Purity

I've been so excited about writing this blog post, but I have been waiting until the event was over so I could tell you ALL about it!  I've mentioned in a few previous blogs that I was helping plan a purity event for high school girls.  This is something that the Lord laid on my heart sometime last year.  I started planning but it seemed like it wouldn't work out.  I pushed it out of my mind at that point and was slightly relieved because I knew it'd be such a big undertaking.  A few months ago though, someone asked me about it and I felt like the Lord was telling me that I needed to do this.  I went back to planning and asked two friends who are passionate about purity if they'd like to help.  After many weeks of planning, the event is finally over.  We have been blown away by the way the Lord worked in the hearts of these young girls.  It was such a blessing to be a part of.  Over the past few days I've been reflecting over the joy of being obedient to what the Lord asks even when I feel so inadequate.  I know that we did not do this by our own strength, but with His help.  

I'd love to tell you a little bit about the event!  It was spread out over 3 days.  The first two nights were "seminars." The first night we talked about the lies that the world feeds us.  Girls often struggle with lies that say they're not pretty enough, they're not skinny enough, if only they were like ______then their life would be easier, if they aren't perfect and getting all A's then they're a failure and so on.  We talked about how if we believe these lies then we can't actually be the person that God created us to be.  We broke up into discussion groups and were completely amazed at the girls vulnerability and willingness to share what they struggled with.  We ended the night with the girls writing down the biggest lie that they believe and nailing them to the cross.  We told them that they no longer have to believe these because we know that the Bible is our source of Truth and tells us how we are created perfectly and for a purpose.  We shared that they don't have to live up to the way the world wants them to, but that they should look to the Bible to help them defeat these lies and live a life of freedom.   

Here is the cross that the girls nailed their lies to.  

 The second night we talked about what it means to be a woman and what a blessing that is.  We talked about male's roles and what our roles are.  Jakki, one of the other leaders, did a beautiful job of sharing her own story and what she discovered it meant to be a woman of God.  Then, we talked about what it means to be pure with our mind, heart and body.  Many of the girls had never been told what it means to pure and how we can practically live that out today.  We also had a discussion panel where the girls were allowed to ask any question they wanted.  The questions ranged from dating, what does it mean that God knows us and how can we live a life that honors God.  It was amazing to see the way the Lord was working in these girls hearts and to see the great questions they were asking.

The final night of the purity event was a dinner in the girl's honor.  We are so proud of the 13 girls who came to this event and expressed the desire to learn what it means to live a life of purity.  We wanted to serve them and show them how precious each one of them are!  All of the girls got dressed up and we had the meal catered.

All of the girls ready for dinner!

We asked women who were also passionate about purity to come along side the girls and support them.  The women served the girls dinner and two women shared their testimonies as well as encouraging words for the girls.

One woman encouraging the girls to live a life of purity even though it's difficult.

We then presented purity pledges to the girls.  We didn't want them to sign them right there because we didn't want the girls to feel pressured to do them.  The pledges were personalized to each girl.  We encouraged the girls to take them home and pray over them and then decide if they wanted to make a pledge to stay pure.  The women then surrounded the girls and prayed over them.  Some of the girls were left in tears because they felt so loved.

We finished off the night with dessert!  My baking buddy made this beautiful cake that was a heart wrapped in a bow to represent how special these girl's hearts and they shouldn't give them away to just anyone.   

How amazing is this cake?!

All of the girls that were a part of the event!

This is my wonderful friend Gemma who helped plan the event!  I definitely couldn't have done it without her help!!

What an amazing couple weeks.  If you are at all interested in doing something similar, I would highly recommend the book Culture Shock: Igniting an Integrity and Purity Revolution by Julie Hiramine.  We used this to form the outline of the event and then changed it a bit to fit our group of girls.  Thanks for all of your prayers for this even!