A Beautiful Portrait of the Father Daughter Relationship

The following are the lyrics to a new song from Point of Grace entitled, King of the World. It's a beautiful picture of the joy, love and delightful times that can be had through the precious father daughter relationship. It also stresses the importance of never taking our time with our Daddies for granted! Time goes by so very fast, and before we know it, we'll all (Lord willing) have homes and families of our own-we will be living with our dear fathers no longer. So take every moment of every day as a young maiden in your father's household and make the absolute most of it with your father, who is your God-given protector, provider and leader at this time of your life as an unmarried daughter. All of our fathers are no doubt imperfect, but we musn't allow their short comings to blind us into dishonoring them, ignoring them, pushing them away, or disrespecting them. By doing so, we would miss out on some of the most precious memories of our lives. So, drink in the lyrics of this beautiful song and then run and give your Daddy a big hug and a bright smile! :)

King of the World

Spinning around on the tops of his feet

smile of the angels could not be so sweet

wide blue eyes and piggy tail swirls

she's her daddy's girl

'cause he knows the jokes that always make her laugh

takes her for ice cream instead of her nap

at the end of the day by the light of the moon

they turn up the music in their living room

and she yells,

"dance me, dance me around till my feet don't ever touch down

there's nothing better than being your girl and if i am your

princess then daddy you are the king of the world"

its funny how life moves in circles of time to think so long ago

that face was mine houses get smaller we take different names

but some things in life stay the same

"dance me, dance me around till my feet don't ever touch down
there's nothing better than being your girl and if i am your
princess then daddy you are the king of the world

some day she'll go off and find a life of her own and marry a good

man and make a happy home until she comes back and sees with

those same eyes what time can not disguse she walks through

the door with that look on her face cuz daddy's brown hair has

all turned to gray they talk for hours they cry and they laugh

watchin' old movies and thinkin' back time goes by just as she turns to go she

says hey, daddy, how 'bout one for the road

dance me, dance me around till my feet don't ever touch down

dance me, dance me around till my feet dont ever touch down cuz theres nothing better than being your girl oh theres nothing better than being your girl and if i am your princess than daddy you are the king of the worldking of the worldsmile of the angels could not be so sweet

Updates and Thank Yous!

Hello, all! I hope the Lord is blessing you greatly this week.

I would like to begin by sincerely thanking each and every one of you that have voted on the polls on the right side of your screen. Thank you for letting your voice be heard, and for helping me in my research process. For those of you who have not yet voted, please do! I would like to encourage you to vote in each of the polls to your right.

Secondly, it's time for some updates. As I said when I first posted the polls, once the days for voting have run out, I will begin posting articles in my stay-at-home daughterhood article series, after which I will open a new poll to see how the results may change after the release of my series. Research and reading for my series is currently being conducted. I don't want this series to just be a presentation of someone's opinion. I want it to be a thoroughly researched and studied coverage of a beautiful theology that I believe is close to the heart of God and is revealed in beautiful words and through beautiful pictures in the Word of Almighty God, the Bible. I'm seeking the wisdom and knowledge of those who are older and wiser than I who also love this doctrine and have researched it and believed in it far longer than I have.

Please pray that the Lord would have His hand on the writing of this series and that He would richly bless it and use it to open the eyes of many people to the precious truths of His Word.

Also, please begin sending your questions in on the subject of stay-at-home daughterhood, as one of the last installments of this series will be a Q & A session between all of you and me. Also, Lord willing, I will be posting interviews will other godly ladies of the faith who have a heartfelt love for the doctrine of stay-at-home daughterhood. If the Lord wills, this set of interviews will include interviews from daughters who are still unmarried in their father's homes and also ones from married ladies who have already made the transition from living in their father's homes to living in their husband's homes. I'm really excited about these articles and am sure you will be as well!

I'm really looking forward to the publishing of these articles on By His Grace and For His Glory. But I am very well aware of the fact that I can only do this work through the strength of Christ and by His grace, as His servant. I pray that all the glory would go to Him and Him alone.

To God be the glory, great things He hast done!

May you feel His presence this weekend and always.

No, readers, I have not forgotten about you!!

