Blessed are the pure in heart...

...for they shall see God.

Preparing for marriage, not just since the engagement but long before I ever met Gary, has taught me much about what this Beatitude really means.

Few people truly understand the meaning of it and even fewer truly live it out in their own lives.

I was not going to let another person into my life and into my heart unless I knew that he valued the dignity that God gave me as a woman. Not only would he respect my purity but he would protect the purity called forth from other women as well.

It's true - I do see the world through different eyes.

And what do I see?

Those times when I am open to His grace, I see what makes God smile...and I also see what makes Him cry.

I have gone through too much to let that part of me go.

As much as I am laughed at when it comes to what I don't watch and what I don't do, there are those friends who know my values - the values of Christ - and find hope and inspiration to also strive for purity of heart.

It's the key to Heaven. I have to remember that.