Kayla is 16 years old and has lived her life with a chronic medical condition (you can read more about that in her bio below) that often limits her activities. This is Samson - her devoted service dog.
Despite of all the complications to her life, Kayla has a compelling testimony and desire to promote purity and has created a wonderful blog to share Biblical encouragements from God's Word.
Website address: http://kimandkaylawoodhouse.com/kaylas-blog/#!/blog/
I asked Kayla some very important questions about her purity focus, so rather than go on about how wonderful she is - read her responses and see for yourself.
Books, movies and music are all focused on romantic ideas that—sadly—are underlined with “The Disposable Ideal.” Everything in our society is disposable: jobs, houses, careers, children, dating relationships, marriage. And even life in and of itself. With divorce papers, an abortion, or a gun people can dispose of just about anything. And I believe part of that is because of what we put into our minds. It’s precisely like the old saying: “sow a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.”
We sow R rated movies, books with inappropriate covers or language, magazine stories of gossip and deception, movies with ideas of “the perfect one and an easy life” only to find out that life is harder than we pictured; and thus we reap virtues tainted in impurity. Even from childhood we are surrounded by movies—whether it’s The Little Mermaid or Harry Potter—that enforce character traits like disobeying our parents, chasing after a man/woman, and ignoring the advice of those older than us.
Garbage in, garbage out. Everything starts in our minds. What we put into our minds is what will determine our character—and future. “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)
Kayla, how can encouragement be offered to the young person who has already made poor choices regarding their purity?
Christ cleansed us by shedding His blood for us on the cross. Therefore, purity is within reach of everyone. If we believe that we can never be clean, then we are believing that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was not enough. We’re believing a lie of the enemy who doesn’t want us to be pure. Whether you are a virgin or not, married or not, young or… not so young, purity is yours if you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Our job is to protect purity. To give ourselves fully to the Lord, and trust Him to unlock this precious gift in His timing. Yes, we are cleansed—we are pure. But, like many other things in our Christian walk, purity requires a constant surrendering. (Trust me; I know!) C. S. Lewis said, “Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” And keeping ourselves pure requires relying on God with every ounce of our beings! Many times deciding to surrender our purity wholly to the Lord means waiting for years and years to find a future spouse; many times it means putting up with an aggravating co-worker and holding your tongue; many times it means saying “no” to imagining futuristic things when you know that is not “the now.” It’s our choice. We can believe the truth, or we can believe the lie. In other words: we can trust God, or we can trust the devil.
What are some Bible verses that encourage purity?
There are many, many stories and verses in the Bible that talk about purity. J Some of my all-time favorites are:
Kayla R. Woodhouse
Sixteen-year-old Kayla R. Woodhouse’s zest for writing comes
not only from her natural ability, but also from her love of the written word
as witnessed by her voracious reading appetite. One of only a few dozen cases
in the world, Kayla was born with HSAN, Hereditary Sensory Autonomic Neuropathy,
an extremely rare nerve disorder. Unable to sweat, or feel pain, she’s also
been through brain surgery. But even through a life of extreme hardships, her
ever-present smile encourages others to pursue their dreams, no matter the
obstacles. In addition to being homeschooled and writing with her mom, she’s an
amazing swimmer, and spends up to thirty hours a week in training. She has
appeared on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home
Edition, The Montel Williams Show,
Mystery ER, Focus on the Family’s
Broadcast, Chris Fabry Live!, The Hour of Power, the Harvest Show, and numerous
other national programs as well as hundreds of other interviews. She is the
co-author of No Safe Haven—her first
release from B&H Publishers—and Race
Against Time—released in November of 2011—written with mother, Kimberley,
making her the youngest author to have a full-length novel published by a
royalty paying publisher. She was asked to be one of the contributors for God (“Hearts”) Me, a girls devotional,
releasing in November, 2013. Kayla is a gifted speaker and loves to share her
love for God and writing with groups all over the country. She has a passion
for purity, faith and purpose in life and wishes to share God’s truth to
others. She has a special passion for youths and young adults. You can find
Kayla at http://kaylawoodhouse.com
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