Hello, all! :)

I just returned last Monday (June 1st) from a wonderful trip visiting family. I left on May 9th, and so was gone for a little over 3 weeks. It was my intention to prepare some posts prior to leaving so that they could be scheduled to be published while I was gone, but, as you can see, I was unable to do so. The time leading up to my trip was filled with studying for tests, packing, etc. It was a busier time than I thought it would be, so time for blogging was nonexistent!

I missed you all, and I greatly missed writing for this blog! My trip, though, was wonderful. I went to Indiana to visit my great-grandparents, great-uncle and various other family members and then traveled down to Arkansas to visit my grandmother. We all had a wonderful time, and the Lord taught me so much during this trip-some of which I hope to be sharing with you soon! I'm so thankful the Lord allowed me to have this time with my family. It was so special. Let me encourage you all to never ever take a moment with your family(especially those members who are getting up in years) for granted! The Lord, through this trip, showed me yet again just how short life is, and the fact that I don't know how much longer I have with my grandparents. Life is so precious and musn't be taken for granted. Rather, live every moment of every day to the fullest for His glory!!

Last week was very busy as we tried to get back into the swing of things after our vacation, and so far, this week is no different! I'm currently making a lot of tea cozies for a sale our local homeschool group is putting on this weekend. I'm greatly looking forward to it, but preparation for it is keeping me rather busy!

I must go now, but pray that all is well with each one of you! God bless you richly this week!

Input and help requested! :)

Hi, all!

I'm looking for a great apricot pie recipe. Do any of you have one you could share with me that you recommend?

Thanks! :)

Please Participate!

As you can see, there are now 3 new polls up and running! Please vote in each one!

Once the days are up for the courtship and stay-at-home daughterhood polls, I will (Lord willing) be posting an article series on coursthip and the long awaited one on stay-at-home daughterhood. Once those have been published on here, I will reopen the polls and see if anyone's thoughts on courtship and stay-at-home daughterhood have changed after reading the articles!

Thank you so much for participating and letting your voice be heard!

Happy Anniversary to a match made in Heaven!

Happy 20th Anniversary, Mama and Daddy!!

Twenty years ago today, my dear parents covenanted together in marriage. Twenty years and two (so far!) children later, they grow closer each day. They've lived and grown, by God's grace, through the high times and the low ones, through sickness and health, through riches and poverty, through good and bad.

They have been an inspiration to me, and their marriage is a beautiful picture of Christ and His bride. They have such a strong commitment to one another and have thus provided my brother and I a warm, secure home-a blessing that many children today sadly do not have. The Lord has been so merciful in the life of our family-a family which began twenty years ago today (but was planned out by God before the foundation of the world!).

Thank you, Mama and Daddy, for your beautiful example and love for one another. May our gracious Lord grant you at least twenty more bright and beautiful years together!

We love you!!

~Bekah and Andy

Fun Game!

I recently came across this fun little game and thought I would post it here! :) It'll hopefully prove to be a fun way for you all to get to know me better!

~~~~~~~~~~FOOD-OLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~

What is your salad dressing of choice? The ranch dressing at Golden Corral and Ryan's! It's the best!!
What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? Either Olive Garden, Fiesta Grill or the two mentioned above!
What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? My great-grandma's yeast rolls!!
What are your pizza toppings of choice? extra cheese, sausage, olives
What do you like on your toast? apple butter or peanut butter and honey
Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate!

~~~~~~~~~~~~TECHNOLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
How many televisions are in your house? Sadly, 3! But they don't get watched a whole lot! :) Although, I must say, there are some good things to view on TV-you just have to be very selective and self-controlled with the amount of time you watch it and what you watch!!
What color cell phone do you have? Well, Mama and Daddy have a black and tan one, but I personally don't have one

Do you have a laptop? No, but with all my writing projects for this blog, etc., I hope to maybe get one soon!

~~~~~~~~~~~~BIOLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you right-handed or left-handed? right
Have you ever had anything removed from your body? yes, my wisdom teeth 2 years ago.
What is the last heavy item you lifted? my 32 lb. dog
Have you ever been knocked unconscious? I don't think so. I hit the back of my head on the coffee table when I was a baby and had to get stitches, but I don't think I was knocked unconscious.

