The Purity Movement

By Sherri Wilson Johnson

Talking about abstinence and purity is something I love. I have personally benefited from remaining pure until I married and, therefore, can share about the benefits of doing so with others. Because I have friends who did not remain pure and who regret it, I can offer encouragement to them and others like them that God forgives them and wants them to move beyond their mistakes and live a victorious life, spreading the good news with others. If I have encouraged just one young woman to stay pure until she is married, then I feel blessed. I consider it an honor to help parents teach their teens to save themselves from the heartbreak of giving themselves away.

The purity/virginity movement is under attack by the secular world. Some claim it is a myth. That teens cannot remain pure. That teaching abstinence only causes them to want sex more and to participate in “non-sex” activities (activities which do not cause pregnancy but still allow for sexual pleasure).

They claim that it is all about taking women back to the past, back to a time when women had no rights. Back to a time when women could not participate in sexual activity whenever and with whomever they wanted to without being shunned by the community.… continue reading

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Keep Victoria’s Secret, by Sherri Wilson Johnson

Victoria’s Secret is known for its sexy lingerie, tall and gorgeous models, and its ability to sell almost any woman on the idea that she can look sexy, tall, glamorous and—well, perfect, by the world’s standards if she purchases their products. I learned a long time ago that no matter what I do, I’m not going to look tall. And I’m certainly not going to look like the models do in the lingerie. I decided a long time ago that I don’t really want to look that way either.

I do understand the desire to feel cute, perky, bouncy, and all those other things that a matching set of underwear makes you feel. So don’t think I’m passing judgment on anyone who wears Victoria’s Secret lingerie.

Sexy lingerie’s purpose, however, is to make you feel desirable and sexual and to excite your husband, who is visually stimulated. As adults, we have the right to choose whether or not this is the style for us and as long as we keep it under wraps and save it for our husbands, there’s no harm in it as long as it does not cause conviction.

However, Victoria’s Secret is reaching a younger audience—Middle School girls.… continue reading

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Raising Bold Teens

By Sherri Wilson Johnson

In the Bible, a young girl named Hadassah, along with countless other young virgins, is brought to the palace of Xerxes the king for the purpose of finding a new queen. Hadassah’s name is changed to Esther to hide her Jewish heritage. She spends a year in beauty treatments and training and then is selected as the queen.

When Esther finds out about a plot to kill the Jews (her people), her uncle Mordecai tells her the only way to save her people is to use her influence and go before the king to beg for his mercy. She does not want to do this because according to custom, a queen must wait until she is summoned by the king. She could have been killed for approaching him uninvited.

Esther eventually finds the courage to approach the king and makes her request known to him. Her request was huge. The king listens to her and grants her request and her people are saved. Of course, I’ve only summarized the story here. You can read the rest of it in the book of Esther in the Bible.

There are a few things we, as parents of teens, can learn from this story.… continue reading

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Love, love, love…All you need is love!

by Sherri Wilson Johnson

Yes, we all need love. We probably never think MORE about how much we need it AND DESIRE it than we do in the month of February. We are inundated with messages about diamonds and new cars and romance until we’re sicker than if we ate a full bag of Red Hots or Hershey’s Kisses.

Our teens are getting these messages, too. They hear it every day from their friends and on the radio and at school. They are searching for love and sometimes they find it in all the wrong places (like the old song sung by Johnny Lee in Urban Cowboy).

If you are a single parent, you may find that you, too, are searching for love possibly in all the wrong places.

The true source of love is the Father! God, the Creator of the earth. The One who created us in His likeness and who designed us to need love. He loves us and He loves our children more than we do and certainly more than any earthly Romeo or Delilah ever can.

Psalm 52:8 says: But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love forever and ever.… continue reading

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By Sherri Wilson Johnson

For six months now we’ve been talking about ways to inspire purity in our teens. We’ve talked about what it means to be pure and about all kinds of things we can do around them and say to them to teach the importance of remaining pure. If you’ve got teenagers or even pre-teens, this job can be exhausting. But there are some subtle things you can do and say and not do and say that will teach them without requiring much effort on your part.

People learn by example more than by being “preached to” about things. So I’m here today to show you some easy ways you can inspire your kids to remain pure.

There’s a few missing links. And if you’re not watching for them, you’ll skip right over them without even realizing it.

My dad smoked cigarettes when I was growing up. Later on he switched to a pipe. But when I was little he smoked pretty heavily. Well, I knew where he kept his cigarettes (in his underwear drawer) and I would sneak them out one at a time and go outside in the backyard to “play in our motor home”. What was I really doing?… continue reading

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By Sherri Wilson Johnson

“Y” You, Of Course!

We have come to the end of our series where we’ve taken one letter each month from the word PURITY and explored ways to inspire purity in our teens.

We started with the letter P and how it stood for the Privilege we have to offer Protection to our teens. If you remember, I didn’t mean protection in the way the world means it (birth control or STD prevention). No, I meant the kind of protection that God gives us as our Father just like Psalm 91:4 speaks of. “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

The way we can offer this protection to our teens is to be proactive in their lives instead of waiting until something happens that requires a reaction out of us. We also must protect their eyes and ears from garbage that will trash their purity.

