~Priceless Purity...Making your lifestyle as pure as lilies!~

Nov. 12, 2009 - The New Site Is Here!

Still working on stuff - but go take a look!

www.PricelessPurity.org

Thanks!

~Rachel & Jillian~

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Jul. 14, 2009 - Getting closer, closer, closer...

Okay - it's Rachel & Jillian here!

Just to all those people that ever haphazardly come around to this pretty much dead blog (we haven't posted since February, so...uhh...heh.) we've got some news for you.

First, we are most definitely not "dead". In fact, pricelesspurity.org is where all the action is, we just have it hidden until we're ready to show you all the complete and finished site. Ah, it's gonna look great! We've been praying about it, and God has seriously been inspiring and talking to us.

We're sorry the process is taking us "forever", but we have so many articles to edit and write, so yeah. We're hoping that maybe by the end of this month, if we can get our act together and if it's God's will, then we'll open the site up to the public! Keep praying for us, if we ever enter your minds.

We have guest writers lined up (if you're interested, send us an e-mail at mail@pricelesspurity.org and we'll get back to you as soon as possible)

As for what happens to this particular blog once the new site is done, we'll probably just leave it here as it is for other people to look at.

Check us out on twitter (if you have a twitter) facebook (just getting that started) and myspace.

And of course, feel free to register on the Priceless Purity forums.

Okay, we shall talk to you all later (hopefully next time ON the new site, not on here.)

God bless you all,

~Rachel & Jillian~

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Feb. 19, 2009 - All-New Priceless Purity Forums!

Hey girls!
Rachel & Jillian here! We just wanted to let you all know that the *NEW* Priceless Purity forums are complete and fit for conversation!

We're so happy to have them up *finally* so we can interact with all you other Priceless Purity members!

Once signed up, please feel free to share your testimony, prayers and praises, as well as discuss other topics of interests in their designated boards.

Please click here to register!

Thanks, and God bless!

~Rachel & Jillian~

P.S. ~ Conversation is already brewing on there, come check it out!

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Jan. 14, 2009 - Putting God First

You probably noticed the title of this article and laughed inwardly. "Putting God first" is easily said than done...right? That's what I thought...But if you finish reading this article, you might come to a different conclusion. (Or a different approach at attempting this goal!)

I used to laugh when people always talked about their "new year's resolutions". For some reason, it seemed kind of like a joke. You know, people always choose almost outlandish things to accomplish, sometimes! ;-D

But surprisingly, this year, I've made a few "new year's resolutions" for myself. After just randomly thinking it over, I decided that my first one is ultimately this - Putting God first.

"The living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy." - 1 Timothy 6:17

You don't know how refreshing it is to know that God cares for my happiness. I love that He cares about the things we do in life. Sometimes though, I almost take advantage of this, without acknowledging God, or thanking Him for the so many gifts He gives me. It's so easy to forget, with the abundance of happiness and enjoyment I seem to get out of everyday life things that He's provided.

But it makes me think - There are so many distractions in our lives. It's so easy to take things we love and make them our priority. We sometimes even put our own silly dreams and goals before God. I do this all the time, and recently, I started thinking about how unhappy this has made me. Really, it's made me feel terribly guilty and I've gotten to the point where I don't care about my goals anymore, if they get in the way of God.
I know there are some things that are very dear to your hearts, girls, and there are things you know God intends you to do someday - but don't get caught up dreaming all the time! Take time to consider things...
We usually say (about any big step we take) that we feel like God is telling us to do this or that. But sometimes, you have to admit, it may be YOU, more so than God. Saying God is telling you to do something is simply an excuse at times. But it becomes a habit. I remember, when I was little, I used to use that excuse for a lot of things I wanted to do. And usually, it wasn't anything to glorify God with, it was just for my own satisfaction.
This year, I want to just throw away the things that are only for my own selfishness. I may not achieve this goal completely, but I know that if this is what the Lord wants us to do in His Word, then there is a way to do it. There has to be, because He would not ask us to do things we are incapable of doing. Be encouraged to know that these important things for your life are not far from within reach - just remember that God requires you to fully acknowledge HIM when trying to attain these things, or else, it is utterly in vain.

