Home » Team » Leslie Santiago
 Educator“I LOVE MY HUSBAND,” is a common phrase I hear all the time now. Most of my friends are all married and are enjoying marriage to the fullest. They talk about how much they love their spouses all the time. ALL THE TIME!!! This is a big deal for me because growing up I Never heard that. I didn’t know what marriage was supposed to be like. May parents were never happily married. My father had a bad temper, a strong personality and on top of that he was an alcoholic. My mom was the dream wife every man would want; she cooked, cleaned, took care of my sister and I and she had a full time job. But everything she did was never appreciated by my father. Because of his addiction and his lack of a desire to change, he would abuse my mother emotionally, verbally and mentally. There was always fighting at my house, yelling and disrespectful remarks thrown around. You can just imagine why I didn’t have the slightest desire to get married.
Because I never really had a father figure in my life I always felt empty. I felt like I needed to be encouraged, affirmed and loved by guys. I was never single. I always had a boyfriend but had a tendency to pick the wrong guys for me. He was either emotionally or verbally abusive, the guy who just wanted to get in my pants or the flat out jerk. I would settle for a handsome face but never evaluated his character.
I have a great friend that I’ve known since the first day of my freshman year of high school. She introduced me to a different choice. She taught me about having more respect for myself and that in order for me to get a guy that would truly honor and respect me, I had to honor and respect myself and my body. So I did. I made the decision to be abstinent. Ok, so that sounds like it was a piece of cake…actually it wasn’t. I haven’t always gotten it right. I have had my struggles after I made that decision, but I’ve made it through. My friends have been a great support. All of my friends are also abstinent or were abstinent until they got married. They’ve helped me and encouraged me even when at times I didn’t think it was possible anymore. They reminded me of my worth and taught me that if I have self-control now, I’ll have self-control in my marriage and not have a wandering heart then. I’ve decided that I don’t want to continue the cycle of unhealthy marriages in my family. I want to set a standard for my future children now and even set an example to other adults around me. I want to show young people that good marriages do really exist and they don’t have to settle for less. “Where there is a lack of purpose and WORTH, abuse is inevitable.”
When I was 16 I made a commitment to myself, God and to my future husband (whoever he is) that I will wait until marriage and because of that, I’ll live a safer and healthier life, without drama, pregnancy scares, worrying about catching an STD, getting my heart broken by some fool, or wasting my time with some distraction. Not only do I know my true value, but I now know that I’M WORTH WAITING FOR!
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