There is something unique about allowing your heart to be vulnerable to another human being.

Relationships provide that opportunity. As you explore the experience of “doing life" alongside someone, you recognize that your life is strongly influenced and highly impacted by that person. Your actions, decisions, language, emotions, wants and desire begin to echo and mirror theirs.

I recognize that nobody is perfect, but this knowledge creates in my heart a level of desire and expectation for the person I walk alongside in a relationship.

I'm learning that the gamechanger to a relationship is dating someone who loves Jesus — and dating someone that loves Jesus more than you.

Jesus has a way of filling believers with an overwhelming amount of joy. When a person is pursuing a relationship with the Lord and preaching the Gospel to themselves each and every day, they allow Jesus to work in their lives. They allow Jesus to open their eyes to all His beauty and wonderful works.

When your significant other that has an unwavering excitement about life and Jesus, the overflow of that will trickle down into your life.

When Jesus' presence is unbelievably evident in the life of your significant other, Jesus' will become more present in your own life.

The way you communicate and make decisions as a couple is an entirely different process when the person you love has a giant blinking arrow to Jesus. Conversation is deeper, more intentional, and more loving. Hardships and trials are handled in a more mature manner. Their love for the Lord is pouring out over you at all times.

There's no pressure to be perfect when they love the Lord more than you. They already have perfection in their life. They know He's the only thing perfect.

They still have expectations of you, but they understand you are going to fail, just like they are.

When someone makes you their God, instead of Jesus, it's suffocating. You're trapped in the pressure of being perfect. We are not meant to be worshipped, but to worship. When you're dating someone who loves Jesus more than you, they don't worship you. The pressure for perfection is absent, and instead, together you are able to praise Jesus for His perfection alongside one another.

Your identity in Christ is able to be seen in how they treat you. You are able to feel respected and treasured. Their heart is the Lord's, and because of that, they strive to honor you as a daughter or son of the King. Your beauty, your value — it all feels more real when a person who adores the creator of the world adores you too. There's no greater adoration another human being places on you than when they give their relationship with you to the Lord, and say to Him, “Do your will, Jesus, while I honor them and who they are in you."

The greatest relationships are those that challenge you. What better way to be challenged than by a person that loves Jesus more than anything else in the world? It's sanctifying. They help you lean into the Lord instead of them. If I'm going to be pushed, I want it to be towards God. I don't want to be pushed into society, to my significant other, or even to my family. The best thing for me is Jesus. If you're dating a Godly person, in a loving way, they are constructively questioning your choices that don't align with the character of God.

At the end of the day, they recognize that you are the Lord's and not theirs.

They recognize that He is in control, and they aren't. A person who loves Jesus more than you is praying for you.

They see your life unfolding before their eyes, and they take that opportunity to plead with God for you.

They invest Earthly time in you, but ultimately they are praying for eternal reward.

They love Jesus more than you, and because of that, they lift your life up to Him.

They understand you are temporary, and because of that, they will cherish you faithfully. But they also understand that Jesus is eternal, and investing in Him is a much greater reward.