Why We Fight
Eph. 6:10 – “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
I was in my mid-twenties before this verse became real to me. I grew up in church and knew that evil existed in the world, but I had subconsciously learned to view people as “good” or “bad” and I had ignorantly placed myself in the first category. Since following “the rules” came pretty naturally to me, the thought of the devil as an active enemy that we would have to “stand against” didn’t seem to apply to me. It never crossed my mind to intentionally guard against his schemes. Looking back, I guess I thought I was immune to them. As it turns out, that was one of his best tactics. At the age of 25, barely four years into marriage to my amazing, youth pastor husband, this “good girl” found myself unknowingly believing so many of the Enemy’s lies that I told my husband I was not “happy” and that our marriage was no longer going to work because I was in love with someone else.
I will never be able to adequately express the gratitude I have for the friends and family who spoke God’s truth into my situation and exposed the lies for what they were. They gave me a safe space to be real and have hard conversations and they linked arms with me to fight. And, I did fight - WITH my husband, AGAINST our Enemy and FOR our marriage. It was hard work, but it was so worth it. For the past twenty years, we have continued to fight for our marriage and now we fight for our children, as well. The truth is, none of us are “good” and no one is immune to the devil’s schemes. We all have real temptations and need a safe space to have conversations about sex and other topics that can be awkward at first. We, as parents, need to be equipped with humility and truth so that we can approach these conversations with grace and confidence instead of dread. Sex is designed as a beautiful gift from a loving God, and we don't want shame to be attached to it by our silence. And when parents are silent, the next generation learns about sex from Hollywood, social media, peers and pornographic websites. Married couples need to have conversations about their struggles and create safe spaces for each other. Young adults need support and encouragement as they navigate this sex-saturated culture and seek to honor God with their choices.
We started Worth the Fight for parents, teens, single adults and young married couples. We want to help equip and encourage you as you have conversations about love, sex and relationships as God intended them to be. We are a team of women and men with years of marriage and parenting experience who have countless hours of research and training in this area. Some of our team members are certified Life Coaches and Sexual Risk Avoidance Specialists. Most team members are on staff at Women’s Pregnancy Center in Ocala, FL and know, first hand, the great need for these conversations to be happening. However, this does not mean that we have all of the answers or that we are navigating this perfectly. In fact, every one of us would tell you that our journey for truth in this area, and our desire to link arms with others in this fight, came out of our failures and the realization that we needed guidance and encouragement as much, or more, than anyone.
We are in this fight with you and we want to grow in this area, as well. This is a life-long journey for freedom and truth. We can all agree that marriage, parenting, and, really, any relationship worth having, can be difficult and require work - especially when it comes to questions about sex and other related topics. We want you to experience the freedom to have these very necessary conversations so that we can all experience the abundant life that is available through Jesus. We are honored to link arms with you.
Keep fighting, friends.
