Pure in Body... A Healthy Body

As I was reading Through Gates of Splendor, (the journey of five missionaries: Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully and Roger Youderian and “Operation Auca”) by Elizabeth Elliot, something very odd and random stood out to me…
Elisabeth Elliot’s first husband, Jim Elliot, was a genius man loaded with talent and passion. But, confusing to those around him, during his college years he didn’t participate in many extracurricular activities—because he didn’t want to become preoccupied with nonessential things and miss the essential things in life. He was devoted to God’s Word and to prayer, and thus he didn’t want to get distracted from what really mattered to him. Talk about commitment!
Even with all of his opportunities, he signed up for only one activity: wrestling.
He wrote to his parents, “I wrestle solely for the strength and coordination of muscle tone that the body receives while working out, with the ultimate end of presenting a more useful body as a living sacrifice.”
Jim Elliot sacrificed everything: great opportunities for excellent careers, fun activities with friends, marrying right away the woman he loved, living in security and staying in a free country, and ultimately—he sacrificed his life.
All for the purpose of fulfilling God’s call on his life to be a “living sacrifice.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought at a price: therefore, glorify God in your body.”
I believe God’s asking us to take care of our bodies: physically, mentally, sexually, and spiritually. He wants us to give ourselves as “living sacrifices” and prepare for the work that He has for us. That means surrendering. It means taking the initiative to take care of ourselves, and take up the attitude of responsibility. It means saying:
I will take care of my body to be better equipped for the Lord’s calling and path for me. My service to Him depends not only on His direction of calling, but on how I’ve taken care of my body… I will take initiative.
If I know not exercising regularly is not good for my body or may cause my body to falter, I will exercise.
If I know eating too much junky food is bad for my body, I will not eat it.
If I know not brushing my teeth, popping my knuckles, jumping out of a tree, or purposefully harming myself is going to damage my physical service to the Lord, I will not do it.
We never know what the Lord might call us to do in the future.
Maybe we have physical limitations already—either from personal “choices” or they’ve been there since birth.  But the Lord equips those He calls. He knows all about it. And He has a plan.  Either way, God has asked us to take care of our bodies. To surrender personal desires, habits and doubts.
Romans 12:1: “Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
Blessings!
-Kayla R. Woodhouse  :)

Pure Thinking... Jacob and Esau

One of the hardest things for me to do is think about consequences. I always avoid them… or just outright ignore them. It’s a huge battle—one that I’m not very pleased to say I’m horrible at fighting! It’s very easy for me to “give in and give up.”
Strangely enough though, there’s a certain Bible story that’s been helping me consider things before I act, think, or speak. I’ve found that thinking about this story makes it’s easier to resist… even though I know the enemy is waiting for me to fall, fail, and falter! I can consider the consequences, and once doing so, it’s easier to say “no.”
The story is that of Jacob and Esau.
Jacob and Esau were twins, Esau being the oldest. But even before they were born, God told their mother Rebekah that “the older will serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23). Their father, Isaac, loved Esau, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
One day, when Esau came in from a hard day’s work, he was famished (and thus called, “Edom”) and he asked Jacob if he could have a bowl of the soup Jacob was making. Jacob replied, “first, sell me your birthright.” And Esau did.
In the book of Hebrews, the author refers to Esau as an “immoral and godless person” who sold his birthright for a single meal. (See Hebrews 12:15-17).
Think about that for a second.
This story perfectly sums up our humanly desire and nature to want and get things right now; and not think about the consequences.
When reasoning with himself, Esau said, “I am about to die, so what use is the birthright to me?” He failed to think about after he ate the bowl of soup. He failed to think about the penalty of selling his birthright to Jacob. (And the scary thing is, we’re still battling with his poor choice today!)
Because he was so hungry, he traded a very important piece of his life you could say—for one bowl of soup.
But… How often we do this exact thing and trade our purity for fleeting moments of pleasure!
We most often only see what is right in front of us (a bowl of soup or a short minute of delight) and we miss what really matters: our testimonies, our future, our family, lives, jobs, spiritual growth, future spouses, and our fellowship with God and others.
In his book The Purity Principle, Randy Alcorn says this:
“If we would rehearse in advance the devastating consequences of immorality, we would be far less prone to commit it.”

Blessings!
Kayla R. Woodhouse

Welcome!

