Man, I have not blogged consistently in a while. I hate that. I love to write, I love as well keeping you updated on all the happenings in our hood and family. But there is just too much to talk about. I will however, tell you about one thing the LORD is just confirming more and more in my heart.
From the time of salvation I have had an overwhelming burden for girls and their sexual purity. Before Christ and even for a little while after Christ this was my own personal struggle. If I didn't know anything, I knew I wanted the LORD to use me to tell the next generation how important abstinence was. After being married for a short time the LORD lead me to a non profit organization called Sav-A-Life. Here I was a volunteer counselor, teaching and training girls/women on the importance of sexual purity,abortion and STD's. We would offer free pregnancy test, share the gospel and allow each girl to see her baby with a free ultra sound. I watched many women and girls wrestle with the decision to keep their child or either abort. Sadly, some left choosing the latter.
I continued to pray over the next couple of years off and on for the LORD to continue to give me opportunities to share His heart on sex before marriage. Oh, and boy did He!
I am sure you remember this conversation I shared about the girls in my hood as young as fourth grade wanting to have sex. That conversation sparked something serious in my prayer life. As a result of that and many other conversations. The Lord has opened up the door for me to begin a purity club/ bible study in our neighborhood. I cant even begin to tell you how thrilled ( and frightened) I am about this. Beginning at the end of this month, over the course of nine weeks, I will lead (along with the help of other staff) a small group of 13 girls (ages 7-13) through the book The Princess and The Kiss.
The Princess and the Kiss is a marvelous parable of God's gift of purity. A loving king and queen present their daughter with a special gift from God-her first kiss-to keep or to give away. We will have the chance to observe the wise young princess following the counsel of her parents, keeping her kiss safe for the man she will perhaps someday marry. The study will conclude with a purity cermony where each girl will be prayed over with her parents and presented with a certificate and special locket to remind her of her committment to purity. Oh Father, I pray this encourages them to a lifestyle of purity!!!
What a burden... The Lord has confirmed to me through the counsel of my wise husband, staff members and friends that this is definitely something he wants me to do. Even tonight, as I was catching up on my blog readings, I read an article that said, "by the time she is sixteen, a Christian girl has a 50/50 chance of surviving life without the experiences of sexual sin, eating disorders and depression...." it continues on to say, "The foundation for building an emotionally healthy teen girl-who stands free from the norms of an at-risk culture-is built between the ages of 8-12."
8-12?! Lord help us!! The title of the article is Sexual Purity Starts at Seven. I thanked the LORD for more conformation. Please pray for me as I begin to prepare for this 9 week study.
Please pray that the LORD uses this to impact these girls in a HUGE way, pray for what you would believe would be the impossible in this situation and lets watch the LORD answer all of our prayers.
Pray for the mothers and daughters as well...that the LORD would soften their hearts to the truth of the Gospel and that they would joyously live in complete submission to His authority.That these girls would grow to be girls who are wise and pure at heart.
I am overwhelmed at this task, yet I anxiously await to see all that the LORD will accomplish. This sex craze culture is coming full speed a head at these girls. Lets teach them how to be armed with the TRUTH so that when the day of evil comes (which is NOW!!), they may be able to stand.