Pursuit of Purity: Trip Lee and the Mowry's

January last year I told the good news from Rebecca St. James, Tia and Tamera Mowry. Now I have more good news to share!! I choose to share good news from the men and women in popularity who have chosen to attempt to live a godly life. lol I try to find people who will encourage believers in their pursuit of purity.


Christian rap artist, Trip Lee of Reach Records with his wife, Jessica are having a baby!! YAY!!




Trip Lee revealed in his song "Good Thing" that he and his wife is expecting a little one after much prayer.




Trip Lee and his wife married at age 21 and 22. After being asked so many times why they married so young they wrote their answers out for everyone to see.

Trip's Perspective

Yesterday I made a late night stop at the store to grab a few things and I had a very interesting conversation with the cashier. We made small talk as she scanned my items, and then she offered me a discount card but I told her my wife already had one. That’s when the conversation got fun. I know this conversation all too well because I’ve had it many times before. It goes something like this…

Person: What!? You’re married?

Me: Yeah I’ve been married for two and a half amazing years.

Person: How old are you? You look like a baby.

Me: I’m twenty three.

Person: You’re so young! Why in the world would you do that?

Me: Why wouldn’t I?

In 2009, I got married at the barely legal and barely respectable age of twenty one years old. During my courtship, engagement, and short marriage, I’ve been asked time and time again questions like, “Why get married so young? What’s the rush?”, and my personal favorite, “You should have waited and enjoyed your life!”

Some of the folks asking these questions were strangers, but some were family. Was I crazy to get married at such a “young” age?

Well let me give you three reasons I decided to get married when I did.

1. I met a godly woman

As an eighteen year-old freshman in Bible college, I wasn’t actively looking for a wife, but God saw fit to introduce me to a young woman after his heart. She was beautiful, but more importantly she loved Jesus. She was aware that she was a sinner in need of God’s grace, and she had a humble, teachable heart. We ended up being part of the same church, so I got to watch her serve, grow, and faithfully give her time to others. I began to talk to my inner circle about her. My friends, mentors, and pastors all agreed - she is a beast! I could see myself walking with her and loving her for the rest of my life.

2. I was ready

By this time I began to think about the reality of marriage and what it means to commit yourself to someone for a lifetime. I asked myself whether or not I was mature and responsible enough. I searched through the Scriptures and thought about the responsibilities of a husband, and talked to married friends and mentors. After lots of prayer and conversation, my mentors and the pastors in my church told me they thought I was ready to pursue her. I was like, “Amen!” But I would not have pursued her if I thought I was not prepared to spiritually lead her, provide for her, and to be the head of a family.

3. Marriage is a blessing

At first I felt like I had to prove to the naysayers that getting married young is ok sometimes. But when I looked in the Scriptures I didn’t find stuff like, “Marriage equals death! Flee from it!” or, “Put marriage off until you can’t put it off any longer,” or, “Only get married when you’re too old to enjoy life,” or, “Play the field for a while and then pick the best one.”

Instead I found commands like, “Flee youthful lust”, and I read passages like Proverbs 18:22 that says, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.”

So when people say, “What possessed you to get married so young?” my new response is, “You’re asking the wrong question.” I think at the root of that question is the assumption that marriage steals something away from me, as if my youth is being wasted in committed sacrificial love when it could be used for casual pleasure and flakiness.

Marriage is a beautiful gift from God! It is a means of grace. I found a wife, and that is a good thing. I don’t agree with the logic that says, put off God’s richest blessings as long as you can. Instead I would say enjoy God’s good gifts and steward them for His glory.

This is not to say that everyone should get married when I did. It would have gone bad if I would have tried to get married before I was ready. Some of us do need to mature more, and others of us need to pray for contentment and trust the Lord and His timing. My goal is not to say that the younger you get married, the more holy you are. I just want to dispel the myth that we should delay adulthood and we should only consider marriage when we are thirty and older.

No Regrets

Last night on twitter someone asked me if I regret getting married so young. My answer? Absolutely not.

It’s one of the best decisions I ever made. I’m happier and holier than I was two and a half years ago, and that’s a good thing. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m some super rare anomaly. I know plenty of folks who got married just as young or younger than me. They too saw marriage as a gift and they’ve seen the fruit of that gift. Me and my wife may be young now, but I’m praying for grace to love my wife well until the end of our lives. Until then I want to obey the wisdom of the Proverbs and “rejoice in the wife of my youth.”

(It's so hard to find pics of both of them.)


Jessica's Perspective

1. I found a godly man

When I first met Trip, I was not planning on getting married anytime soon. But from the very first time we went out, I knew there was something different about him. He was passionate about the Gospel in a way that I had never seen before in a guy my age. I also never met someone with such a wise perspective on dating. Thanks to his discipleship before college he knew exactly what he thought a godly relationship should look like and he wasn’t willing to compromise that.

I will admit that I struggled with this at first. It seemed too serious and excessive. But over time the Lord began to show me the wisdom in a relationship saturated with community, sexual AND emotional purity, and dating for the purpose of marriage. If you’re not ready to be married, then its probably not a good idea to engage each others hearts. In Song of Solomon we are warned not to awaken love before its time. As women, we are very emotional beings and so when I met a man who was passionate about conducting our relationship in a way that would guard my heart, I knew I found a keeper :)

2. We were encouraged by the people in our lives

During our courtship we asked certain people to be intimately involved in our relationship. They would keep us accountable to our boundaries and help us make wise decisions about our relationship. We also went through premarital counseling before we even got engaged. These two things allowed for us to seek the wisdom of older, wiser brothers and sisters about whether or not it was a good idea to get married. God has given us pastors and mentors from our local church for a reason. They help us think through our decisions wisely and give a godly outside perspective. Relationships that are conducted in isolation are putting couples at serious risk of sin and unwise decision making. I would really encourage dating couples to have other believers from your community intimately involved in their relationship.

