When to Start Dating--the Key to a Solid Relationship

Oh, the famous question, "When should I start dating?" Well, sadly I cannot give you some magic formula that gives you the perfect age and time to date, but I can give you some practical tips!

1) Check in with you parents. Your parents are pretty smart people and they have already been down the whole path of dating before! God placed your parents in your life for a reason--to guide you through the crazy ups and downs of life!
2) Look up to God. God created you and He created the perfect guy for you! He knows you inside and out. Ask God about when to start this whole process of dating. He will guide you with the "when" and the "who" of dating!
3) Set guidelines for yourself. OK, so you have talked to your parents and to God. Your parents may have given you a rule, like you aren't allowed to date until you are seventeen for example. It is your job to obey that. But you also need to set your own rules to follow. When would you like to start dating? You have already outlined what you are looking for in a guy (check out past posts). Now it is just waiting for that warrior-servant! Be patient, God will bring him to you in the right timing!! But for know, set guidelines in when to date, with whom and with whom you won't date, and what you will and won't do when you date.
4) Some Ideas to Get You Started.....

• Wait until you are an upperclassmen or out of high school. I realize that you may be out there at fifteen years old and wondering why in the world I would say such a thing! Well, even though you are mature in ninth grade, you still have a lot of learning to do and so do those ninth grade guys! Wait it out a little bit and make lots of friends! You will cherish those memories, believe me!
• Don't date just to date. Every person that you date is a potential person that you could marry someday. So do not date someone who you only see yourself with for a little over a month!
• Set your guidelines high and don't lower them. Like choose to remain sexually pure, wait to date until you are out of high school, save your first kiss for your wedding day, etc.
• Keep praying it up! God will guide you in this whole area of when to date! Believe me, I do not have it all figured out either, but with God's help, I know that He is guiding me through life.

"Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires." Song of Songs 2:7