As a Christian, I base my beliefs on the Bible. It is my guidebook for life, and I try to follow God’s Word as best I can. When deciding how I will act or live, I look to the Bible first to see what it says about a certain subject or issue.

I’ve gone to a non denominational Christian church since I was two years old, so I’ve always had certain morals and values instilled in me. As I’ve grown up, it has been up to me to decide whether or not I will continue to agree with those morals and values.

Every summer since I was eight-years-old until I was 18-years-old, I have went to church camp for a week. In 2008, I was at camp and in class when the topic of sexual purity came up. The teacher discussed some Bible verses that made sense to me.

For the grace of God that brings salvation…teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age. (Titus 2:11-12)

But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity…because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place. (Ephesians 5:3-4)

I got to thinking about how it makes sense for me, as a Christian, to wait until I am married to have sex or partake in any sexual acts. This is what my faith believes so it is what I practice. When I got home from camp that week, I bought a purity ring and signed a contract agreeing not to have sex before I am married.

So basically, my purity ring is a reminder to myself and a promise to God that I will keep myself pure for Him, myself, my future family, and future husband.

The Bible tells us that God wants us to keep our bodies Holy and clean because He created us. I don’t think he would want me having sex with a lot of men (or even just one), before I’ve completely committed my sexual life to someone.

A woman is a gift to her husband and I want to give my future husband (who ever he is … cough*ihopeitisjimmy*cough) my purity.

I know I won’t regret waiting; I haven’t regretted it so far.

How my choice has impacted my life

-When a someone asks what my ring says and I tell them, it changes things. Some people are respectful, and some aren’t.

-The people that don’t respect me are mostly curious and/or crack jokes.

-It makes me excited for my future. I will be going into marriage without sexual baggage.

My ring says “True Love Waits” I like that saying because I think it’s true. If a guy loves me, he will wait to have a sexual relationship with me until we’re married.

How my purity ring affects mine and Jim’s relationship

-Jim also wears a purity ring, so that makes both of our lives so much easier. We met at church and have the same beliefs. God absolutely answered my prayers with Jim. The fact that we’re on the same page regarding such a sensitive and important topic is wonderful.

-Not having a sexual relationship has made our relationship simple.

-We don’t worry about me becoming pregnant, and we don’t awkwardly get caught making out because we don’t make out.

-We don’t argue about anything sex-related, and we don’t have any diseases because we have both saved our purity for our future spouses.

-We can focus on different things in our relationship. We have fun without drinking, doing drugs, or having sex.

-We strengthen each other’s faith and we are both able to focus in our lives and especially our faith.

Well that is all I have to say for now.

If this didn’t offend anyone or sound too personal maybe I’ll write a post on the number one question I get from my peers… How do Jim and I not have sex? And/or is it horrible?

So that is a possibility for another post, we’ll see. I could even have Jim do a guest post on this topic. I hope I don’t sound “preachy” but I thought I should share a big part of my life with all my blogging buddies.

Edited to add: Two years after creating this post, I decided to do a question and answer post on purity rings. It can be found here.