~~~~~~~~~~~~DUMBOLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
How many pairs of flip-flops do you own? 3
Last person you talked to on the phone? my Nanny(great-grandma)
Last person you hugged? my brother

~~~~~~~~~~~~FAVORITE-OLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~
Season? spring and fall
Holiday? Christmas
Day of the week? Sunday
Month? April, December or July (my b-day month!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~CURRENT-OLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~

Missing someone? Yes-my great-grandparents. But I will be able to see them in about 3 weeks! :)
Mood? Content
What are you listening to? The hum of our computer. :)
Watching? My letters appear on the computer screen.
Worrying about? nothing

~~~~~~~~~~~~RANDOM-OLOGY~~~~~~~~~~~~

First place you went this morning? the bathroom
What's the last movie you saw? Love Finds a Home(a Hallmark movie-the last one of the Love Comes Softly series)
Do you smile often? yes!
Do you always answer your phone? Well, sometimes Mama gets to it first! :) When we're really busy, we just let the answering machine answer it.
If you could change your eye color what would it be? I don't think I would change my eye color. If I had to though, it would probably be blue-I had blue eyes until I was 2, and then they switched to green.
What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I usually have strawberry slushes at sonic and don't add any other flavors
Do you own a digital camera? yes
Have you ever had a pet fish? Well, they weren't mine personally, but we've had fish.
Favorite Christmas song(s)? Carol of the Bells, Joy to the Word, Silent Night, We Three Kings, O Holy Night
What's on your wish list for your birthday? a laptop!
Can you do push-ups? not really-I don't have much upper body strength
Can you do a chin up? no!
Does the future make you more nervous or excited? I think more excited than anything. I wonder what the future holds!
Do you have any saved texts? Mama and Daddy's cell phone has some from members of our church
Ever been in a car wreck? yes
Do you have an accent? Some people think I have a Texas accent, but I don't know if I do or not. :)
What was the last song to make you cry? "She was Watching" by Mark Schultz
Plans tonight? Playing a game with Mama while Daddy and Andrew are at the men and sons meeting at church.
Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? yes-when we were about to move here to Tennessee from Texas 4 years ago. But the Lord was so merciful-this move has been such a huge blessing to us in numerous ways.
Have you ever been given roses? Daddy's given me flowers before, but they weren't roses.
Current hate right now? The pride that's in my heart all too often.
Met someone who changed your life? Yes-my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, my great-grandmother, and Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin
How did you bring in the new year? watching the ball drop with family and friends.
What song represents you? In Christ Alone, Be Thou My Vision, and Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Would you go back in time if you were given a chance? absolutely!
Have you ever dated someone longer than a year? I don't date!!!
Do you have any tattoos/piercings? I have my ears pierced.
What songs do you sing in the shower? hymns and spiritual songs.
Ever had someone sing to you? my brother and my Daddy. :)
Do you like to cuddle? yes-with my doggy. :)
How fast can you run? not all that fast. Especially now, with my hip condition.
Have you held hands with anyone today? no
Who was the last person you took a picture of? Nicole and Laura at the Father Daughter Retreat! :)
What kind of music did you sing in elementary school? hymns and children's songs with Mama here at home
Are most of the friends in your life new or old? new
Do you like pulpy orange juice? sort of
What is something your friends make fun of you for? sometimes I laugh too much. Some people say I wear too much pink.
Have you ever ridden a elephant? no
Do you like to play Scrabble? yes!
What are you saving your money up for right now? nothing in particular at the moment
When is the last time you ate peanut butter & jelly? it's been quite a long time-I usually eat peanut butter and honey together
What were you doing at 12am last night? sleeping and possibly dreaming.
What was the first thing you thought when you woke up? I don't even remember! :/ I guess it's been a long day.

If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged!! :)

How did you find me?

Dearest readers,

It truly blesses me to know that you're reading my posts and following my blog! I would love to get to know each and every one of you!

Please introduce yourself and share with me how you came across By His Grace and For His Glory. Give me some feedback about this site, as well. This would be most helpful, as I'm always here to serve you!

So, who are you and how did you find this blog ministry?

A Young Maiden's DayBook Entry #9!

Click here for lots of DayBook fun!! :)

Today is… Monday, April 20th, 2009

Outside my window... is a new bird bath that we are just dying for cute little birds to come visit!! :)

I am wearing.... a coral and tan top with a brown peasant style, tiered skirt.