Hello, everyone! Welcome to my blog. ☺

You may know my name, age, family, story, medical conditions, etc. because of our website or having seen me on TV, so I won’t go into all of those details. (If you’d like to know my family’s full journey/story, you can read our story here or check out my momma’s book, Welcome Home: Our Family’s Journey to Extreme Joy.)

First let me say, thanks for reading my blog! I know that life is busy and things often times get crazy. So, thanks for taking the time to sit and read this. I hope you are as blessed as I am by it!

I’ve always had a strong passion for purity, and—living in a society that considers holiness as a “church thing” and waiting for your future spouse as “stupid, unrealistic and an unreachable goal”—I’ve always wanted to reach out to people on the subject, be it tweens, teens, young adults or adults.

So, as you may have guessed, this blog is the result of those many days/months/years of prayers, conviction and study.

First off, I’ll go ahead and point out that I am far from perfect (and I do mean far) and don’t have all the answers. In my eighteen years, I’ve come to realize that life doesn’t have a Fix It: One, Two, Three pamphlet (though, honestly, I wish there was!). We have God’s Word, but we often fail at following its directions. Life is hard. But God is good. And because life is hard, we can learn and grow.

I’ve actually been putting off starting this blog for some time, thinking that I don’t know enough and might get too opinionated (as I often do.)

But then I realized: no one is perfect. No one has all the answers (except God). Everyone’s gonna mess up at some point. I know I do… quite often!

I love God’s Word, and I love studying it. I believe that God’s Word is our ultimate guidebook, love letter, comfort, example giver and… well, truth. I believe that it is the holy and inspired word of God.

Though I’m stubborn and can be overly opinionated at times, I try to base all of my thoughts/opinions on God’s Word. Granted, I don’t always get things right or get the whole picture right away. I’m young and still just beginning this journey of choices and path of following our Lord and Savior, though I’ve known Jesus as my Lord and Savior for thirteen years; almost all of my life.

So, in short: I’m going to mess up. But, in the long run, I guess that’s good. We can’t have all the answers all at once, right? Can you imagine how overwhelming that would be? I see my journeys/mistakes/lessons as God using a seed; He plants it, then slowly makes it grow so that I can fully see and understand His glory and grace—step by step.

As Henry D. Thoreau said,

“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been planted, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.”

Thus said, I truly am prepared to expect wonders with this blog. Not because of myself, my opinions or my writing, but because of God’s unwavering truth and grace. It’s because of truth that I can be sure of His great love, it’s because of freedom that I can bask in His love, and it’s because of grace that I can mess up seventy times seven times, and be forgiven for every single one of them—Thus, learning from my mistakes and learning how to escape those temptations the next time around.

I do believe that growth with the Lord requires a lot of hard work, tears, and—yes—days of utter failure. If we could do everything ourselves, then we wouldn’t ever need or learn to rely on the Lord. “Gardening requires a lot of water—most of it in the form of perspiration.” (Lou Erikson)

The truly awesome thing is that God has called us, and He has called me. I wish to answer His calling to “Be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16) And I hope you will too. He has “called us with a holy calling” (2 Timothy 1:9). Let’s answer the call!

Well, first off, when someone talks about pure, holiness or purity, most of the time people think: virgin/pure in body. While I am a firm believer purity of body is a very big part of keeping ourselves pure, I also believe that purity of body is not the only facet of purity. I think that purity is like a gem, and that it has a million different facets, meanings, and applications.

This blog will focus on purity in its most specific and broad sense. Not that I’ll start talking about “pure chickens” or “how to keep pure while eating a peanut,” but simply purity in life as Jesus showed us. ☺ For example: purity in speech, pure waiting, purity of mind, pure modesty, purity of clothing, keeping our bodies pure—in both the “sexual sense” and “healthy sense”—purity of attitudes, pure friendships, pure thinking, etc.

Again, I don’t have all the answers. This is going to be a journey for all of us, and I hope that you will bear with me as we travel along!

But don’t just take my word for it. Study for yourself. I’m sharing what the Lord is showing me. What is He showing you? If you have a comment or something/Scripture to share, please do share it!

All that said… let’s turn the next page and start on a new adventure—a new journey. I’m so totally ready to see what the Lord does through this… ☺ Thanks for starting this journey with me. I’m superbly prepared to expect wonders.

