no sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, no concern with how they break God's heart in justifying themselves. I admit I read two of the three books in the series, not thinking much about it, until I realized I couldn't NOT read those books and the Bible, and I chose to read my Bible instead. I've asked God for forgiveness and wisdom since then too. He has graciously shown me the why nots of this. But it's all part of a genuine relationship with Him.