I am reading… many books at once, of course. ;) They include: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by Bill Potter, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds(I've actually taken a short break on these three books, as I've been so busy with school reading lately!), How to Dethrone the Imperial Judiciary by Dr. Edwin Vieira (available through Vision Forum), The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23 by John Piper(this is one deep book!), How to Be a Lady: Useful Hints on the Formation of Character by Harvey Newcomb(this book is from 1850!), Systematic Theology by Robert Duncan Culver(I'm studying this with Daddy, but we've taken a break),etc. Daddy is currently reading to us The Genesis Record by the late Dr. Henry Morris, founder of ICR; Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore(he reads this to us on Tuesday nights; this is the really great book that the men and sons of our church are currently discussing at their Wednesday night meetings) and Scetches from Church History: An Illustrated Account of 20 Centuries of Christ's Power by S.M. Houghton(available through the Banner of Truth Trust). Daddy reads this to us on Saturday evenings, in preparation for the discussion on it during our Sunday meeting with the Church. As for what books I'm reading in the Bible: Romans, Genesis and Proverbs(among other various individual passages).

I am creating… this blog post! :)

One of my favorite things…. gardens and farm land! (but I guess that's actually 2 things! ;))

For education this week… government/history, theology, writing and literature, consumer math, Apologia chemistry, valuable homemaking and motherhood skills, growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning... getting things for free at the store by using coupons along with sales ads! ;) This will definitely come in handy when I (Lord willing) am the mother of many precious blessings!

A spiritual lesson I’m learning… pride is so disgusting! I'm so tired of the pride I find creeping up in me all the time. What's worse is that I have no reason for which to be prideful! I'm just a wretch that my merciful Savior choose to redeem.

A godly character trait I plan to work on… humility!!

Scripture I am memorizing… Daddy is having us dedicate this week, as well, to reviewing our first 14 verses.

I am praying for… Various family and church requests, prayer for God's guidance as to how this blog will be arranged and led this year, His guidance as to some writing projects that I feel He has laid on my heart-I pray that He would truly reveal His will to me. Health and strength for two ladies who will be giving birth soon. Prayer for this nation!

For the rest of the week… I plan to be writing for this blog, Lord willing. I have school, will(Lord willing) be responding to the numerous blog comments and e-mails that I haven't been able to answer yet, will be busy caring for my family, deepening my relationship with the Lord, furthering my education, a doctor appointment with an orthopedic surgeon(it's next Monday, but is in the morning, so will be over by the time I'm able to do that week's daybook entry. Therefore, I though I would mention it now!), etc.

A picture I’d like to share… is this:

On November 30th of last year, Gov. Mike Huckabee and his wife Janet came to one of our local bookstores for a book signing. Here we are with Janet Huckabee (photograph taken by Daddy).

More photos from Sunday!

More squinty eyes! :)
I love this picture!!

Special thank you to Mama who made my beautiful new skirt! :)

A Young Maiden's DayBook Entry #8!

Has it really been almost a month since I posted anything on my blog? Oh, how the time flies!

Just two days after my last daybook post, my grandmother called to tell us that she would be here in two days(on that Friday). That sort of caught us by surprise, so we had to scurry around preparing for her visit. She was here through that Sunday, March 22nd. Then, from Monday the 23rd through Thursday the 26th, we had to scurry around to prepare for the 2009 Vision Forum Father and Daughter Retreat(which, by the way, was amazing!!! A post with pics from the retreat will be coming soon!). We were at the retreat until Sunday afternoon, March 29th. Daddy and I had numerous great and much needed conversations while there, which left us with only 4 hours of sleep Friday night and 4 hours of sleep Saturday night. :) So, needless to say, we had to catch up on sleep when we returned home! This, of course, messed up my days a little, so there was some time needed to get us back on track. The past couple weeks have been very busy and I've been wanting to post for quite sometime, but the opportunity never really arose until now. I'm sorry for the lack of posting lately, but thank you for the patient understanding! :)

And now, without further ado, here is this week's DayBook entry!
Today is… Monday, April 13th, 2009

Outside my window... is a hanging pot of beautiful pink flowers.

