Part 2 - Teenage Relationship

When I was 16, I made a series of unwise choices that resulted in marriage at 17 to someone I was not romantically interested in.

As previously alluded to, when I was a child I generally got on better with boys than girls, as indifferent playmates. But when I was only 10 years old, I was awakened overnight to romantic attraction. An unpleasant incident happened at school involving malicious girls. I suddenly saw boys in a different light. It was a new school, and I didn't know that at that particular school, the girls were already quite aware of attraction between genders. The result was that I fell head over heels in love with a 10 yr old boy in my class. I struggled greatly with this new kind of emotion, then, and later. Such things were not discussed at home.

As I got older, there was plenty of male attention. During my mid teenage years I fell deeply in love with an older teenager. But it wasn't reciprocated and when I was 16 another teenage boy, that I will call Dave (neither of them are in the beach photo), showed a romantic interest in me. We got on well enough and had some common interests but I was not romantically attracted to him.

I explained to Dave my initial uncertainty fairly quickly, being still interested in someone else. Sadly, some things took place that I won't expound upon further except to say there was unhealthy pressure. At the time, I was boarding with another family as my parents had moved away, and I didn't want my schooling interrupted at that crucial stage; for that reason also, I didn't tell my parents about the pressure. I loved the family I was with. Unfortunately, though, they did not discern what was going on and allowed Dave to come to their house daily. I felt guilty; I had violated some of my own longstanding ideals, so when Dave asked me to marry him it seemed logical to say yes. Somehow I thought it would put things right.

Please note! If you are in a relationship out of obligation or pressure, there are other options! The Lord forgives poor decision-making and wants to help! Please seek help if you need some support in removing yourself from an unhealthy relationship.

I share this because people have often asked how I came to be married to someone I wasn't attracted to and it explains the background for later spiritual events in my life. Also, I forgave Dave a long time ago. We were both young and immature and both of us made unwise decisions.

It was also at the beginning of my last year of school that I had a dramatic encounter with the Holy Spirit of God. I say "dramatic" because I believe that as Christians, Holy Spirit lives in us, helping us from day to day, and life might not always seem dramatic. But sometimes very dramatic things happen. In this instance, it was experiencing a supernatural, highly charged energy source at a youth group event, shared on the Supernatural Encounters page.

After I left school, having done very well academically, I got work in the city where my parents were. Dave's work location also changed. I became pregnant, and as we had already talked about marriage, it seemed the best thing to do. Thus, my plans for becoming a nurse did not come to fruition; instead, when I was 18 I became a full-time mother to a dear little son.

Part 1: The Growing Years Part 2: Teenage Relationship Part 3: Marriage & Motherhood Part 4: Touched by Darkness Part 5: Struggling with Temptation Part 6: Divorce & Single Parenthood Part 7: Married Again Part 8: This Present Life