Sparkle CHAT.LIVE

On Thursday July 7th, Healing Place Church Online hosted a Chat.Live Event interviewing me on my recent book, Sparkle.   If you were unable to attend, my dear friend, Elizabeth Demarest, hosted the night, and we had a great time.  I thought it might be helpful to answer some of these questions we received from the chat in a post.  What a blessing it is to have such wonderful Pastors (Dino & DeLynn Rizzo, Dan Ohlerking and Jason Laird) and an amazing house (Healing Place Church) to serve under.  Thank you for the opportunity to share my heart with the HPC family!

Here are the questions and answers:

How can we use this book to help sons choose a godly girl in the future?  Great question! As a parent, I suggest reading everything you can get your hands on.  As conversations come up, you’ll be equipped in what a godly young lady looks like and can direct your son.  Use it as a conversation started. Tell him “you know, I was reading in this book this or that.  What do you think about it?”  I believe the more you open the door of communication with your student (son or daughter), the more opportunity you have to speak into your child’s life.  Be their biggest cheerleader, and they will come to you for advice, I promise!

Is this book about purity from sex before marriage?  Another great question!  Yes and no. I believe purity is a lifestyle, not just a decision to save sex for marriage.  Yes, waiting for your husband/wife for life is part of it, and there are parts of the book that discuss this topic.  However, there’s much more.  I intertwined my story of hope through my own teen pregnancy throughout the book, along with practical tips for teens today.  Sparkle talks about so many different areas. There is nothing on the market that I’ve seen that talks about all of these areas in one place.  It’s an easy read too.

Can you give us a real life example of how purity is freedom?  Can popularity and purity really go together?  These two questions were asked separately, but I believe they tie together.  Yes, I know a girl in our EPIC Student Ministries that is a walking example of purity and popularity.  She is a precious 18-year-old girl named Angela that lives a lifestyle of purity. She may be beautiful on the outside, but it’s her inner beauty that attracts everyone to her. She is free from guilt, condemnation and shame because of her stand for purity, and you can see that when you are around her. She has no regrets for her decision.  She was so liked by her peers in school that they elected her Home Coming Queen last year when she was a senior. She made a huge difference on her campus and everyone knew that she stood for purity.  It didn’t stop them from liking her for who she was.  In fact, I think it drew others to her.  She is a precious and free young woman respected by everyone she knows.  Great example of freedom!

Do you talk about how girls dress in the book?  The book doesn’t necessarily have a “this is what you should or should not wear” section.  I believe when reading this book, the changes you see on the outside come from the changes on the inside. There is an entire chapter about loving and respecting yourself and what real beauty is which talks about how you see yourself.  When you discover your real identity then clothing changes will likely occur.  If not, you always have your Dad to tell you “Go change. You’re not walking out of this house like that!”  I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard my husband tell our girls that when they were teens.

What is the Sparkle Tribe?  The Sparkle Tribe is a girls only connect group at HPC geared toward living a lifestyle of purity.  We have great outings and talk about all kinds of things.  This summer, we took the Sparkle book and used it as a guide for 7 weeks and will follow it up with our annual Sparkle Pledge. The pledge is a celebration of the girls decisions with their family where they receive a ring, bracelet or necklace to remind them of their commitment.  It’s a great group.  The whole idea behind the group is to inspire discussion between the girls and their parents in the area of purity.  A girls best teacher is and always will be her parents.  We just want to walk along side of them.  We’ll be kicking off an awesome Mom’s group too.  More info coming on that in the next few weeks and in the Connect Group Menu.  You can find the Sparkle Tribe on the Connect Menu at http://www.healingplacechurch.org by selecting the Highland Campus and searching for middle school girls groups.

Getting our Sparkle on before the shoot!

If you are a leader in your church, why not start your own Sparkle Tribe?!  Email me, and I’ll give you all the info you need to start one up.  It’s super easy and loads of fun!

How do you explain staying pure to your child?  I believe it begins by what you live.  You know the phrase “actions speak louder than words” is so true.  What you live speaks volumes to your children.  The rest just comes in conversation.  Every student is different.  Some have lots of questions; others just don’t want to talk about it.  My suggestion is to talk with your child.  If you don’t, I guarantee someone else will and probably already is.  You want them to have the truth.  Pray about it, and God will give you the words you need.

Chat.Live was so much fun.  I’m looking forward to our next one coming up this fall when we will have some of our girls from the Sparkle Pledge share their thoughts on purity.  Until then, get a copy of Sparkle and share it with someone. I’m believing God’s awakening purity in students, parents and leaders everywhere. I’m just honored to be along for the ride and have a front row seat.  Blessings!