We also talked about the Six U’s of inspiring purity, which were:

• being Unified with your spouse and other support people on the subject of purity
• bringing teens under your Umbrella of protection
• offering Unending love and support
• allowing U-turns
• being User-friendly
• Unlocking their potential to change the world around them

We chatted about the letter R and how it stands for our Responsibility to inspire purity when parenting teens.… continue reading

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 By Sherri Wilson Johnson

We’ve talked the last few months about the P in purity, the U, the R, and the I. Now we have come to the T in purity. This month we’re going to talk about TREASURING your TIME with your teens in an effort to inspire purity in them.

You may not know it but spending time with your teens can change their lives. Your values rub off on them the more you spend quality time together. You influence them to live upright lives. This time enhances your life, too, because you feel connected to them like you did when they were little.

Let’s face it though. Teens can be reluctant to spend time with anyone other than their peers. They don’t want to be with their parents if they’re suspicious of an ulterior motive. They might think you’re going to talk to them about something they’ve done wrong. Or that you’re going to complain about their messy rooms or strange friends. We want our time with our teens to be authentic and free from the things that cause strife.

What are some of the ways you can encourage time with your teens without getting that sigh of a response and the whining, “Aww, do I have to”?… continue reading

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By Sherri Wilson Johnson

Hi moms (and dads, if you’re reading this)! We’re deep into the quest now. Over the past few months we’ve talked about so many aspects of inspiring purity in our teens that your heads may be spinning. This month we’re going to take an inward look at ourselves and then begin to apply what we learn to helping our teens.

We’re going to talk about integrity—sexual integrity. This is a tough subject to talk about sometimes. It seems like just when you think you’ve got it, you slip up and lose it. Possibly, you might not even know exactly what it means to have sexual integrity.

Well, we’re going to talk about a few of the things that pertain to sexual integrity so you can help your teens live a life full of it. I recently spoke with my pastor on this topic and we used the book Every Woman’s Battle by Shannon Ethridge. There’s a book for young women, young men, and men, too. Much of what I’ll chat about today is based off this book.

First of all, what is integrity? Uprightness, honesty, sincerity, dependability, truthfulness. It means that what you say you represent, you actually do represent.… continue reading

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by Sherri Wilson Johnson

It’s time for the R in PURITY. Wow! We’re halfway through the word.

A few weeks ago I spoke to the teens about respect in relationships and how it leads to purity. They must respect themselves, respect boys, and respect the Lord (most of all). When they do this, it will naturally lead to purity. It’s our responsibility as parents to inspire purity in our teens and one way we can do that is to help them see how important it is to implement RESPECT in their lives.

As we discussed a few months ago, we must be proactive in our parenting. Not reactive. Proactive means we’re going to take responsibility and be active in their lives. We’re not just going to sit back and let things happen. Sure, we can’t stop our teens from going down the wrong path. But we sure can put up road blocks, detour signs, caution lights, and bright beacons to light the correct way. This is a lot of work but not near the work it will be to go back and try to fix things once the damage has been done. That’s what a reactive parent does.

We’re all busy with household chores, jobs, school, church activities, working out, taking care of aging parents, trying to have our own social lives, and more.… continue reading

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By Sherri Wilson Johnson

Earlier this month I blogged for the teens about understanding exactly what it means to be pure. Feel free to hop on over and check it out. I felt it was important for them to know what purity means since we’re spending so much time on the subject in this column.

This month for parents, since we’re focusing on the letter U in purity, I want to discuss the 6 U’s of inspiring purity in your teens.

There are a lot of words that start with U. You might be surprised at how many there are. I spent some time in my thesaurus looking for the perfect word to focus on this month and was unable to narrow it down to one. So that’s why we’re going to focus on six U words. But I’m also going to sprinkle in a lot more of them for effect.

Unified –

Psalm 133:1 says, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!”

In order to inspire purity in your teens, you and your spouse must be unified on the subject. This includes making decisions about clothing, music, and other lifestyle patterns. It is a big undertaking and it’s important to have an undivided team working toward this goal.… continue reading

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by Sherri Wilson Johnson

Welcome to the first in a series of posts on inspiring purity in teens written specifically for you, the parent. Over the months ahead we’re going to break down the word PURITY using an acronym. I want to encourage you as you inspire purity in your teens.

In my blog post to teens earlier this month, I shared with them that it’s possible to stay pure without being a loser and without having to live in a bubble—that they can look fashionable and have lots of friends and admirers but still be Godly young people. My post was titled “P is for Protection”.

It’s a privilege we have as parents to offer protection to our teens. Now of course, I do not mean protection in the way the world means it. I’m not talking about birth control or STD prevention here. I’m talking about the wonderful blessing we have as parents to act as God acts with us.

It says in Psalm 91:4, “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

Isn’t that a beautiful picture? God protects us. He takes us under his wings like a hen protects her chicks.… continue reading

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