A few years ago my parents bought me a purity ring. It has a pretty blue topaz set in a sterling silver band – just the kind of thing I like. I thought it was a beautiful ring, but it was too big for awhile. Recently I remembered I had it in my jewelry box and thought to try it on. It fits just right. Wearing my ring again really made me consider what it means to me and why I even wear it at all. My ring is not a chastity ring; it is a purity ring. There is a difference. To me, my ring isn’t merely a token of my commitment to “wait” for the guy I will someday marry; it is a symbol of my covenant with God, my covenant to choose Him above all other things in this world. I choose purity because my King has called me to it and I love Him. Many people think that purity is just about abstinence, but it is so much more than that. It is about a way of life.
In Philippians 4:8 Paul urges us to think about “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable.” Purity is about your thoughts, your words, your actions, and your choices. I have chosen Him, and His way is purity. When I said “yes” to Him and to purity, I automatically said “no” to everything else. I will never need to wonder “how far is too far?” There are so many things I will never have to question, and it is all because I said “yes” to One. It is such a beautiful thing! In this day and age, we are constantly being bombarded by words, ideas, images, and choices. The words of Isaiah 1:22 fit what is happening at this time and what has been happening since the beginning of man’s sinfulness: “Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water.” Can you hear the sorrow in those words? In the past we have chosen vile things and corrupt ways. Yet there is another choice before each of us; our Father offers another way, His perfect way: “Come now, let us reason together….Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
These are my words to my generation and to everyone else with a hunger for something different: “pure” doesn’t have to be prudish; you can be pure and still be passionate. You can be innocent without being ignorant. You can be in the world but not of it. And that is precisely what our holy King is calling us to, that we might be “children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which [we] shine like stars in the universe” (Philippians 2:15). On our own, we are not capable of walking in purity. But through Christ, we are empowered to do just that:
‘For the grace of God that brings us salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age…’ (Titus 2:11-12)
God is longing to restore purity in the hearts of His people. He calls out to each of us, “My son, my daughter, walk with me. I have something so much more beautiful for you.” Will you heed His call to purity?
I’m addicted now. It started the summer I was six, when I gave Him all that I had been, all that I was, and all that I would be. It wasn’t until I was ten, though, that He really got my full attention. I was hurting and lonely; and I just felt certain that there was more to be had than what I was seeing. So I began to cry out, and He showed me some of His wonder. I totally broke down. I literally crumpled to the floor in the middle of my bedroom and sobbed. He is so amazing, and I had never truly seen Him before. It was that same year He told me it was time to lay all of me down, to be baptized and let go of everything old to make room for the things He wanted to do in me and through me. He told me it was time to start finding out who He is and digging into His Word.
We are told over and over again in the Bible to give thanks, or rejoice, not only in the things that make us feel good but also in trials and suffering: “Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:20, emphasis added). There are so many things that we could allow to fill us with discontentment and worry, but the truth is that the things we have to be thankful for would far outweigh those other things if we would but open our eyes and see them!
There are a lot of things that make life in our Kenyan apartment in the city very different from our former life in a suburban house in America. For example…
Our water doesn’t just get hot and stay hot all the time – we have to turn on our “water heaters” (which are basically large electric kettles) with a switch on the wall about an hour before we want to use hot water. We have a heater for each bathroom and one under the kitchen sink to heat water for washing dishes.
Many people don’t have “pets” here. They’ll have guard dogs, cattle, goats, chickens, or even a stray cat, but no real family pets. In fact, a majority Kenyans are afraid of dogs, which is why our loving little dogs are such a novelty.
The outlets here need to be turned on and off when you use them. Seriously, they have switches. (Unlike windows with no screens, this is a good idea, especially considering that the power comes out at 220 volts, twice what it does in America.) As a side note, there are no outlets in bathrooms (not a good or convenient plan when it comes to hair styling).
We, like most of the population here, don’t have a clothes dryer. Actually, we do, and it is free, though not always available: the sun. Mom and I, together, spend a total of about twenty hours a week doing laundry for our family of five. It is a lot of work. 
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