{"id":3487,"date":"2012-11-05T01:00:45","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T07:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=3487"},"modified":"2013-01-24T22:29:42","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T03:29:42","slug":"lady-in-waiting-lady-of-puritydeadly-deception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/05\/lady-in-waiting-lady-of-puritydeadly-deception\/","title":{"rendered":"Lady in Waiting: Lady of Purity \/ Deadly Deception"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Girls, I want to be honest with you from the start, this chapter was a struggle for me.\u00a0 As I read through it, a lot of feelings of shame and embarrassment came up for me.\u00a0 Feelings I honestly didn\u2019t even know I had.\u00a0 Then followed the thoughts of, \u201cHow am I ever going to talk to these women about purity, when as a single, never married mom, it is obvious I am not \u201cpure\u201d.\u201d\u00a0 I can say this much to you all.\u00a0 I have been saved for 3 \u00bd years, and I have made the commitment to remain pure until the Lord sees fit to show me the man He has planned for me.\u00a0 I have not had a perfect past, but I ask for your grace as we travel through this topic of purity together.<\/p>\n

We live in such a sexually charged society don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Sexual promiscuity seems more the norm than the exception to the rule.\u00a0 Yet as Jesus girls, we are held to a higher standard, we have a higher calling.\u00a0 God wants better for us.\u00a0 The temptations to compromise physically are all around us, but we are called to be ladies of purity.<\/p>\n

This is not a situation unique to 2012.\u00a0 If you look back to the time of Ruth, her story took place in the time of the judges \u2013 a time of disobedience, idolatry and violence.\u00a0 These were dark days for Israel, when \u201ceveryone did as he saw fit.\u201d\u00a0 Sound familiar?\u00a0 So to think that Ruth had it any easier than we do in modern society would be fooling ourselves.\u00a0 So how do we, like Ruth, safeguard our special treasure and stay women of purity?\u00a0 We will spend the next week trying to figure it all out together.<\/p>\n

The deadliest deception we face in today\u2019s society is that we should seek its ultimate pleasures because that will give us the least pain.\u00a0 More often than not, the exact opposite is true.\u00a0 As far as guidance on the topic of sex before marriage, look no farther than our Heavenly Father.\u00a0 God intends for us to enjoy the pleasure of sex within marriage only.\u00a0 The joy of such an intimate act between two people is maximized when both of you remain pure.\u00a0 We, especially as women, can get caught up in the fantasy of it, the romance of it, but there is always the truth, His truth: Sex is special!\u00a0 Not sensuous sex, but satisfying sex in your Creator\u2019s will and time.<\/p>\n

We are worth more my dear women of faith.\u00a0 We are worth more than a temporary pleasure that is likely to lead to the sting of regret.\u00a0 We are worth more than having a man try to lure you into something you don\u2019t want, by using manipulation.\u00a0 We are worth the joy and pleasure and love that our Heavenly Father has waiting for us.\u00a0 Believe it, believe Him.<\/p>\n

LET\u2019S PRAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, it is so easy for us to be lured by the traps of today\u2019s society and the pleasure seeking, selfish ways of this world.\u00a0 But we know you have so much more for us.\u00a0 We are a precious gift, not to be given away freely.\u00a0 Help to give us strength when we feel weak.\u00a0 Show each and every woman reading this her worth.\u00a0 We are special, and in Your strength we prepare to give ourselves only to the man you have chosen specifically for us in your will and in your time.\u00a0 We ask this in Your Holy Name.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n

YOUR ASSIGNMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Is staying pure a difficult aspect to your single life?\u00a0 Is it something that is easy for you to cope with?\u00a0 In either situation, why do you think that is?\u00a0 What strategies do you have, or can you come up with, to help stay pure in today\u2019s world?<\/p>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

For the \u201cLady in Waiting\u201d Bible Study, you will need the book, your Bible, pen or pencil, a highlighter and a quiet place. You can order the book right through our website by clicking the \u201csign-up here\u201d button at the top of our webpage; which is also where you can sign up to participate in this awesome bible study!<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Girls, I want to be honest with you from the start, this chapter was a struggle for me.\u00a0 As I read through it, a lot of feelings of shame and embarrassment came up for me.\u00a0 Feelings I honestly didn\u2019t even know I had.\u00a0 Then followed the thoughts of, \u201cHow am I ever going to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[144,146,147,218,293,365,425,436,545,554,593,686,723,1174,9297,968],"class_list":["post-3487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-singles","tag-bible","tag-bible-studies","tag-bible-study","tag-christianity","tag-debby-jones","tag-faith","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-god","tag-jackie-kendall","tag-jesus","tag-lady-in-waiting","tag-michelle-graziano","tag-online-bible-studies","tag-self-worth","tag-singles","tag-singles-bible-study","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-Uf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8282,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3487\/revisions\/8282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}