Remember - It's so easy to get caught in our own trap - we've all been there. We get tangled up in ourselves, and once we do that, we can't get out of it easily - at least, not all by ourselves. We need God.

I need to put God first when it comes to:

My weaknesses
My fears
My happiness
My strengths
My future
My personal plans & goals
and oh, so many other things!

(What about you? Do you long for satisfaction and fulfillment in God? Do you feel satisfaction in the things you do now?)

I need to turn "MY" goals into the purpose God has for me. God has great plans for every one of His children.

This verse in the Psalms really sums it up for me, and what I am trying to say to God this year:

"Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to Your Word. Fulfill Your promise to your servant, so that You may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for Your precepts. Preserve my life in Your righteousness." Psalm 119:33-40

I love the portion of those verses where it says "turn my heart towards Your statutes, and not towards selfish gain" - so true! That's exactly what I have been praying to God. Just everything in those verses speak to me!

May you keep close to God this year!

~Rachel, for Priceless Purity~

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Nov. 16, 2008 - What's Going On With Priceless Purity?

[Originally posted on www.pricelesspurity.org]

Okay, in case any of you people have been stopping by amidst this current web designing chaos, and wondering what in the world wide web is going on - rest assured that (hopefully) by the end of this month, we’ll have most of our articles transferred and revised on here! Also, we feel like it’s worth mentioning we’re going to try getting a new and improved template on here by the end of this month as well! (This is the 3rd time we’ve gone through this template business, and it’s hard to stay patient about it, but it gets to the point where there’s no other option left for us but patience! =P)

We’re hoping and praying that things will go smoothly in the next few weeks, and we can get everything completed by early next month! So far, Wordpress is really confusing and we’re still getting used to it…we’re hangin’ in there though, so please bear with us!

We recieved a message earlier this month that our “old” site location at MSN groups will be shutting down February next year, due to the MSN service closing down. This has put us in our what we call “inspired” mode in which we start getting motivated to work on our site again. We’ve got tons of new ideas, but we’re going to be taking it slowly - one step at a time. If you can remember to, please pray for us and our site, we really feel like God wants us to be working on this website for a reason.

Slightly off topic, but in the meantime, if any of you are on twitter, you can catch up with us on there for the latest updates. (http://www.twitter.com/pricelesspurity)

Alright, God bless all of you!

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Aug. 22, 2008 - Just An Update...

Alright, ladies...We're still alive! It's just taken us awhile to update some things. We're going to be putting together another newsletter soon (yay!?) so that'll probably be keeping us slightly busier. Then we have the new site to deal with, so that'll keep us busier still. Don't worry - we like this kind of stuff. It's just hard to keep up with at times. Especially with school starting again, ballet lessons, and so many other things to focus on! We have a lot of great ideas developing for the next newsletter, so stay tuned for that! (Although it may be awhile until we get everything sorted out!) We'll be focusing mainly on the new site, and when that's all done, we'll be putting together the newsletter.

Also, if you have anything you'd like to share, send us a message. We'll be glad to feature things written by women of all ages. (Yes, that means every one of you.)

Also...Got any prayer requests? Send those in too. "For where two or more are gathered in My name, there I am in the midst of them." - Matthew 18:20 (You can send them in anonymously if you like!)

Any interesting questions you'd like to ask us? We'd love to answer them! Also, thank you all for the wonderful feedback you've been sending us! It's really appreciated!

Oh yes - just to let you all know - we now have our new forum up! Just go to PricelessPurity.org/forums to register.

Alright, and now to wrap up this entry, we'd like to include some "random" Scripture, just because we can fit it in here...I was just reading this the other day, and couldn't get it off my mind. *LOVES IT* It's just a really great thing to read like...Every day. Actually, it'd be a great thing to memorize, as well. It's just one of those chapters that are good to keep in your heart and mind!

{Colossians 3:12-25, NKJV}

"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.


Wives, submit to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.
Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord.
Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.
Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. But he who does wrong will be repaid for what he has done, and there is no partiality."



Alright, that's all for now folks...

God bless each of you!

~Rachel & Jillian~

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Aug. 8, 2008 - Integrity

Integrity: the quality or condition of being whole or undivided; completeness.

