You’re ready to get engaged but have no idea where to buy a ring. Trust me, as a guy about to get married, I know this is a daunting task. You may be short on cash (let’s be real - most us are) and are looking for a cheaper way to purchase that special ring. One great option that most people haven’t considered is buying an engagement ring online. I’m not going to lie, I was a little skeptical about buying a ring online (I purchased my fiancee’s wedding band from this site), but I must say, I was very impressed with Blue Nile.

Most people have never heard of Blue Nile before. The company specializes in ‘fine jewelry’ - perfect for an engagement ring or wedding band! If you do decide to purchase a ring online, make sure you check the reviews of the company. When you look at the reviews for Blue Nile, you’ll be pleasantly surprised! And as someone who purchased a ring from them, I am very satisfied by the way my order was handled.

With Blue Nile, I received my purchase about 4 days after I ordered it. That’s pretty incredible considering most companies say they can fulfill your order within 4-6 weeks (who wants to wait for 4-6 weeks?!).

Another great aspect of Blue Nile is their return policy. If for some reason you are not satisfied with your purchase you can return it within the next 30 days for a full refund! The ordering process is a piece of cake - they literally walk you through it!

Bottom line, if you are looking to buy a ring online, Blue Nile is definitely the way to go. You can typically find the exact same ring at Blue Nile for a lot less than in a regular store. I got my ring for about 50% of what it would retail for at a jewelry store - what a great deal!

So you’re relationship with your boyfriend or girlfriend is going great and you’re wondering what to do now. All of us have encountered this scenario at some point or another in our dating relationships. We hit somewhat of a cruise control and aren’t quite sure how to get out of it. Or, you are looking for a unique way just to tell them that you love them (if you aren’t at that point in your relationship you can just tell them how much you appreciate your relationship!)

One of the great things that you can do is write a small note and put it in their backpack or somewhere that they check daily. Trust me - unless you’ve been doing this every single day, they will be surprised! If you are truly stumped, check out RomanceForEveryone.com. Check out some of their small notes for some ideas. Even with this resource, it’s always better to think of a note by yourself!

As mentioned in an earlier post, I promised to talk about my recent premarital counseling sessions with my pastor. What an adventure it was! My dad is a pastor, but since I want him to be ‘dad’ on my wedding day, my fiancee and I asked a different pastor to do it. We asked our ’supervisor’ for the church we work at (while I’m at college I attend a different church than the one at home). We knew that premarital counseling was going to be interesting, but we were very surprised by some of the questions that he asked us! If you are engaged and wondering if you should consider premarital counseling, here are some of the benefits:

1. Openness - I’m not going to lie - it’s a little weird telling some other person why you love your fiancee so much. Usually we keep that kind of stuff to ourselves! But by telling someone else, it gives you the opportunity to really think why you love him or her!
2. Preparation - Our pastor kept a tally in his head of all the ‘red flags’ that would pop up during our conversations. If he didn’t think we were ready in a certain area (such as dealing with money, kids, etc…) he would let us know that’s something we need to work on!
3. Future Success - Am I saying that if you go to premarital counseling your future will be perfect? In short, no. However, according to this article, couples who participate in premarital programs experience a 30% increase in marital success over those who do not participate. Don’t you want marital success?
4. Great Things To Talk About Afterwards - You wouldn’t believe the types of things my fiancee and I talked about after our sessions! By talking about a variety of issues with your pastor he/she may bring things up that you never considered before! After your sessions you can continue that talk!
5. Strengthen Engagement Time - I’m sure that you are ready to be engaged (at least I hope so) and want to make the most of this time. By going to premarital counseling, you develop a stronger bond between each other!

There you go - 5 basic benefits of premarital counseling. Expect to talk about a wide range of topics including communication, kids, sex, money, inlaws, faith (there’s a big one) along with a few others.

Bottom line, make sure you do premarital counseling!! It will help your relationship out so much! You will be able to articulate why you love them along with how you will always be there for them in your marriage. How could you pass something like this up?

In today’s society, there is a TON of emphasis on outward beauty. Sadly, you only see models with less than 5% body fat because that is was society tells us is ‘perfect.’ You may be asking yourself: “If I don’t look like a model (like 99.99% of the population), can I still be considered pretty or handsome?” In short - YES!!! As Christians, we should have the same outlook on this concept as God does. God looks at the heart and not what’s on the outside!

Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. 1 Samuel 16: 7

Guys - So what if you don’t have the muscles of an American Gladiator or like one of the guys in 300?! While most of us always want more muscle (I know I do!), that shouldn’t be our first priority! While there have been multiple reports of women being more attracted to men with muscles, true Christian women won’t care at all how much you can bench press. It means nothing to them! Instead of spending time in the gym to get huge, spend some time in God’s Word. A true Christian girl will, like God, love you for your heart - not your biceps!