I am wearing.... a short sleeved denim shirt with a multi-colored peasant style skirt.p>


I am reading… many books at once, of course. ;) They include: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by Bill Potter, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds(I've actually taken a short break on these three books, as I've been so busy with school reading lately!), God and Government Vol. 3: The Restoration of the Republic by Gary DeMar, The Justification of God: An Exegetical and Theological Study of Romans 9:1-23 by John Piper, How to Be a Lady: Useful Hints on the Formation of Character by Harvey Newcomb(this book is from 1850!), Systematic Theology by Robert Duncan Culver(I'm studying this with Daddy),etc. Daddy is currently reading to us The Genesis Record by the late Dr. Henry Morris, founder of ICR; Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore(he reads this to us on Tuesday nights; this is the really great book that the men and sons of our church are currently discussing at their Wednesday night meetings) and Scetches from Church History: An Illustrated Account of 20 Centuries of Christ's Power by S.M. Houghton(available through the Banner of Truth Trust). Daddy reads this to us on Saturday evenings, in preparation for the discussion on it during our Sunday meeting with the Church.



As for what books I'm reading in the Bible: Romans, Genesis and Proverbs(among other various individual passages).

I am creating… my blog's 2009 Mission Statement. The Lord continues to expand my vision for this blog, so the writing of this mission statement has been (and will probably continue to be for some time) expanded! I hope to see it finished very soon, though! :)

One of my favorite things…. Vision Forum Father and Daughter Retreats!

For education this week… government/history, theology, writing and literature, consumer math, Apologia chemistry, valuable homemaking and motherhood skills, growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning... using sales ads and coupons at the grocery store! :)

A spiritual lesson I’m learning… We must be careful to redeem our time faithfully, for the days are evil. If we don't, we are stealing from God, for the time He blesses us with is really His!

A godly character trait I plan to work on…diligence!! Whether this applies to when I'm cleaning the bathtub, doing schoolwork, or attempting to redeem my time wisely, I desperately need to learn diligence!

Scripture I am memorizing… Daddy is having us dedicate this week to reviewing our first 14 verses.

I am praying for… Various family and church requests, prayer for God's guidance as to how this blog will be arranged and led this year, His guidance as to some writing projects that I feel He has laid on my heart-I pray that He would truly reveal His will to me. Comfort for a lady in our church who recently miscarried, and health and strength for two ladies who will be giving birth soon. Prayer for this nation!

For the rest of the week… I plan to be writing for this blog, Lord willing. I have school, will(Lord willing) be responding to the numerous blog comments and e-mails that I haven't been able to answer yet, will be busy caring for my family, deepening my relationship with the Lord, furthering my education, a church social on Saturday(if it doesn't rain!!), etc.

A picture I’d like to share… is this:

This picture of my beautiful mother, Angela, very handsome, manly brother, Andrew(he's just growing up so fast!), and me was taken by Daddy on Sunday. It was really bright; sorry for the squinty eyes! ;)

To participate in the Daybook fun, click here!

A Young Maiden's DayBook Entry #7!

Please join the fun by clicking here! :) Today is… Monday, March 16th, 2009

Outside my window... is a very cloudy sky! We've been having rain off and on so far this morning.

I am wearing.... my green nightgown with purple and blue flowers.

I am reading… many books at once, of course. ;) They include: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by Bill Potter, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds(I've actually taken a short break on these three books, as I've been so busy with school reading lately!), God and Government Vol. 3: The Restoration of the Republic by Gary DeMar, Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper, How to Be a Lady: Useful Hints on the Formation of Character by Harvey Newcomb(this book is from 1850!), Systematic Theology by Robert Duncan Culver(I'm studying this with Daddy),etc. Daddy is currently reading to us The Genesis Record by the late Dr. Henry Morris, founder of ICR(he reads this to us each night, and we are so often amazed by Mr. Morris' knowledge-and we've only read 2 chapters so far! :)), Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore(he reads this to us on Tuesday nights; this is the book that the men and sons of our church are currently discussing at their Wednesday night meetings) and Scetches from Church History: An Illustrated Account of 20 Centuries of Christ's Power by S.M. Houghton(available through the Banner of Truth Trust). Daddy reads this to us on Saturday evenings, in preparation for the discussion on it during our Sunday meeting with the Church. We've only read 5 chapters of it so far, but are already blown away by the glory of Christ! As for what books I'm reading in the Bible: 2nd Corinthians, Psalms, Genesis and Proverbs(among other various individual passages).

I am creating… my blog's 2009 Mission Statement. The Lord has broadened my vision for this blog, so the writing of this mission statement has been expanded!