I often see that word and sigh, thinking of a soldier dying for his country or a missionary leaving his family to go reach out to a civilization desperate for the truth of God's Word. I think of big acts, and famous people who make a difference. Nobility, bravery and strength - I look on those things and thank the Lord for people who live it out. I look on my own life and think that one day I will have those traits. I look on it as if it's some distant thing that I cannot obtain until I'm "older" or "more experienced". We've all been preached to about making a difference in the lives of others, but what about ourselves? Are we making changes in our own character? Are we living a life of integrity?

The other day I was in the kitchen eating, watching my amazing mother try to do three things at once: talk on the phone, clean the kitchen and answer questions. As I sat there eating I thought about how I wanted to be like that one day and how one day I'll be admired for my hard work ethic, etc, etc. I said a quick prayer for an opportunity to come up so I could work on it, and thought nothing more of it. Now, by this point my mom was starting to get overwhelmed so she eventually left the room to continue her phone conversation and I was left to myself in the kitchen. After lunch hours the Clark kitchen isn't usually spotless and this was no rare occasion. I started to go back and forth in my head about whether I should clean it up or not and I started to make excuses like: I can't clean up cause what if everyone isn't done eating? It would be a total waste. Obviously, things needed to be cleaned up, but can you guess what I did? I got up, went straight upstairs and left the kitchen for "someone else" to clean up, thinking: what's the big deal? I do it all the time. How's that for integrity?

Now I know you're thinking you've done way worse, and truth is, so have I. No matter what the situation is though, you have to decide in your heart to do the right thing, and do it. Sometimes integrity isn't necessarily choosing right over wrong, it's choosing right over nothing. It's making the choice to do the right thing instead of doing nothing at all. It isn't easy, and in most cases, integrity doesn't involve being in a big crowd or peer pressure (for me, anyways). It's in the small things we do...it's the "quality of being whole or undivided" no matter what situation we're in. Being moral and choosing the right things in every situation. As Jim Stovall puts it: "Integrity is doing the right thing, even if nobody is watching". It's hard.

I was watching a woman run a marathon on tv a few months back and I remember being so struck and inspired by her motivation. She was only halfway through but there was such confidence in her face that she was going to complete it. I'm sure everything in her body was screaming to stop but she didn't slow down. This woman's strength and motivation kept her going - not her dreams of having it. I get so caught up in dreaming and hoping for the future that I miss the opportunities I have now. Those are the most important in my life; those are the ones that will build character; and I still ignore them. I keep waiting for a big chance to prove my integrity but to be honest, as I examine how I live, I notice how very little I have. I know that I need to be more faithful to what I know is right...to my gut, to put it bluntly.

"The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them." Proverbs 11:3 (NKJV)

Like every other Christian on earth, I've always wanted to be someone people can trust and look up to...someone who is noble. It's taken me so long to realize that the choices I make every day are the ones that build my character and it's not how much time I spend praying before I get up in the morning. It's purity in mind and in actions...it's in the little, mundane things we do every day that make us who we are. Once you are confident in this, there will be no need to preach it, because you're living it out.

Blessings,

-Priceless Purity-

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Aug. 1, 2008 - What Forgiveness Really Is

An incident happened recently, that was really very interesting. In fact, it's the inspiration for this entire article. (Surprise, surprise.)

The story goes like this: There was someone we had tried to make amends with recently, because of a silly little misunderstanding that had happened months ago. (Note the words misunderstanding - no one is right in a misunderstanding, so both sides are in the wrong and both sides deserve to apologize.) We made mistakes in this argument, but so did they. We were quick to judge what we THOUGHT they said, and they were quick to do so as well. Hence the misunderstanding. And as misunderstandings continue without any clarification, everything gets terribly mixed up, and when defending yourself, your tones and their tones are all taken in the wrong way. Okay, enough of that. To the POINT...

Anyway, like we mentioned, this happened months ago. So, recently, we felt led to write to them again, and try to be friendly, because we felt it was the right thing to do, and just avoiding one another wasn't appropriate. Most importantly, we wanted to make sure that we were fully forgiven, and that they had no hard feelings against us still. (To be honest, besides the misunderstanding, nothing else happened that could have made them stonecold towards us, so we were actually extremely confused as to why we had been ignored for the past few months.)

