Tonight I sat with a heaping bowl of popcorn on my lap and a precious little girl snuggled in on each side of me. If your house is anything like mine, popcorn and movie nights are always a hit. And, because my girls are five and three, princess movies rank among their favorites. This evening’s pick was Cinderella.
Enamored by the beautiful dresses and idea of a dream prince, the girls watch with big eyes. As they do so, I praise God for them and the possibility of living this out. Do I want for them the Disney storybook wedding? No. But, like all Christian parents, I do want them to live out God’s Storybook wedding.
I pray that they would love the Lord and yoke themselves to another Believer. I pray that they would honor their bodies a temple of the Holy Spirit and respect healthy boundaries with anyone they date. I pray that they would value God’s design for sex to be in marriage alone so that the big white dresses mean something and their husband-to-be is truly a prince, as a son of the King.
I want the best for my kids because I love them. You want the best for your kids because you love them. And, my mission outside of being a Godly wife and mother is to share the Truth with others because God calls us to love them.
So how do I do this? Many years ago I was introduced to the DVD “Sex Has a Pricetag” by Internationally known abstinence speaker, Pam Stenzel. Speaking to over a half million students worldwide per year, Pam is the best there is. As I sat in my dorm room watching, others heard her powerful words combined with a fun sense of humor and made themselves comfortable on our futon couch. She was captivating, sharing incredible stories and statistics most of us had never heard and encouraging everyone to choose God’s best. For those who had sex before, this came in the form of “get tested for STDs, repent, set new healthy boundaries and live out recycled virginity because YOU CAN.” For those who were abstinent, this came in a not often heard, “GOOD FOR YOU!”
I fell into the latter category. Though I had been dating my boyfriend (now husband) from the age of 16, we both loved God and knew sex belonged in marriage so we honored that boundary. One of the girls sitting on my dorm room floor, however, was sexually active. Yet, we both finishe
d the video inspired. I felt reinforced and affirmed in my decision. She understood her worth through God’s eyes and gained a new understanding of Christian love, encouraging her to make different choices for her future.
d the video inspired. I felt reinforced and affirmed in my decision. She understood her worth through God’s eyes and gained a new understanding of Christian love, encouraging her to make different choices for her future.
Because of this life-changing experience, I started volunteering in crisis pregnancy center ministry. I wanted to encourage every young person through their situation, provide them with often unheard truths, and help them to see their value in Christ to lead to transformed living. At the same time, I worked with youth choosing purity to encourage them to see that they were not alone and that reward would come in honoring Him.
Amazingly, as God would write out my life story, I connected and started working with Pam Stenzel. We both know that every young person needs encouragement and that every young person (regardless of their past) has the ability to make wise choices for their future. With this in mind, we recently wrote “Nobody Told Me: What You Need to Know About the Physical and Emotional Consequences of Sex Outside of Marriage.”
This book is perfect for every student regardless of the choices they have made. For those who have abstained, this book will offer a window into the heart of their peers, provide answers to difficult questions they still might have (and be afraid to ask), strengthen them to remain pure until marriage, and offer for them suggestions to help them live that out. For those who have made mistakes, this book will give them the opportunity to hear stories of young people struggling right along with them, but within that commonality our words will provide clarity where there was confusion, hope where there was pain, experienced forgiveness from a loving God, understanding that their past choices don’t have to define their future ones, and practical steps to redeeming their future.
To effectively deliver the message, Pam and I took years worth of teens’ shared stories and questions about God’s design for sex, Scriptural encouragement, media influence, peer pressure, abuse, pregnancy, STDs, emotional heartache, recycled virginity, and choosing abstinence until marriage and uniquely formatted into a fun Facebook-like format. Using this creative style, we meet teens (and all who love them) where they are at and provide them with accurate answers to today’s tough questions so that they aren’t the next to tearfully say to God, their parents, a physician, or a future spouse, “Nobody told me. I didn’t know.”
Some of you may not have teens (12 and up) yet. Good news, the book is FOR YOU too. Why? Because we live in a rapidly changing world. The consequences that today’s adults faced as a teens are no longer the same as the teenagers of today. The number of STDs has risen, media exposure delivers wildly different messages, and the people in the home and church haven’t always known how to effectively deliver an abstinence-based message that is both glorifying to God and yet honest and powerful enough to pack a punch with the students who hear it. As parents, mentors, volunteers, youth workers, crisis pregnancy counselors, etc. we MUST know not only the Scriptural backing, but the current statistics, all the failures of birth control often touted as “safe sex,” and successful “helps” to encourage abstinence until marriage. With this information, you can have more educated and effective conversations with your children (or any other teen you love) when the time comes. You need to be prepared to explain all the “whys” so that you are the person they trust and want to talk to.
So, as you parent the children God has entrusted to you, be sure to use this book. It will bring everyone up to speed and successfully communicates a message that empowers ALL students to choose self-respect and Godly choices from this day forward, allowing them to one day experience God’s Storybook wedding.
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In Him,
Melissa Nesdahl
Melissa Nesdahl is a happily married wife, mother, author, writer, and volunteer who believes that when people recognize their identity and value in Christ they will experience life to its fullest. Combining her passion to write with her love of sharing Truth, Melissa frequently updates her blog, writes product and curriculum with Pam Stenzel, and contributes to ModSquad. Melissa has served as a crisis pregnancy center counselor since 1999 and currently serves on the Board of Directors.
Melissa Nesdahl is a happily married wife, mother, author, writer, and volunteer who believes that when people recognize their identity and value in Christ they will experience life to its fullest. Combining her passion to write with her love of sharing Truth, Melissa frequently updates her blog, writes product and curriculum with Pam Stenzel, and contributes to ModSquad. Melissa has served as a crisis pregnancy center counselor since 1999 and currently serves on the Board of Directors.
And now on to the giveaway! Melissa is generously offering a copy of her book for YOU! So, make sure you enter for your chance to be reading this amazing book in your living room. How do you win?
Required Entry:
Share with us why you would like to read this book.
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