A year ago today, I felt very convicted to start writing this blog about purity. I couldn’t tell you why I thought that I was supposed to start writing, but I felt like God had been so protective over my purity for the past few years and had given me such a passion to help others realize the importance of purity, that I felt the call to start this anonymous blog. When I first started writing, I didn’t think I had enough knowledge or experience to tell others why purity was so important. I was very insecure and embarrassed to write about personal experiences. Through the months of writing this blog, I gained confidence as I gained followers and likes on my posts, which created pride within me that was unnecessary. I finally had to decide that this blog would only be serving its purpose if I wrote what I felt God was placing on my heart with an attitude of humility in order to glorify God in everything I did.
God has been constantly at work in my life over the past year, and it blows my mind to connect all of the dots of the events of the past year and see a little bit more of God’s plan for my life. I am continually amazed at how much God focuses on tiny details of our lives and connects the tiny details to make up our personality and our growth in Him.
Sometimes, God doesn’t follow the plan you have set out for your life. I have a hard time accepting that God is in complete control, and I have to sit back and let Him have reign over my life. This past week, God has revealed so many things to me about His plan for me that I never expected. At first, it was hard to digest a different plan for my life. However, throughout this week, I have come to be more in awe of Christ than ever before because of His perfect, perfect plans that He has for all of His children.
A few things that God has taught me through writing this blog for the past year:
1) Be humble: God should receive all of the glory in everything you do in your life. He is the reason for your success. Do what you are called to do, but give Him all of the credit and glory for triumph.
2) Tell your story: there is a specific reason for all of the trials and victories that you have experienced in your lifetime. Your trials will not do any good unless you learn from them and get back up and tell other people of how God worked through that trial in your life. You may not think your story is important, but God views you and your story as extremely important.
3) Be vulnerable: This was one of the toughest lessons for me to learn. In order to build strong relationships with accountability partners and romantic relationships, you have to be vulnerable. I have a really hard time being weak and showing my flaws to the people around me. However, I learned that sometimes, you have no choice but to be vulnerable and let that other person see your weaknesses. Strength comes after weakness, and you cannot always carry all of the rocks on your own. You need to share your burdens with those around you, so that you may grow strong together in Christ. God created one another so that we could lift each others burdens and encourage one another.
4) Let God have control: God does have a plan, even if it is hard for us to see. In the midst of trials, pray that He will reveal His plan to you and trust that He will protect you from harm. This is such a difficult lesson to learn, but God loves you so much that He has a perfect plan for your life.
5) Praise Him in every circumstance: Praise God when you are happy and praise Him when you are sad. Praise God when you are confused, hurt, angry, or thankful. I definitely do not have this lesson completely integrated into my heart, but writing in this blog has helped me to try to remember that I should praise God in every circumstance.
6) Temptations are a real thing. Everyone has weaknesses and struggles. By focusing on the Lord and His glory, Satan will flee and temptations will lighten. God cares about your temptations. It may be humiliating to tell God about your impure thoughts and actions, but He already knows your heart. Confessing to the Lord will help you to refocus your thoughts and actions on His glory. It is a humbling experience to pray that God take away your temptations.
7) God made us pure: God intends for us to be pure beings: becoming one with our spouses. It is important to Him that we follow His design for sex inside of marriage. Today’s society tells us a completely different message through sexy advertisements and television shows that focus on sex. It is hard to believe that purity is the right mindset to have when the rest of the world is against that idea. However, it is worth the wait. God designed a pure relationship to reflect the unique relationship between husband and wife.
8) God is FULL of Grace: As mentioned before, God wants us to live a life of purity. However, our God is a God full of Grace. He cleanses our hearts and bodies when we ask Him to. He shows us so much love and mercy and will renew us each morning to create new hearts for us. Everyone falls, and nobody has fallen too far to receive God’s grace. I believe 100% that God will help you reclaim your purity if you have regrets from previous relationships and experiences. He will make you white as snow. All you have to do is ask.
9) Do not settle: As mentioned 50 times before in this blog post, God has a plan for you. He wants you to participate in the divine romance that He is offering to you for your entire life. He wants you to know Him deeply and keep His love as a priority in your life. I have been in the position before where I have ignored God’s cry to me to take part in His divine romance, only wanting a romantic relationship to sweep my heart away. In that mindset, we settle for a relationship that cannot satisfy our spiritual beings that need to depend on God. It is so important to look for a man that will encourage you to love God more than you love Him. I strongly believe that is the key to having a successful, healthy relationship.
10) God is much bigger than we can even imagine. This week especially, I have learned this important lesson. It has become very clear to me the reason that God wanted me to start this blog exactly a year ago. I encountered a situation where someone very close to me revealed the impact that my blog has made on his life. I am more encouraged than ever that God is so big and that He can do anything. I am determined to continue trying to use all of my words to further the Kingdom of God. I was able to explore a small section of the world for the past few months and my eyes were opened wide to see that God is huge. I appreciate His power and majesty even more, because of His beautiful creation in nature. I also have to remind myself that God made all of His children as beautiful creations that He holds dear to Him.
Thank you, supportive readers, for following this blog for the past year. I hope to learn more about myself and the awesome God we serve in this next year and encourage you as much as possible. I just want to remind you that this blog is not about me or any wisdom that I may think I have. I hope to glorify God in all that I do and use His words to encourage others. Thank you for reading again! Please let me know if there are specific things I should blog about or pray for.
Women in White 