They informed us that they had long ago forgiven us after the incident, and that it didn't really matter anymore to them. But in response to wanting to be friendly towards us again, we were shocked. They informed us flat-out that they didn't want to go on being friendly as we had in the past.

  Even worse, their excuse for not wanting to be friendly towards us again was that they couldn't trust us after the incident, as friends, but could make "peace" with us, and leave it at that. Wait...Rewind!? Firstly, when you forgive, you're supposed to forget the whole incident - ENTIRELY. (Yeah, that means EVERYTHING.) Or, you're basically lying when you say the words "I forgive you". Forgiveness is not there for when whatever happened doesn't BOTHER you anymore, or when you don't care about it anymore. It's there to mend a broken friendship/relationship. "Sorry" is when you take back what you said/did, forgiveness is when you approve their apology, and take everything back as well.

Here are a few examples of how phony this way of handling things is - (We'll be using their definition of "peace" from here on out, so don't be confused with what we're saying.)

Example #1: It's not Christ-like. Imagine going to heaven and Jesus tells you He forgives you, but not enough to the point of loving you again. - He'd NEVER do that, so WE Christians should never have this attitude.

Example #2: Imagine this same situation in a marriage relationship, and you're trying to make amends with your husband and he says he forgives you, but no, he can't trust you as his wife anymore. So, he'll make "peace" with you and give you a divorce for irreconcilable differences. Still sound a little backwards?

Example #3: Here's your typical "prodigal son" example. You come to your father/mother and ask for forgiveness, they say they give you some, but you're still an outcast in their home because of what you did. Logical? No. Oh wait! They'll make "peace" with you! (But you see where this is going, right? This isn't PEACE if it's not a mutual thing anyway.)

Example #4: Here's another common example - say your family are members of a church, and they (the church), for some reason, throw you out. Your whole family. They may make "peace" with you, send you on your own way...But...Where is the love in this? This is how God's people are ACTING towards eachother?

Example #5: And lastly, the most common and realistic of all - this same incident takes place among friends all the time. It doesn't really matter how chummy you ever were with them, we are COMMANDED to love one another whether we like it or not. Friendship is mutual, yes, and good friendship really requires being mutual. BUT, in our Book, it doesn't say ANYTHING about Christians breaking off friendships because of whatever.

"If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?" - 1 John 4:8

Galatians 5:13 says "You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love."

Do you see that love is so important to God? If God did not love US, He wouldn't have given us His Son for our Salvation. So when He sees His children fighting and arguing between each other, it saddens Him. This isn't all about us, and our feelings - it's about others, and most importantly about God.

And you must agree, that the best way to display this love amongst eachother is to be friendly; to forgive FULLY, not just half way, or to the point where you can stand something.

"[ Love, for the Day is Near ] Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law." - Romans 13:8

And now, tell me what ALL these verses have in common -

John 13:34
"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

John 13:35
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Galatians 5:13
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

1 Peter 1:22
Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

1 Peter 3:8
[ Suffering for Doing Good ] Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.

1 Peter 5:14
Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

1 John 3:11
[ Love one another ] This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

1 John 3:23
And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.

1 John 4:7
[ God's Love and Ours ] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 4:11
Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

2 John 1:5
And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.

...That's right - they all have something to say about loving one another, that it's a must, and this definitely has something to do with forgiveness. And HOW many times do you think this is mentioned throughout the Bible? There are so many that are out there that would take forever to list.

Now...How many times do you find "making peace" (as this person described, basically being "divorced" from fellowship with eachother forevermore) with your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ?

And to be quite honest, this sort of "peace" is merely suggesting that you just kinda' sorta' co-exist. (But not quite - even worse.) Almost trying to make the entire thing like this - you argue, hold a grudge, and then the person dies and suddenly you're just at peace with them, and there's really nothing else you can do about it anymore. Okay? That's a little STRANGE.

To tell the truth, non-Christians behave ten times better than most Christians in these cases. Who DO we Christians think we are? Exactly.

The answer is NEVER. NEVER does it say anywhere, in the Word of God that we are to treat ANYONE with this "treatment".

