God Hears Her 40-Day Devotional Journal

As Christmas draws closer, we may have certain pictures of what peace will look like in this season. Whether it’s family gathered around a home-cooked meal, friends exchanging lovingly purchased or homemade presents, or baking cookies with children who never tire of decorating and always keep the frosting on the cookies and not on their clothes, it’s a season that breeds big expectations, even if we try to temper them.

“I’ve been feeling like it’s wrong, the whole sex-outside-of-marriage thing.” I broached the subject with Bill tentatively, not sure what he’d say, still grappling with my own thoughts. We’d moved to Madison, Wisconsin, a year and a half before to start our careers and had rented an apartment together, then built a house. We’d never once questioned the morality of it.