One of my favorite things….visiting my dear great-grandparents in the farm land portion of Indiana. :)

For education this week… government/history, theology, writing and literature, consumer math, Apologia chemistry, valuable homemaking and motherhood skills, growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning...saving money and finding good deals at the grocery store! :)

A spiritual lesson I’m learning…life is not all about me! The Lord has gracious given me life so that I may serve Him. It's all about Him.

A godly character trait I plan to work on…diligence!! Whether this applies to when I'm cleaning the bathtub, doing schoolwork, or attempting to redeem my time wisely, I desperately need to learn diligence!

Scripture I am memorizing… This week Daddy is leading us in memorizing Matthew 18:20 and Hebrews 10:24-25 (KJVB).

I am praying for… Various family and church requests, prayer for God's guidance as to how this blog will be arranged and led this year, His guidance as to some writing projects that I feel He has laid on my heart-I pray that He would truly reveal His will to me.

For the rest of the week… I plan to be writing for this blog, Lord willing. I have school, will(Lord willing) be responding to the numerous blog comments and e-mails that I haven't been able to answer yet, will be busy caring for my family, deepening my relationship with the Lord, furthering my education, etc.

A picture I’d like to share… is this:

The two dear men in my life, my father George and brother Andrew.

Easter 2008

Brand New Tea Cozies Available Now from Co-z-t-treasures!

As promised, new tea cozy designs available for purchase are being added weekly! Here is this week's list of newly available tea cozies:

The English Garden tea cozy brings a beautiful bouquet of mauve, rose, burgundy, dusty pink and golden yellow flowers to your table. It's perfectly accented with burgundy ribbons and a lining of white. A bouquet that will never wilt!

~~~~~

Lovely vines of white flowers and leaves on a creamy tan background adorn the Vines of White tea cozy. White lining and white grosgrain ribbon accent the cozy while tan and white beads finish the look! Would add the perfect touch to a wedding reception/bridal shower!

~~~~~
The Petite Periwinkle tea cozy is a darling creation featuring tiny blooms of periwinkle, pink, and orangy-yellow with turquoise-colored leaves on a white background. It is lined in a coordinating fabric with periwinkle satin ribbon and beads to add the finishing touch. Bring the colors of spring to your next tea!

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The A Taste of Elegance tea cozy is beautifully fashioned with dusty "blush" fabric featuring an elegant swirl design. It is accented with a rich brown lining and matching brown satin ribbon, while clear and brown beads "tie" it all together! Bring "A Taste of Elegance" to your next tea!

