1 True Talks
1 True Talks
Guarding Your Heart: Faith-Based Strategies for Navigating Modern Dating
What if you could safeguard your heart while navigating the unpredictable world of dating? Join me, as we uncover essential strategies for maintaining emotional and spiritual balance in your relationships. Drawing from the timeless wisdom of Proverbs and Ephesians, we’ll delve into the importance of curating a positive inner circle and being selective about what you share. This episode promises to provide you with the insights you need to protect your heart and ensure that it remains a strong foundation for your life.
You’ll learn how to set healthy boundaries that prevent emotional and spiritual exhaustion, and why not everyone deserves a front-row seat in your life. We’ll discuss practical tips for evaluating those around you and ensuring they uplift and encourage your faith. Whether you’re actively dating or offering support to a friend, this episode is packed with invaluable advice designed to help you navigate relationships with wisdom and grace. Grab your notebook and prepare to enrich your love life with thoughtful, faith-based guidance.
Hi, I'm Renee Rochell, the founder and president of One True Match. I'm here to help you find and cultivate the love of your life. For over a decade, I've dedicated my life to the importance, purpose and dynamic of human relationships. My team and I are disciplined by faith, love and integrity to help our clients find the quality relationship they've always dreamt of. Each week, I will be sharing the tools and tips I've learned that have rooted my success as a matchmaker with other leaders around the world. Hello, loves, welcome back.
Renee Richel:I am so excited to be sitting here with you and continuously talk about all things relationship and love and God to give you the strength and give you the courage in all scenarios that you are in right now so that you can live a more loving and enriched life. So today we're going to talk about is how to guide and protect your heart in dating. So, whether this is for you or a friend, or whoever you know needs this words of encouragement, or yourself, please listen attentively and, if you are driving, listen to this later, when you can actually write down some of these notes, because today what we're going to do is we are going to explore why it's important to keep a close inner circle, why you shouldn't share everything with everyone, and how to protect yourself from getting burned out or emotionally and spiritually exhausted. So let's dive in by starting off with I love Proverbs 4, 23. Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. This verse sets the stage for our conversation today. Our hearts are precious and it is our responsibility to protect them.
Renee Richel:So let's start with number one, which is keep a close inner circle. Not everyone deserves a front row seat. It's important to be selective about who you allow into your inner circle. This doesn't mean shutting people out, but rather being wise about who you trust with your deepest thoughts, feelings, emotions and dreams. Biblical insight says that Proverbs 13, 20,. Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffer harm. Your inner circle should be made up of people that uplift you, encourage your faith and challenge you to grow closer to the Lord. The top five people you hang out with and you surround yourself with are those behaviors that will emulate the reaction in ways that you are. Proverbs 22, 24 through 25 says do not make friends with a hot-tempered person. Do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. Take time to evaluate the people in your life. Are they drawing you closer to the Lord? Do they respect your boundaries and, if not, it may be time to reassess the place of them in your inner circle.
Renee Richel:Number two don't tell everyone. Everything In a world that encourages us to especially your struggles and heartaches is precious and should be handled with care. Ephesians 3.7 reminds us that there is a time to be silent and a time to speak. Knowing when to speak and when to stay silent is the key to guarding your heart. You can still be vulnerable without bearing your soul to someone and telling them your whole life story. Before sharing, ask yourself why am I sharing this? Is this person trustworthy? How will this impact me if this information gets out? These questions can help you to decide when to speak and when to hold back.
Renee Richel:Number three I would say would be how to protect yourself from getting burned. We've all been hurt before and while we can't avoid pain entirely, we can take steps to minimize it. Set healthy boundaries for yourself is so important. For example, one boundary might be limiting how much time you spend with people who drain you emotionally. Spend with people who drain you emotionally. Another example could be. Don't discuss certain topics with people who have betrayed your trust in the past. Protecting your heart is not selfish, it's wise. God wants us to love others, but he also calls us to be wise as serpents and innocent as a dove Matthew 10, 16.
Renee Richel:Another great tip that I think is really beneficial and helpful in today's day and age of everybody dating right and just meeting so many people and having so almost too many options of ways to meet people when they're not fully vetted and they're not fully, as we call it, verified in the matchmaking industry, and you're just out there dating right. Is it's really important to not date, just to date? I cannot tell you how many stories of endless heartbreaks I have heard from individuals that you know they just date somebody because they're attractive or they're hot or they're. You know they look great on, you know the CV or the profile, and so you constantly just keep dating and what you're really dating is just the surface and you're just dating the shell. And you know our next topic that we're going to talk about. I know coming up is all about.
Renee Richel:You know emotional connection and attraction and all of that, and so part of protecting and guarding your heart is making sure that you don't just date to date and you don't get into this habit that is so emotionally draining and psychologically damaging long-term by just dating a ton of people. So remember, when it comes to dating, choose wisely, date less, pray more and be patient during the journey of who God brings you at the right time and vet them of who God brings you at the right time and vet them, verify them. That's what we do truly as a matchmaker. In today's world, it is so hard to meet the love of your life in the path of the direction that people are going, because it's swiping right, it's swiping left, it's a quick here, quick there, and we're really not having the deeper, engaging conversations that we should have because everybody's out of practice of that. So remember to you know, not only protect your heart to choose wisely but also date less and date quality over quantity.
Renee Richel:I would definitely advise, because we see that all the time and a lot of our clients. They want a plethora of options because they're so used to that when it comes to the online dating world, and we always tell them our job is to do all the legwork and go through all the interviewing and then weed it down to who the top few literally two or three people are, and have conversation back and forth with our client of who the best match would be for them, not only for today but in the future, and then choosing one to see where the Lord guides both of them in conversation and direction, getting the feedback to know is this something that is going to grow together or is this something that's going to start to, in time, not be the right match? So remember, when you're out there, dating date for the future husband or wife you're looking for, opposed to dating just to date because you're bored. Number four in closing would be as we close today, I want you to remember that protecting your heart is a form of self-care.
Renee Richel:Look at it as self-love. It is about being wise with your emotions, your time and your trust. Committing to being intentional about who you let in your inner circle and how much you share is really important. Remember, above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows through it, like we said earlier in Proverbs 4.23. I hope that you have found this helpful and beneficial.
Renee Richel:This is something that is a tough subject that I know everybody constantly is going back and forth with in their own minds and when it comes to dating, it's a very personal and obviously can be daunting and sometimes confusing scenario. So I hope that these tips help you next time you are out there trying to come up or share what I always call it your highlight reel of what is important to share and when with the right individuals. Remember, god has built you as a temple and your body is something. Your body, mind and spirit is something that he has built preciously together, so protect it and guard it with all of your heart until you give it to the right hands. Next week, tune in and we are going to be talking about building emotional intimacy beyond physical attraction, which I love this topic and have so many stories to share with you, just in general, from our clients going through this huge life lesson that we're going to talk about next week.
Renee Richel:If you have not listened to our other podcasts, we talk about relationships, all things from dating, engaged and married. Every Thursday, tune in and like, subscribe and share this video with all of your friends so the world can be spread with more healthy love boundaries and emotional relationship advice that will help not only you and your dear friends to have and find the love of their life. I hope you have a wonderful week and can't wait till our next chat. It's been another great talk on this episode of One True Talks by Renee Richel. I look forward to our next chat. Please write in your questions and comments so I can be sure to talk about whatever it is you want to discuss in our next upcoming episode. Lots of love, god bless XOXO.