Yada Part 4

As Dr. Juli Slattery in he book God Sex and Your Marriage said, "There were other compartments of our marriage in which Mike and I talked and shared vulnerably. We were good teammates and friends. But sex was different. We never shared openly about our sexual struggles, disappointments, desires, and longings. It's almost as if when sex was involved, we pressed pause on our friendship so our bodies could do what they were supposed to do. We were just too different sexually and sharing about things so personal and vulnerable was uncomfortable."

"When I began to experience such deep intimacy with God, I also began to crave a deeper intimacy with Mike. I couldn't put it into words at the time, but something within me awakened. My heart wanted to love and be loved in ways that I'd never experienced before. I wanted sex to be more than duty or going through the motions, I wanted to connect intimately with my husband. I wanted yada."

"This awakening to yada helped me see that all of the sexual challenges we had faced over many years of marriage were also invitations to intimate knowing. Could I share my insecurities with him? Could I strain to understand his perspective and experience without lashing out in anger? Could we talk about sexual temptation without the fear of rejection?"

"Sex without yada is like food without nutrition. God gave you the gift of sex not simply so that your body could experience pleasure, but so that the physical act of becoming one would usher in a deeper knowing and intimacy with one another."

Blessings

PS Final part tomorrow