Living Wholeheartedly

Three weeks ago I made a commitment to to God to follow Him 100% again. I don't know why my life has so many ups and downs but right now I am on a up and hope to be so forever. God is giving me strength to live a life of greater purity. It is difficult but God is strong and I rely on Him not myself. The past three weeks have not been perfect, they are not without difficulty, but they have been weeks of freedom.

"Go away and never come back!"

This year I have realized that it is so important to not let the devil get a foothold in your life. Too many people leave the doors of their heart wide open and the devil is able to wreak havoc in their lives. Once he gets his foot in the door it is hard to remove it.

This year I have purposed that I will remove the foot of the devil and then shut and bar the door. I encourage you to do the same. It is hard to give up habitual sins but God gives us the grace to do so. We must "spring clean" our hearts and ask God to remove anything that is unclean. God is holy and He has called us to be holy.

Once the devil's foothold is gone and the sin is gone from your life, you must guard your heart and close the door so he can't return.

Live a life set apart. Live a life of holiness. Live for Christ.

He is My Beloved

I was recently thinking about my purity ring again. When you wear something on your finger all the time it kind of stays in your mind. I wrote about my purity ring last year in October. You can find that post and read it if you want to. I was thinking a little deeper in the symbolism of my ring. I can look at my ring two different ways.

1) The cross is in my heart. The cross symbolizes Jesus' love for me. It also stands for Jesus Himself. He is the dearest thing to me. I love Him more than anything else. I will follow Him anywhere and will never let go of Him. I can't bear to separated from Him. I am utterly miserable without Jesus.

2) The heart is not mine it is Jesus' heart. The heart symbolizes His love for me. He loves me so much that He died for me. He has been pursuing me since I was conceived. He is the ultimate intimate lover of my soul.

So there are two ways of looking at my ring. It stands not only for my love and promise to God, but for His love and promise to me. Now my ring seems so much greater.

Purity Ring

I have been thinking of my purity ring that I wear on the ring finger of my left hand. It is a small silver ring shaped into a design with a heart and a cross in the center. The ring symbolizes that I will save sex for marriage. But it means far more than that. It stands for all the promises that I have made to God.

#1 I will love Him and follow Him forever. God is first in my life and will always be. He created love and He is Love.
#2 God has chosen someone for me to marry. I have promised to wait for him sexually, emotionally and spiritually. I will not have sex or even kiss until I am married.
#3 I will live a life of purity because that is what God has required of me.
#4 I will treat young men as brothers and not play with their hearts.

And above all it has come to symbolize waiting. I must wait. I wait for my husband to be. I wait for God. I wait for Jesus to come. I wait to see His face. I wait for the day I will be pure before God. I wait for the wedding feast. I wait.

The Princess And The Kiss

Last week I spotted a book in the living room. "The Princess and the Kiss" by Jennie Bishop. It is a childrens book written in fairy tale style. I think it is a good book to explain purity to kids who are really young. The story is about a princess who is given a special present from God, a kiss. Her parents keep that present until she is a young woman. Then they give the kiss to her with a warning to be wise and only give it to the man she will marry. Many men come and promise all sorts of things to her if she would marry them. But she realizes that these men would not appreciate or value her kiss. Finally a young man who has saved his kiss comes and they get married and exchange their kisses. It is a real sweet story.