The Purpose Blunted

If God has reminded us that His desire is to dwell with us and to meet with us in the sanctity of the human body, the violation of that locus destroys its purpose. In an article some years ago, Dr. James Dobson quoted a letter he had received that sums up the ache of a mistake better than I can say it:

It was as if I physically felt a loss. Throughout our years together, he had taken my self-respect, my self-esteem, my pride, my womanhood, my virginity, my capacity for love, and my future and discarded it as "unwanted." Looking back I didn't realize it then, but when I begged him to come back to me, I lost the last drop of myself. After our final break up, I went on to a Christian college and he went his own way.... Two years later, I met and married my husband. My husband is the world to me. He is everything I thought my former boyfriend was or was going to be. He is wonderful to me. We have a lovely home, stable income and beautiful young son who is our joy. However, there is a part of me I cannot share with him, because I gave it to my boyfriend back in high school ... to me, that is the very private, very painful, very tormenting consequence I cannot change. So the point is-there is a price. You may or may not pay with preg­nancy or VD, but you will certainly pay.... I know God's for­giveness, and I continually pray that He will restore the years the locusts have eaten.... Writing this letter has been on my heart for a long time. Please convey the message to teens and college students.... The consequences you pay most severely and most personally are paid emotionally.'