It's just refreshing.
Through this process, I've learned a lot about my past relationships. For instance, dating your best friend is really awesome, but there probably needs to be some boundaries. And I know, I've made all of the excuses of why it doesn't matter that you pour your whole heart out to a best guy friend, but then again, I'm the one sitting here speaking from experience of how bad the aftermath can be. So be wise, ladies (and gentlemen).
It's hard when you have shared EVERYTHING pretty much with that best guy or girl friend then y'all decide to date because there is a certain level of intrigue that is lost. Why would he need to take me on special dates to get to know me if he already knows everything? Why would he need to try and impress me when we're best friends, and he knows I'll be there for him through thick and thin. It's harder to walk away from your best friend than it is to walk away from a weird stranger that we would deem as inconsiderate.
What's the phrase? Why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free? Exactly.
Will he be the one I end up with? I have no idea. Obviously there'd have to be a chance for me to consider dating him, but I'm not trying to figure out if he's "the one" based off of our first meal together. If it turns out that he is, awesome. If it turns out he's not, awesome. The Lord still had some sort of plan through it all. I'm learning and growing and having fun, so it's about time that I just sit back and enjoy the journey.
And the Lord has been growing me spiritually too, of course. When I was at Shorter, my college pastor taught the leadership team about a thing called Healing Prayer (by Leanne Payne). It's essentially the practice of visualizing your prayers in order to give things over to the Lord, and it has been a powerful tool in my life. So I'm gunna be very vulnerable and give y'all a peek into one of my prayers.
The setting: We're in a garden with tall hedges (over 7" tall) with a fountain in the middle. There are some benches near the fountain, and that is where Jesus is waiting for me. He is donning traditional Jewish clothing, and he has shaggy brown hair. There is a break in the hedges in the NE corner, which is where I enter from.
Cue my entrance. I walk towards Jesus, who is seated on the bench near the fountain and give him a hug before I sit down next to Him.
So first things first-I need to personify whatever it is I'm trying to give the Lord. In this case, it's a relationship. In my mind, I personified this as my cell phone with "the guy's" picture filling the screen (we like to text and talk on the phone).
Next, I have to give it to the Lord and see what He does with it. I hand Jesus the phone, which He proceeds to answer with a "Hello? Yeah, hold on a second," and then He sets the phone down on the bench behind Him. To me, this symbolizes that He isn't telling me to flee from this guy, but rather I have to be patient to see what will come next.
*side note-If I'm being even more honest, I have been afraid to give this whole situation over to the Lord until a couple of days ago because I assumed that if I gave it to Him, He would take it away. And obviously I didn't want that. So needless to say, it was a relief that He didn't take the phone and chunk it across the room when I handed it to Him.*
The next part is my favorite part. After you see what the Lord does with what you give Him and what that symbolizes, you're supposed to see what He gives you in return. In return, He gave me a pink daisy with a yellow center. 
This symbolized how a garden has to be rended to in order to maintain it's beauty. In many ways, I'm treading new waters with this whole relationship deal. Yes, I've dated people before, but the Lord doesn't want me to use that confidence as a false sense of security in this case. I have to continually trust Him, and it can be something beautiful.
This symbolized how a garden has to be rended to in order to maintain it's beauty. In many ways, I'm treading new waters with this whole relationship deal. Yes, I've dated people before, but the Lord doesn't want me to use that confidence as a false sense of security in this case. I have to continually trust Him, and it can be something beautiful. Tell me if you've ever been guilty of this too-when it comes to relationships, we want to know. "God, is he 'the one?'" Sure, we'll trust him with the relationship, but I just need to know if I'm dating the right person (and I use "trust" loosely). It's like asking the see the finished puzzle then saying that we'll trust Him to make it however He wants...as long as it conforms to the finished product we have in our head. What?? That's not how God works.
So here's to trusting Him with the whole puzzle.
