—50 percent of babies are born outside of marriage today, which leads to single parenting. Single parenting among those under 25 is most often associated with lower income rates, higher high school drop out rates, suicide, depression and abuse.
Those are the facts. (For exact citations, refer to The Church and the Single Mom by Jennifer Maggio). That does not even broach the subject of giving oneself over sexually to another and how the emotions tie in or the broken hearts that follow
Let me challenge you with this idea. As a parent, when we tell our 7-year-old not to play in the street, is it because we do not want him to have any fun playing kickball with his friends? Are we just plain ol’ mean parents? No, of course not. It is because we understand the potential danger that our precious 7-year-old could experience and we want to protect him—EVEN IF HE DOESN’T UNDERSTAND WHY. The exact same is true for Christians. Our Heavenly Father does not want to hinder joy in our lives, but He does want to protect us from potential harm.
And before you decide that I am some rigid, unbending, beat-you-over-the-head-with-the-Bible, finger-pointing, judgemental Christian, let me stop you. I WAS some of those statistics. I was sexually active at 13, pregnant four times by 19, and dabbled in sexual promiscuity for years thereafter, living in poverty, depression, abuse and more. I have lived it and seen first-hand the devastation it causes.
Today, as I work full-time with single parents, I have seen hundreds of young teens walk through the most difficult seasons of their lives because they did not wait. I’ve seen thousands of single moms struggle emotionally and financially, because they did not wait. I’ve seen the trickle effect that this one simple concept (or lack thereof) has had on our economy, emotional well-being and spiritual growth.
And before my inbox is flooded with countless emails, let me be clear. Everyone has their list of issues they are working on. (I know I sure do.) No one thing is greater than the other. I am not saying this is just a single-parent problem, obviously, but my passion is for helping the single parent live a better life.
Before you embark on one more meaningless sexual relationship that could very well leave you more emotionally broken, more financially broken and more spiritually broken, think about its effects and know that there is great freedom in simply waiting for the right one.
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