Purity Rings - What They Mean

If you are like me, you may have noticed a lot of teenage girls wearing rings.  A lot of times it is just a fashion statement, but for some it means a whole lot more.

A few months ago my parents gave me a purity ring.  Some of you may have seen other girls with these on, and some of you may have one.  If you don't already have one, you may be wondering what the big deal is with these purity rings, and if they have special meaning to those of us who have one.  Hopefully I can answer most, if not all, of your questions by telling you about my own purity ring.

If you don't already know this, I am a fairly emotional person.  I like to let my heart lead instead of my head.  I also have very strong convictions about certain things.  Since this is part of my personality, my purity ring represents my commitment to emotional purity.  Yes, it reminds me that I am committed to physical purity for my whole life, but the emotional aspect if the most important for me.  What do I mean by emotional purity?  I am not to give myself away in any relationship by the things I say or do.  This means that I have to proceed cautiously and prayerfully in order to keep my emotions in check while I explore what God's plan is for me.

When I was given my ring, my parents used a triangle to illustrate the way that I should build a relationship.  In this triangle, they guy and the girl are drawing closer to each other because of their mutual faith in God.  He is what draws them together and ultimately someday will sustain your marriage.  When you are in a relationship, you will need to take your heart out of the matter for a while and evaluate (with your head) whether or not the other person in the relationship is helping you to grow closer to God.  If not, then proceed with caution.  You may need to consider ending the relationship.  This is the second thing that I think of when I look at my purity ring.

My purity ring has a verse on it.  It says Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord, "plans for prosperity and not for harm.  Plans to give you a future and a hope."  This is the third thing that my purity ring reminds me of.  I am reminded that God is in control and that He knows better than I ever could what is best for me.  He loves me more than anyone else and will never do anything to hurt me.  My God is AWESOME!!!

I hope that this answers some of your questions about purity rings.  Don't hesitate to ask me what it means to me.  I would love to share with you.
If you have any questions, please email me.  sistersinchrist.girlz@gmail.com

  

Pride vs. True Humility

"True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less."
                                                                                -C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

So often, we think the exact opposite of this statement.  We feel like tearing ourselves up and making ourselves out to be less than we think we are is true humility.  We go to great lengths to tell ourselves that we aren't very good at what we do, we aren't very pretty, or we are just downright not very good people.  All the while we know that all of the statements that we have just made about ourselves are not true at all.  But, we think that by tearing ourselves up constantly like this, we are showing true humility.  I hate to break the news to you, but this is actually a form of pride.

Look up at that quote again.  "True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less."  What do we learn from this quote?  Even though we feel like we are being extremely humble by putting ourselves down all the time, we are actually being extremely prideful by thinking constantly of ourselves.  It doesn't matter if the thoughts are good or bad, it only matters the amount of time that we spend concentrating on ourselves instead of others.

So, if putting myself down all the time is not true humility, then what is?  True humility comes when we are seeking the best for others and putting them before ourselves.  Once we start concentrating our time on others, then we will not only have less time to think about ourselves, but we will also be practicing humility.  Once you do this, be careful that you do not begin to pride yourself on your humility, or all of your hard work towards it will go out the window.  Humility will take a lot of persistent hard work, and that work will continue all throughout your lifetime.

Philippians 2:3-4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit.  Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests, but each of you to the interests of the others.

(This post was inspired by a few comments my pastor [Jay Childs] made in his sermon yesterday.)

What is True Love?

Well, Valentines Day is back and along with it come some questions.  What is true love?  Will I ever find someone that loves me?  How do I know if I love someone?  There are more, but I would like to address the first one - what is true love?

Most teenagers today would probably interpret it as a boyfriend/girlfriend that really loves them and gives them gifts and fulfills all of their desires.  So, if this is true love, am I losing out on something by not being involved in a dating relationship?  Absolutely not!  If we subscribe to the world's definition of true love, then we should all go "shopping" for a date immediately!

Fortunately, as Christians, we have a better definition of true love.  This example is found in Jesus on the cross.  John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son (Jesus) that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."  You might be asking, "What is the big deal?  He died on a cross--end of story."  No, not end of story.  To really understand this, we need to back up a little.  Jesus came to earth as a baby when He could have stayed in heaven as God.  He came here to die.  But this is where it gets amazing.  Jesus was a perfect sinless man.  Romans 3:23 tells us that if you sin (something we all do) you deserve to die.  So since Jesus was sinless, why did He have to die?  Because of love.  (Yes, we are finally getting back to our original topic.)  Jesus loved us (the whole world--a bunch of lousy sinners) so much, that He was willing to come to the earth and die for our sins!  Not only did He die for the sins of all of those around Him, but the sins of the whole world--now and forevermore.

I hope now when you wonder what true love is, you will remember what Jesus did for you on the cross, and the true love that He showed to us.  There is more to the story of Jesus (a lot more) but there isn't time for me to write all of that here.  Please contact me at sistersinchrist.girlz@gmail.com if you have any questions.

Happy Valentines Day!  

Two Lessons God Taught Me This Year...

This past summer/winter, God has been teaching me about patience and His sovereignty.

It began this summer when I didn't get scheduled to work the first week of Camp Agape (day camp where I work in the summers).  When I looked at the schedule, I was really surprised and really disappointed.  I felt that if I didn't get to work right at the beginning of the summer, I wouldn't get to know the kids well, and I would not build the same kind of relationships with them that I was sure the other counselors would have.

After I got over my initial disappointment, I began looking around to see what I could get done in my week off.  That week, I was able to finish some overdue schoolwork, and I also learned that sometimes God's timing isn't the same as mine.  I was able to build really great relationships with the kids and staff during the weeks that I worked, and overall, I felt like God had taught me a lot through the many experiences I had while working at that camp.

Well, that was one of the lessons from the summer...

Some of you know that I play the violin quite seriously.  In November of last year, I had been practicing about 2 hours a day, and I was progressing quickly on my instrument and really enjoying it.  I had auditioned into the highest ensemble at my youth orchestra program, and I was having the time of my life with my music and all of the new things that I was learning.

Performing with an orchestra in early November

Until...

A few days after Thanksgiving, I suddenly had a sharp pain in my hand/wrist while I was playing.  I stopped practicing for that day, and came back to it the next day.  The pain continued--in fact, it got worse.  Almost my whole lower arm (elbow to hand) hurt when I played.  It was at that point that I realized that I probably had tendonitis.  (Tendonitis is when the tendons in your arm become inflamed.  It is usually caused by tension.  In my case, the tension is in my violin playing.)  The next day, we contacted my violin teacher to tell her what was going on and that I wouldn't be able to come to my lesson the next day.  To make a long story short...  It has been about two and a half months since I got tendonitis, and I still have it.  It is really frustrating for me, especially when I realize how much it is holding me back in my violin playing.

You are probably wondering why I wrote this long story about how I got tendonitis when this post is supposed to be about the lessons that God has been teaching me this year.  Well, here is how it relates.

I still haven't figured out why God would let this happen to me, and I am not sure I ever will, but
I am learning to be content with that fact.  Ultimately, I am learning about God's sovereignty.  At my church the last several weeks, our pastor has been speaking a lot about God's sovereignty.  That really spoke to me.  Even thought I struggle with the "why," I know that He is always in control, and that His plan is what is best for me.  Now, I am learning to lean on Him when it gets hard to keep going.

I hope that you have been encouraged by the things that I have learned this past year, and I would love to hear how God has been working in your life!  God bless you!