Pure Freedom

I am so excited to be participating in the Pure Freedom Event being held at our church, Grace Bible Chapel, on May 14, 2011.  Pure Freedom is a ministry that Dannah Gresh leads that encourages Moms and tween/teenage daughters to have the talk about staying pure.  From what I've read about Dannah's work, she doesn't just focus on being sexually pure, although this is her main message, but also being completely pure.  She tells a story on her website about hearing a program on the radio about purity.  The one question the daughter on the program asked her mother was if the mother had stayed pure.  Dannah vowed then and there to never lie to her children about her indiscretions if they asked.  I think that Dannah is doing a wonderful job at challenging us to keep our  heart, mind and spirit pure while striving to do the same. 

I know that this ministry is about Mother's and daughter's and most of you know that I'm a mother of a beautiful little boy who is only 2. I still have a passion about purity even at his young age.  I'm sure you've noticed how sexualized our society has become.  Children, yes I said CHILDREN, are experimenting with sex at even younger ages now.  They even have regular TV programming having to do with being a teen mom, or being pregnant as a teen.  I just googled statistics on teen pregnancy and a site popped up saying that "34% of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20 -- about 820,000 a year. Eight in ten of these teen pregnancies are unintended and 79 percent are to unmarried teens."  From the outside looking in, it seems there are young girls screaming for help.  This is just one statistic.

I could go on for pages and pages about how our society demoralizes women.  How we are expected to dress, talk, walk, weigh, look and be a certain way and that these standards are not only unobtainable but completely outrageous and ridiculous.  It starts at babyhood. Have you ever shopped for a girl?  It's crazy the clothing they have for BABY girls out there.  It gets worse!  When the girls are a little older (months) their clothes get even more revealing.  By the time they hit school they're practically wearing booty shorts and bikini tops to school.  That may be some exaggerated, but I challenge you to walk through a stores' "girls" section this summer and just look at the clothing they sell for children.  No wonder our kids are ending up pregnant and interested in boys before the age of 13.  We dress them accordingly.  Dress for success, right???  Seriously...it makes me sick to think about it!!!!  (stepping off of the soap box now)

This is a reflection of the world we live in and we let that shadow our children.  They don't stand a chance...unless we help them choose differently.  If we choose to educate them the best that we can, with discussions early on about the pressure they will face, I think we can help them make the change.  Pure Freedom is one of the catalysts.  Pure Freedom is working to bring about change.  I love that they are offering retreats, school curriculum's and live events.  They are really making strides to attack at every angle.

I mentioned that our church is hosting one of these live events.  If you have a young lady in your life and are interested in bringing her to the event, keep an eye on our church website for all of the details.  If you have any more questions, please ask me, I will be involved behind the scenes at the event, so I should have some information to pass on.  Most importantly, if you can't come to the event, read up on Dannah's work.  Let her words empower you to have "the talk" with your kids.  You can empower your child to make the right choices and that will impact her life!