A Young Ladies Story - Christian Romance Fiction

"Following is the true story of a young lady close to my heart, I hope that you are both 

blessed and challenged by her story as I am" Anita

I have always loved reading. I love the feeling of getting so wrapped up in a story that you feel like you’ve gone and lived it. When I was a young girl, I would rummage through op shops to find exciting stories of mystery, history and the ever popular horse stories. I loved the prairie era and some of my favourite books were the ‘Little House’ series. Around the time I was fifteen, I stumbled across the fascinating realm of ‘Christian Historical/Romance Fiction’. I was hooked.  The heroine was always so beautiful, courageous and smart and the hero was inevitably so brave, exciting, an amazing leader and, of course, dashingly handsome. It was thrilling to imagine myself making Godly, against the flow, decisions in trying times and then get swept off my feet by my hero when those choices or pure chance got me into sticky situations. The story line is nearly always the same:

1.       Hero and Heroine are in different streams of life

2.       There’s a chance meeting

3.       They notice each other but won’t admit it

4.       They get thrown together by life

5.       Affection deepens

6.       Then they’re separated by circumstance and/or an argument

7.       Life then throws them back together

8.       Hero rescues heroine from some great trouble and they make up their argument if they had one

9.       They admit their love to each other

10.   They get married or they promise their love to each other and the author sets up for a sequel.

Pretty soon, I was getting quite used to this storyline and I began to make more exciting endings to the stories, moulding it to my likes and dislikes and wrapping the story around me more and more. In reality, that’s what it is like. It’s like wrapping yourself in coloured plastic wrap; the colour of everything you see around you is tainted by its shade. I began to think of the stories more and more. Every walk on the veranda became a stroll on the deck of a buccaneer’s ship, with me making up a yet another scenario and deciding how I would feel and act if it was true. Real life became less and less exciting and romance and boys filled my mind more and more.  Inwardly, I knew it was affecting me, but I had no idea how deeply. It was a slow process as God began to open my eyes to what was happening. Through my Mum and my sister, who was also being challenged about this, though perhaps she was not so deeply affected, I was challenged about the purity of the content I was consuming. I decided not to read any more romance/historical fiction and, for a time, went off fiction altogether. I had no idea how addicted I was. I would catch myself stuck in the storyline of one of the books almost every time I turned around. Regularly, I was strongly tempted to find one of my books and read one of the ‘exciting’ parts to get my fix. Regretfully, I gave in to those temptations more times then I want to remember. I found it wasn’t till I threw the books in the trash and surrendered the fight over to Jesus that I gained any ground in my struggle. I had to face my sin for what it was and first ask for forgiveness and then for strength.  God is the only one who can fight this fight for you and heal your mind.

I am convinced that what pornography is for men, romantic fiction is for women, whether it be ‘Christian’ or otherwise. I have no right to be feeling emotions for a man in some book that I should only ever share with my future husband. How many times have I given a part of my heart to some ‘hero’ in a book, something I would be horrified to think I had done in real life? What passionate emotions had I enjoyed that should not have been awakened until I get married? Romantic fiction leaves a heart and mind that are damaged and scarred. Only God can restore a heart to purity and heal a mind stained with memories.

Mothers, please protect your daughters from this poison. Know what they are filling their minds with. Daughters, please guard your eyes. Please protect your heart and mind. To this day, I struggle in this fight. It is a lifelong battle that will continue while we are daughters, wives, mothers and grandmothers and won’t end until we are home with our Maker. But it is a battle that must be fought and the resulting purity leads to a life of love that is more amazing than the most exciting romance story.

Your sister in Christ,

Sabrina

P.S. This truth applies to movies as well

P. P. S. If you too have fallen prey to this war, you are not beyond repair. Your innocence may have been stolen, but your purity is not lost. I have discovered there is a difference. We are born innocent, but we are not born pure, for we are all born as sinners. Purity is not our default and it can only be given to us by Christ. Purity is a journey, not an event. As we allow ourselves to be changed by God into the likeness of Christ, we are growing closer and closer to the ultimate purity that God desires for us and that will be ours when we are forever in His presence in Heaven. So, if you, like me, have been taken down by this trap, take heart and know that being knocked down doesn’t mean you’re out. It is the same purity that God wants for all of us and God will give all the strength needed to attain it, to anyone who asks.


This article was reprinted with permission from homemakersscrapbook.blogspot.com.au