Girls - While I am no means an expert on female emotions and what goes on in their head (just ask my fiancee), I have found that one of the main desires of all females is to feel beautiful. Girls LOVE it when a guy calls them beautiful or gorgeous (I’m sure that all girls reading this are agreeing with me on this point). You’ll never really encounter a girl that says: “It doesn’t really make a difference to me if I’m beautiful or not!”

So, girls, when you’re looking for someone to date, make sure that they want to date you beacuse of what is on the inside - not the outside. Too many times in society we see people get married based solely on looks and then get divorced a few years later beacuse they weren’t focusing on the right things.

Bottom line, in a true Christian relationship, your love for your boyfriend or girlfriend should be based on what is on the inside - not how we look. Don’t think that I am telling you that you don’t need to take showers or brush your teeth (I don’t want to be getting emails from people telling me you don’t have to do anything for your outward appearance!). What I am telling you is that like God, we should love each other for our personality and our relationship with Christ. Who cares if we’re not what society says is perfect? God doesn’t - and neither should we!

Prayer is a HUGE part of every Christian dating relationship. It allows us to communicate with God and to find His will for our relationship with each other. I’ve talked a lot about God in relationships, but I don’t think I have hit on praying for each other. God desires us to pray for each other - and this definitely includes your boyfriend or girlfriend! In 1 Thessalonians, Paul starts off by saying:

‘We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.’ - 1 Thessalonians 1:2

Here, Paul is praying for those that he is thankful for. I’m sure (at least I hope!) that you are thankful for your boyfriend or girlfriend, and therefore, we should tell God about that! God loves it when we talk to Him and tell Him what is on our heart. While praying together is an important aspect of a Christian dating relationship, it is also important to pray separately for each other!

If you know that your boyfriend or girlfriend is having a difficult time, pray for them! Don’t think that you HAVE to be together to pray for each other! I know that in my personal life, I pray for my fiancee whenever she is having a hard time (and even when she’s not!).

So - you may be asking ‘why do I have to pray for them separately?’ Having a strong personal, individual faith (as opposed to the two of you having a strong faith as a couple) is also huge in a relationship. Praying together as a couple doesn’t mean that you ‘get out of’ praying by yourself! Maintain a strong personal relationship with Christ since that is your first priority on earth!

Just thought I would thank everyone who is a loyal reader to my blog! It’s truly a blessing watching this website take off and I realize that as readers, you are a big part of that!

Last month (March) I hit over 1600 visitors to the site! I was definitely excited and can’t wait to see what April brings. If you want to see this site continue to grow, let your friends know about it! The more people reading the better!

If you want to know more about me and what websites I like, check out my StumbleUpon profile. If you don’t know what it is, it is a way for you to ’stumble’ around on the internet - much like flipping through the channels on the television. It’s a lot of fun!

Communication - quite possibly the most important factor in a successful relationship. Why is it so important? Because communicating with each other allows us to not only learn more about our boyfriend/girlfriend, but because it also gives us an opportunity to become closer to them. If you’ve ever felt distant from your boyfriend or girlfriend (which I’m sure you have at some point or another), a great place to start getting ‘connected’ again is to have great communication with each other.

My fiancee and I just completed pre-marital counseling (I’ll definitely write about those sessions soon!), and one of the main topics that our pastor talked about was communication. It’s ESSENTIAL in a relationship! Ever felt like you just can’t connect with your boyfriend or girlfriend? If so, you may be asking how do I increase my communication with my boyfriend or girlfriend? Here are a few suggestions:

(1) Don’t be afraid to ask ‘deep questions’ - As a guy, I’m not particularly fond of these questions (my fiancee wants to have these discussions WAY more often than I do…), but I also realize that they are important in a relationship. Every once in awhile, ask your boyfriend/girlfriend: Where do you see this relationship going? Or you could even ask: “What do you think we need to work on as a couple?”

(2) Have ’small talk’ every once in awhile - I’m not going to lie - if I could have it my way, I’d communicate like this most of the time! As humans, this is how we communicate the most. For example, it’s good to ask your boyfriend or girlfriend how their day was!

(3) Make sure you communicate as a couple to God - I’ve talked about this topic extensively on this website and for good reason! God should be at the center of every dating relationship, and in order to do that you have to have constant communication with Him!

These are only three ideas that you can incorporate into your relationship. There are tons of resources out there on this topic since it is so important! Check out my recommended books page if you need some additional resources.

This is a short post, but I guarantee that I’ll be writing about this topic again (and again, and again, and again, and again, - you get the idea!)