Sweet Dignity

I hope Beth Moore doesn't mind my sharing this with you. Somehow I doubt it. I am going through the Esther Bible study with my church and am loving it. I started week 3 today, but am still soaking in week 2. Especially this part:

"I said something to God from my knees on my back porch this morning that I want to share with you in light of today's lesson. I thanked Him for being the kind of King who gives a woman dignity instead of taking it, a righteous King whose commands are always for our good and whose ways are always toward our wholeness.
In contrast to the gods of many world religions, our God never asks anything perverse of us. Men who please Him are not promised a harem of virgins for their sexual enjoyment when they die. Our God views women with purity, not sensuality. Maybe my perverse background makes me sensitive, but I'm a woman who needs to know these things. How about you?"

I made some serious mistakes in my past that I'm all too willing to admit to. I'm embarrassed, no doubt, but also in awe of the rescue that took place in my life. I remember when I had finally had enough and foundy myself alone in my small apartment, crying in the hallway.
Begging God for deliverance from my bad decisions.
From the horror of things I had done.
To just be whole and pure before Him somehow.
And, friends, the tidal wave of love that came flowing over me was like nothing I had ever experienced. In the weeks to follow there was an extreme upheaval of all that I had made my life, and it was nothing short of a hurricane. I cried out from the pit and "He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters." (Psalm 18:16) "He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me." (Psalm 18:19).
If you have ever felt beaten, stripped bare of dignity, used and tossed away, read Psalm 18.
He doesn't require that we be sensual to gain His favor. In a world that requires us to be provocative, I love to know that my God allows me to rest in the comfort and dignity of purity.
As a mom of two girls, I couldn't be more grateful that I can give them this hope as they grow into young ladies in a world that asks them to be harlots to succeed.
Praise God He only gives us sweet dignity and asks that we trust Him in order to succeed in the things that truly matter.