“We are all unfinished, a long way from what we ought to be, but if we can look at ourselves and one another from God’s point of view, we’ll know where we ought to be going and in which direction a relationship should move.”

–Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be A Woman

“But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”

–Acts 20:24 (NASB)

Blessings!

Kayla R. Woodhouse ☺

Pure Waiting... A Pure, White Rose

The picture I have had as my background for this blog (now the cool little favicon) is very special to me and, as you may have guessed, holds a very big meaning. I took this picture at The Rosedown Plantation in Louisiana a couple of years ago, and it is now my “life picture.” The story behind it has encouraged me countless times and gotten me through many different temptations—whether it be depression, anxiety, untrue thinking, or down-right impatience.

And I’d like to share a story with you that I’m retelling in my own way from a book that has had a huge impact on my life. Several years ago, my momma read this book and gave it to me to read, Before You Meet Prince Charming, by Sarah Mally. So, turn on your imagination and let the spectacle astound you. I hope you’re as blessed by it as I have been! ☺

There is a garden which God has created inside of me. I have many different flowers, bushes and trees, all with different colors, shapes and sizes.

Along the pathway I see my rose. A small white bud, closed up and secure.
This is my purity.
My Father and I walk through my heart’s garden every day, weeding, pruning, cleaning, watering and protecting.
One day I ask my Father questions that have been pressing on my mind as we’re walking.
I ask Him why He gave me gifts such as purity, holiness, truth, courage, faithfulness, prayer and grace.
I ask Him why I have such a yearning for marriage.
I ask Him why so many in the world throw their purity away.
I ask Him why it’s best to keep my first kiss for my wedding.

He slowly brings me over to my closed up rose bud and tells me to peel open the petals. Shocked, I jump back and ask, “Why? That would kill the rose.”

He replies, “But I want to see what’s inside. Will you show Me?”

I shake my head, confused. “You’ll have to wait for it to open on its own. Peeling back the petals would destroy the rose—and the precious gift of its beauty. You have to wait to see its true beauty at its full potential: when it blooms.”

He cocks His head. “Well, what if we only open it a little? Just pull back a few of the petals. Please, show me?”

I furrow my brow, utterly lost. Why would He want to risk harming the flower? “The rose is delicate. If we peel back the petals, they will tear or fall off. The rose will die, and then we’ll never get to see it bloom into its full, glorious splendor.”

He then simply smiles and says, “And now you know why you must wait.”

“My gift of purity is special—unlike any other gift I have given you. From the beginning I created marriage. But even before marriage, there was My love.

“Wait, My child. I know the plans I have for you. For now, I want to be your Sweetheart Savior. Let Me love you; and experience My love, which is grander and more beautiful than any other love in the world. Then you will be able to appreciate a spouse’s love to its fullest and most blessed potential more so than you ever could before… For now, bask in My love.

“Wait for Me, child. You will be glad—and proud—that you did.”

(Remember this story is only my retelling – it was inspired by a fairy-tale in Sarah Mally’s Before You Meet Prince Charming, page 31. If you’re looking for a good book on purity/waiting for your future spouse, I strongly, strongly suggest this book! (Visit Sarah Mally’s website!)
Many times I’ve abused my gifts. Sometimes I flat out destroy them. But luckily, we serve a God of second chances. There’s always another spring; another flower may bloom. The important thing is to learn from our experiences. God doesn’t want us to make the same mistake again… and most of the time, neither do we!
One last thought before we go:
Jim Elliot said,

“Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living.”

As a single young woman, I know how true this needs to be. When I let my desires take over, the result is catastrophic. I get grumpy, discontent, and most of the time, lazy.
One of my all time favorite quotes is from Elizabeth Elliot’s Let Me Be A Woman:

“Single life may be only a stage of a life’s journey, but even a stage is a gift. God may replace it with another gift, but the receiver accepts His gifts with thanksgiving. This gift for this day. The life of faith is lived one day at a time. And it has to be lived—not always looked forward to as if the ‘real’ living were around the next corner. It is today for which we are responsible. God still owns tomorrow.”

“Nevertheless, I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. With Your counsel You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory.”
–Psalm 73:23 (NASB)

Blessings!

-Kayla R. Woodhouse ☺