3. The Lord showed me the beauty of marriage

As a freshman in college I had what I like to call Superwoman Syndrome. I was very independent and career driven, very opposed to the idea of needing a man. I don’t think there is anything wrong with being independent or career driven, but in my heart it was more than that. I was despising God’s design for men and women. I would have never said that out loud, but if I was honest, I was frustrated with what I thought the Bible had to say about women. We are weaker, we can’t teach, we can’t lead, we aren’t the head of the household, and my very favorite, we are to have a gentle and quiet spirit. I thought I had anything but a gentle and quiet spirit and I wasn’t interested in changing my personality. All of these thoughts led me to think that marriage was something that would hold me back. It would keep me from pursuing all the career dreams I had and some day I would end up with 10 and half babies on a farm somewhere.

Thankfully, over the years the Lord has taught me and showed me what it really looks like to be a godly woman. Being a godly woman isn’t defined by what you do or don’t do. I know plenty of godly women who faithfully serve the Lord in a corporate job and countless women who serve their children and husbands faithfully at home. Biblical womanhood is about understanding God’s unique role for us as women and delighting in the beauty of Gods design.

As a married woman I have learned so much about what it means to be a godly women and I don’t feel chained down by my husband or my marriage. God’s design for marriage is for our good and His glory. Knowing and believing that gave me the confidence to marry at the age of 22. Two and half years later, I don’t have any regrets, and I can only pray that the Lord continues to bless our marriage.



Praying that the Barfield's (Trip's real last name) have a safe pregnancy and delivery. Knowing Trip I'm pretty sure their child will have no excuse before the Lord.



If you didn't know now you do. Actress, Tamera Mowry-Housley was married last year May 15th to Adam Housley, a correspondent for Fox News.


Tamera talks about her and her husband's choice to be celibate during their dating.

Interviewer: You mentioned on your show that you and Adam decided not to shack up. Does that mean you went the Sherri Shepherd route and decided not to sex it up either?

Tamera: I’ll be very very honest. (Laughs embarrassingly) We decided, it was both of our decision, not to live together for religious reasons. I’m being very honest. We actually didn’t wait before we got married to be intimate…but we did wait 3 years. (The two have been together for 6 years). I wanted to do what felt right for me. I became re-virginized. It’s something that just felt right for me. It was just a personal choice. And even after being intimate, we decided as a couple to be celibate until the wedding.





They originally weren't looking to have kids soon but an "amazing" visit to South Africa changed their mind and now the Housley's are expecting their first little one in November.



Tamera's younger twin sister, Tia gave birth to a little boy whom she and her husband named Cree. Tia said she's happy for her sister and glad that Cree will have a playmate now.





Congrats yall!! I thank God for every little being He sends to us and I pray they all grow up healthy and strong. Most of all I pray that God reigns in their hearts and becomes their salvation from this world.


 I hope you're encouraged :D,
Tempress

Comments

  1. Wow! this is amazing to read and process. Blessings and thanks for the encouragement <3 To God be the Glory.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This was an excellent read! I loved every bit of this! I must say, though, the Joel Osteen advertisement at the bottom is a major no-no lol. Joel is heretical in his teaching and not very knowledgeable about the Bible. He says a lot of "i think", "to ME" and "i don't know" instead of teaching, preaching and explaining the Bible.

    ReplyDelete
  3. To all the commenters so far. I'm very thankful that this was able to help someone at all.

    To the third commentator I totally agree. I believe Joel Osteen is a false teacher, a wolf in sheep's clothing. I however have no control over what is advertised. It's all google's doing. I didn't agree with the psychic ad that they placed at the end of my blog "WAS..." either. But the ads change every once in a while. I'm sorry about that and I'll look into seeing if there's anything I can do about it. I don't want anyone to get mislead into thinking that I support something I'm totally against.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looka hea, ion care no mo bout Trip. hes ah cheater bt ii still wuv him antyways ! waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! wwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Why he had to do Dhat mne. im almost eighteen. he culda waited. aha! im jusx kiddin. Dhat mne has ah beautiful wife &nd Dhey gon have a beautiful child (fingers crossed for a Trip, jr.) God bless Dhem both ! <3 yall !

    ReplyDelete
  5. wow this has opened up my eyes for my relationship im in now. im greatful that you have posted these articles. Me personally i was concerned about getting married at a young age. I'm not married now but my boyfriend is serious about getting married and we love eachother very much but in the back of my mind i was thinking we were too young and i havent lived yet but to be honest i dont care. Living is to be happy and if marring young makes you happy then so be it if that person is the one. I was just thinking about what others would say but now my thoughts have cleared up a bit. So thank you once again and good luck to trip lee and his wife!

    ReplyDelete
  6. hi triple u and ur wife r a beautiful couple and ur son is so cute congrats

    ReplyDelete
  7. 10 and half babies,lol

    ReplyDelete

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