Purified Perspective

Don’t think for one minute that I don’t see the irony of titling a blog post “Put Down the Pen” while announcing that I have decided to pick up my pen and start regularly blogging again. Stay with me, I haven’t completely lost it. This post was inspired by a sister in Christ who graciously humbled me. She boldly informed me that I have been using my pen for all the wrong reasons. I have always loved to write, but it was not until recently when I discovered why I love writing so much. Writing a story is a process that is fully in the author’s hands. The story may be influenced by others, but ultimately the author gets to write exactly how they wish. The beginning, the middle, and the end are composed, read, and edited. If we don’t like the way something flows, we can easily tweak it. We can erase and rewrite as many times as we need to until it is exactly how we like it. We can tweak and edit until it is near perfection before presenting the finished piece to the world. I simply love t...

If you find yourself scrolling through TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube and wind up watching a video of someone telling their testimony or about a time they heard God's voice chances are the number one comment is "How do you hear God's voice in your life?"  Well, friend, I wish I could give you a simple answer. The truth is I am still learning to hear God's voice in my own life.  But here are three things I have found to be true when it comes to the way God communicates with me: 1. God speaks to you through his word- the Bible. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness                                                                                ...

Today I wanted to talk about something a little different. We talked about how important it is to read the Bible in our last blog post as well as some tips and tricks for studying the Bible. Now I would like to talk a little bit about the importance of prayer and give you guys a sneak peek into my prayer journal so you can see the way I track God moving in my life. The truth is I have always known that God was working in my life, but there are so many little things that I have prayed for that he has answered that I truly would have forgotten had I not written them down. It is such an amazing way to see God moving in your life. First, let’s talk about the importance of prayer, then I will show you how I write in my journal. 3 Reasons Why It is Important to Pray 1.      God Commands you to Pray: Prayer is such a sweet way of communicating with God and seeing him move in your life. It is important to remember that several times throughout the Bible God encourages u...

In our last blog post, we left off talking about the importance of studying the Bible. We mentioned that all you have to do is ask for wisdom and believe you will receive it and it will be given to you. James 1:5-6 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. But I told you that I would offer some helpful tips as to how to start studying your Bible. In addition to asking God for understanding, there are many other useful tips you can use to help understand the Bible. 1.      Pray a.      I cannot stress the importance of praying enough. We want to understand the Word and know how to apply it to our lives; therefore, we ask the Holy Spirit to be with us to enlighten us as we read and study. 2.      Try us...

As I studied my Bible thinking about what I was going to write about today I was taken back to a time I was out with my family at the grocery store. My mom had to run in and get something and she left us in the car. As I looked out the window, I noticed the parking lot was freshly paved. It was so fresh that the lines for the parking spaces had not been painted yet. Then, I looked around at how crooked and out of line the cars were. These people who have been parking for years were scattered all across the parking lot all because they didn’t have any lines to follow. They had all managed to make it to the parking lot, they even managed to park, but clearly, they were still out of place. The parking lot was not functioning at its maximal capacity all because of the lack of lines.   As humans, we all kind of know our purpose. We think about what we want to be when we grow up from the time we are 5 years old. We think about where we want to live, who we want to seek a relationship...

Did you know that words have the power of life and death? As I sit here writing this blog, I am thinking about the weight that my words carry. Yet, Christians, including myself, are not always this mindful of the impact of our words. Just to prove my point, let me give you a few personal examples:   Negative Experience: I was in high school. I hadn’t had my driver’s license long and I decided that I was going to go to church. This was before I was really invested in my faith. As I walked in the door, alone, I just wanted to sit down. I was feeling a little overwhelmed and nervous. I remember looking for an empty spot and darting toward it. As I sat down, someone approached me and said, “you are in ________’s seat, would you mind moving up a row?” While this doesn’t seem like an unreasonable request or rude thing to say it really discouraged me for a while. I left that morning and didn’t go back to church the next Sunday. It seemed like something harmless for them to say, but ...

Our last blog post left off by explaining the definition of purity and how we can purify ourselves. As a reminder, purified means “having had contaminants removed; cleansed.” I then explained how you can only become pure through the forgiveness that can only be achieved through Jesus. This sounds so simple when you put it that way. However, some of us struggle to let go of the times in the past when we were not pure and wonder if we can truly be forgiven if we can’t even forgive ourselves. Others may think that they have so many imperfections and flaws that they cannot truly become pure and forgiven. If this is you, I am happy to say that I have some great news for you! You are NEVER too far from God’s reach.  Have you ever heard the story of the Prodigal Son? I am sure many of you have; however, I am going to explain it briefly here because I feel like it shows the love of the Father so well. The scripture for this story can be found in Luke 15:11-32. I encourage you to read thr...