MADE NEW

Announcement: Made New is here! Price: $4.95 ea. Shipping: $2.00 ea. Secure Credit Card payments accepted through Paypal. Bulk orders please email James at jlberkon@yahoo.com Made New is also available at the Franciscan University Bookstore. Read references for Made New.
Announcement: Please read the introduction to the secular version of Made New.

"I had always planned on being a virgin when I got married. I dreamed of walking up the Church aisle wearing a white wedding dress as a sign of my purity and the gift I would give to my husband. If only I had persevered! Ultimately, I gave in and found myself single, pregnant and worried to death." Does this scenario sound familiar? Would you like something better? If you desire to be that bride radiating with innocence, long to posses the full gift of yourself as well as have a restored and purified heart then this has been written for you. These and many more points will be discussed in the following pages. As you read this please allow yourself to be given a new and far greater vision of God's renewing and restorative power.

I THOUGHT VIRGINITY WAS A ONE TIME THING.

You've been told a half-truth. Physical virginity is a one-time thing, but Spiritual Virginity can be restored no matter how deep you may be or have been into sexual activity. Physical virginity means to be "untouched or intact" as Pope John Paul II would say. In other words no man has ever penetrated you without your consent. (If you have been raped there is no giving of your physical virginity. You still have that to give.) Spiritual Virginity is a much more complex thing. Spiritual Virginity is Purity of Heart (Matt 5:8) and possessing the full gift of yourself for the man you will one day marry. Sex outside of marriage, while it may bring both of you closer together and serve as an act of affection, does destroy your physical virginity and robs you of a pure and innocent heart. In marriage you do not so much loose your virginity as you have it glorified by your husband. Renewed Virginity is having the will and the perseverance to reclaim what you have lost and given away so it may be given to the man who deserves it the most, your future husband. While you will never be able to gain back your physical virginity, you will, through grace, gain back and possess a pure heart and the gift of yourself.

WHAT IS HEALING?

A young couple walked into a jeweler's shop and they noticed that the jeweler was working on pewter. He was purifying the metal to use it for utensils. The couple asked him, "How do you know when it's purified?" The jeweler responded, "When I can see my reflection in it." God's healing wipes away the stain of sin so your past will possess a glorified reflection, His reflection. Healing will turn you into the woman he longs for you to be.

Healing will take what you fell short in and return it to you. It will return your life and your purity to normalcy but it will go far beyond that. The part that you gave away, that you thought was lost forever will not only be restored, it will be glorified. One lady I know lost her virginity in high school and she says, "Once you give it away everything changes. You feel like a piece of you died, and what you once hoped was love becomes distorted." While many women may not necessarily feel like a part of them died, feeling like a piece of meat, or feelings of worthlessness, guilt, anger, and shame creep in. But healing takes this part that is dead and raises it back to life again. It will take these feelings and transform them so all you can see your worth and dignity.

As is the case with jeweler the more impurity that is found in your past, the longer it will take to purify it. But like the jeweler, God will never cease cleansing your past until it reflects His love for you. The greater the sins of your past, the greater His mercy is for you. (Romans 5:20) It is tempting to run and hide from your past, but do not. Running from your past is like trying to outrun a tidal wave. Eventually it will catch up to you and consume you. Says Pope John Paul II, "Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with trust to humility and repentance." Allow your past to be your victory and not your defeat. You may think that is impossible. But this is impossible without God, not with Him. With His healing, victory over your past is not just a possibility, it will become a reality.