This is what Satan enjoys - he loves to see these goofy and pathetic things stand in the way of people - he totally loves this. In fact, he's probably laughing about it right now.

And why do these arguments keep on thriving between brothers and sisters in Christ?

There comes a point when people have to decide between God's way and the way they'd rather take.


But now, it gets to the point where you almost think there's no such way at making amends to these things. Listen - Christ did not give His life for us because of these sorts of squabbles. How can people both love God, yet hate and despise each other? Just tell me HOW?

The truth is - Christians shouldn't be fighting amongst eachother. Brothers and sisters in Christ do not have the right to shun one another because of this or that. These little conflicts won't even matter one day, so why not just make atonement for it all with love and forgiveness?

If there were some case against an unbeliever and they were unwilling to forgive, that's sadly a different situation - but when you're a Christian, and you're not only given the chance to forgive someone, but also believe in forgiveness strongly, then...well...DO so.

It seems like we are more prone to forgiving non-Christians, in our efforts to being a good witness and example, than we are to forgive the other followers in Christ.  There should be no such thing as "irreconcilable differences" if you claim to have the love of Christ in your heart. TRUE peace is found in happiness in friendship and contentment. So this term of "peace" that this someone used, is sadly abused.

People shouldn't be focusing on breaking off other fellow believers - that's undoubtedly a terrible witness to unbelievers. If we're all going to be before Christ one day, living in paradise, then WHY, I say WHY, act this way on earth? Just because you can? Because you want to?

And what would you say to this person who would much rather be an enemy, than a friend, on account of some imaginary conflict in their minds? Is the one trying to forgive right, or is the other? We'd really like to know.

Friendship IS mutual, so it really does make a difference whether this person wants to be friends to you again, but the fact is, the right way for them to go about it would be to silently accept, whether they appreciate it or not. It's not every day someone offers to take back everything and go on being friendly. Why is it so hard for people to learn that love covers a MULTITUDE of sins (1 Peter 4:8) - and in most cases of forgiveness, love should be found, but it seldom ever is.

People tend to just say they've forgiven someone because they don't want to appear as the "criminals" in whatever the argument was. But forgiveness shouldn't be used for the sake of your image and reputation. It should come from a pure, mature and loving heart. It takes so much of one to soften their heart, especially when their view of someone is distorted by what they THINK one's intentions were/are, but it's something that has to be done. Hate is strong, and takes over love in a fury - it sticks to you, while love seems to just wear off. It's not that it wears off, it's that sometimes it leaves you completely - the love of God leaves you, and your sin nature bleeds through in a merciless fury...

The comical (yet extremely SAD/true part of this) is that this person probably would hate us even more just reading this article. Why? Because their excuse is not right, not Christian, and most definitely not God -approved. I still have it in my heart, if they ever change their mind, to forgive them fully. I really do. They may acknowledge in their hearts that it's wrong, but just don't have the nerve to admit it. I'm just praying that God can work things out of this - it's just so amazing to see all the things you can learn from things like this.

It's really hard to forgive and FORGET, especially when you're wrong, but it's the right way to go. It's what God desires for us to do. We can't say we're these God-loving Christians when we have these bad attitude problems holding us back from acting lovingly towards each other, just because we don't feel like it, just because we don't want to, or because we think it will hurt us, ruin us, damage us. It most certainly WILL NOT. If God prescribes this medicine then it can't be misleading. Being kind never hurt anyone. So why is this so hard? Why so stubborn? It's admitting you're wrong, and stepping down a level, and that is what some people cannot allow themselves to do. Call me judgemental, but there is a thing called pride that I see in people, that simply cannot enable them to even do the simplest, sweetest things. And those are the most important things of all.

God bless everyone! And may this article be something to think about and to ponder in your hearts...

Purely,

~RACHEL & JILLIAN~

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Mar. 1, 2008 - Love overcomes a multitude of sins

Wow...It's March 1st already! Time seriously has been flying by fast. So, it's about time to post something new, right?

Today I was reading in my Daily Light devotional what the Bible verses were for today, and one of them was 1 Peter 4:8 - and it says:

"And above all things have fervent love for one another, for 'love will cover a multitude of sins.'"

The Bible seems to talk about how important it is to love one another. It's become something everyone is used to reading, or hearing about, that I don't think people truly know what it means to act lovingly to one another. It's totally thrown out of the picture, when it should be a huge priority to everyone. I will admit that several times I have forgotten to act lovingly towards other people. And even worse, they don't act lovingly back. This creates a stone-hearted barrier between people, and God knows why - it's because of the lack of love and respect and forgiveness.

1 John 4:20 says, "If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen." -

Who here ADMITS they have ever had a hateful heart towards a sibling, or a friend? Yes, they may not be perfect, but love covers a multitude of sins. Their imperfections do NOT matter anymore. Do you think God hates us because of our past sins? Of COURSE not, He's forgiven us and paid the price for our sins. If we come before God and ask for forgiveness, He has forgiven us freely. But see, with a person, this is harder to do. If someone comes to you and asks forgiveness, and you know you've done them wrong as well - ask forgiveness yourself, and then forgive them. So that basically means - it doesn't matter who you are, what you've done, what they've done - when you're trying to make amends, MAKE amends, not excuses.

Here's Romans 12, and it's an AMAZING chapter to read. Read it completely, and you'll understand what we mean. It's so powerful!

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,”says the Lord. 20 Therefore

    “ If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
      If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
      For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

It's so refreshing to be comforted by words of wisdom, than by being comforted by foolish words we tell ourselves...Right?

God bless you all!

~Rachel & Jillian~

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Feb. 22, 2008 - "A Letter to my Future Husband"

This is a really sweet contribution we recieved awhile back, and included it in our summer 2006 newsletter. We later decided to put it on our website, and it became a favorite among members...

A letter to my future husband

By Priceless Purity member, Jaimie Fike

This is for all you girls. It's a challenge. A challenge to not only stay pure, but to make strong, clear commitments. It's a challenge to begin loving your husband even now, no matter what you age. I want to challenge you to write a letter to your future husband, and to hold nothing back. Write down what you want and what you are going to give. That way, you will have something tangible to be able to refer to when things get tough. You will be able to look at the letter and know that there is only one guy that that letter is meant for, and it will give you the strength to wait for him. I have done this, and would like to share it with all of you.

To the One:

Though I don't know who you are yet, I feel compelled to put on paper what I fell in my heart. You see, I think about you constantly. Do I know you now? Do you think about me as much as I think about you? Have you made the same commitments to me, that I've made to you? These questions plague my heart. I pray that God gives you strength to stand against the temptations of this world. I know it's hard, I struggle too. But because we struggle, that makes the reward that much sweeter in the end. I've promised myself, you and God that I will save myself for you. Not just physically, as so many do, but emotionally as well. I promise to not only save my body for you, but my heart and mind also.. On our wedding day, I don't want my past relationships to cause all the "what-if's" to run through my mind. I don't want my tears wated on someone who isn't you. I don't want my heart attached to anyone but you. I can only pray that you've done the same.

I long for the day when God reveals you to me, my lover, my best friend, the person I'll spend the rest of my life with. I pray for you daily, pray that He blesses you, pray that He uses you in a great and mighty way, pray that He gives you comfort and peace through difficult times. I pray for our future together, that it would forever be centered around Him. You see, our love must be of God and only of God, or it could never last, and I can't bear the thought of our love not lasting. I pray that the day comes quickly when I can look into your eyes and know that you're the one. the one I've longed for all my life. It gets harder everyday to wait, but thats what I'll do.Wait.I won't move ahead of God. I'll wait for God, for you. Because I know that on that day, when I look into your eyes and say "I do", all the years of waiting will be worth it. I also know that if you do the same for me, you'd be giving me the best wedding gift you could give, the thing you can only give away once. you'd be giving me yourself, all of yourself, and for that, I'll forever be grateful.

ALL my love,

Your Future Wife

(Thank you so much Jaimie, for contributing this beautiful article! We hope it will touch others as much as it has touched us! - Rachel & Jillian)

May each of you have a blessed day!

~Rachel & Jillian~

www.PricelessPurity.org

PricelessPurity@yahoo.com

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