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The Blue 'n' Lime Delight cozy is crafted of fabric featuring flowers of lime and various shades of blue on a white background. It is lined in bright blue coordinating fabric and accented with lime green ribbon and blue and white beads for the finishing touch. Add some delight to your next tea!
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Flowers of pink and leaves of green are displayed on the Happy Spring tea cozy! It is lined in matching green fabric and accented with green ribbons and "pearl" beads. Bring the joy of spring to your tea time!
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Blooms of lilac and leaves of green have found their way onto the Lilac Blossoms tea cozy. It is lined in soft cream and features creamy satin ribbon graced with green and lilac beads for the finishing touch. Bring the beauty of lilacs to your tea time!

~~~~~

Click each photo to enlarge!

Please click here for more cozies available now and for more info on my home business!

Special announcements from Co-z-t-treasures:

International shipping rates are now available! Cozies can be shipped to any destination outside the US for $7.00 each ($2.00 extra per each additional cozy when placed in the same order)!

Also, my tea cozies are now available for a special sale price of $15.95 each on Etsy and Ebay, so that means that the special rate for blog readers has been reduced to $14.95 each!

Alert: Please Call Your Senators Immediately

The following article recently appeared on the website of the Homeschool Legal Defense Association:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Senate Judiciary Committee recently voted 14–5 to send David Ogden’s nomination as deputy attorney general to the full U.S. Senate for a confirmation vote. We have been told that the Senate will hold its vote sometime this week. We previously informed you that Ogden has been nominated by President Obama to the second highest position in the Justice Department.
Contact your senators now >>

HSLDA urges you to call your two U.S. senators and voice your opposition to Ogden’s confirmation. If either of your senators are among the five who voted to oppose Mr. Ogden in committee, we encourage you to call their offices and thank them for their principled vote. They are Tom Coburn (Oklahoma), John Cornyn (Texas), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Orrin Hatch (Utah), and Jeff Sessions (Alabama).

The most important reason to oppose Ogden’s nomination is his belief that the rules found in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child are already binding on the United States under the doctrines of international law.

For background information on this doctrine, see Michael Farris’ article, “A Deeper Understanding of the Threat of International Law” in the November/December 2007 Home School Court Report.

This means Ogden believes that the legal rules contained in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child are already binding on the United States, even though this treaty has never been sent to the U.S. Senate for ratification.

Homeschoolers have long understood the dangers of this international treaty, which contains the core principle that the government is primarily responsible for the education and upbringing of children, not the parents. Ogden used this U.N. treaty in a Supreme Court brief to reach the conclusion that America’s courts can overrule state law, using international law as their guidepost for constitutional interpretation. And Ogden successfully argued this philosophy to the highest court in the land.

Clearly, Ogden is a proven advocate for the harmful position that international law should be used to interpret the Constitution of the United States and be controlling over state laws.
If this weren’t enough, Ogden has a history of representing Playboy and other purveyors of pornography in high-profile legal cases. He also challenged the legality of using filters on library computers to protect children from seeing pornography. His record prompts many to question whether Ogden would enforce the nation’s pornography laws, as would be part of his job description as deputy attorney general.

The U.S. Senate needs to understand that the American public does not approve of officials who believe that international law trumps American law written by representatives elected by the American people.

Action Needed
If one of the five senators who voted to opposed Ogden’s nomination is from your state (see above), please email his office and thank him.

If your senators are not among these five, please call their offices and urge them to vote against Ogden’s nomination. You may find your senators’ contact info at the online HSLDA Legislative Toolbox.

Thank you for standing with us for freedom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In addition, Mr. Ogden is in full support of child pornography and even has the audacity to call it "art" and "free speech". Do not allow this man to become a high rank leader in our nation! Please understand that if you do not call your senators and tell them to vote NO to his nomination, then you are showing that you are in full support of this man. Jesus said "If you are not for Me, you are against Me". There is no middle ground whatsoever. If you don't let your voice be heard by calling your senators, then your silence is saying that you don't care that such a man is in leadership, and that you're fully fine with it. It is thanks to us Christians that have sat on our hands for far too long, that our nation is in the shape it's now in, and men like Mr. Ogden are getting nominated. It is time for us to stand up, not only for our freedoms, but also for the safety of those poor children that Mr. Ogden thinks should submit to being involved in child pornography. Mr. Ogden is also in full support of the dangerous UN treaty on the rights of the child (a post on this terrible bill is coming soon to this blog!). He is also very pro-abortion, pro-aided suicides and pro-homosexuality.

Call your senators and tell them that as a citizen of the United States of America, you are deeply concerned that such a man could become one of the highest ranking leaders of the land. Tell them to please vote NO to his nomination to the office of Deputy Attorney General. After your phone calls, please notify every person you possibly can regarding this upcoming vote(and ask that they in turn notify all they can about this), and tell them to call their senators, as well, and ask them to vote NO. We must spread the word about this!

Thank you for letting your voice be heard. God will richly bless you for your faithfulness to Him, and your commitment to the Dominion Mandate and Great Commission!

A Young Maiden's DayBook Entry #6!

Please join the fun by clicking here!! Today is… Monday, March 9th, 2009

Outside my window…the sun is shining brightly-it's actually 83 degrees outside right now!!

I am thinking…about what a glorious day it is, and how delightful it is when the windows are open(as they are now!). :)

I am wearing...a blue shirt, white cami and brown tiered peasant-style skirt.

I am reading… many books at once, of course. ;) They include: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by Bill Potter, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds(I've actually taken a short break on these three books, as I've been so busy with school reading lately!), God and Government Vol. 3: The Restoration of the Republic by Gary DeMar, Handmaidens of the Lord (for the second time; this is an OUTSTANDING booklet on stay-at-home daughterhood) by Crystal Paine, Journey of the Heart: The Story of Janet McLean(for the second time!) by Miss Jeannie Castleberry(book 4 in the outstanding Castleberry courtship series)Systematic Theology by Robert Duncan Culver(I'm studying this with Daddy),etc. Daddy is currently reading to us The Genesis Record by the late Dr. Henry Morris, founder of ICR(he reads this to us each night, and we are so often amazed by Mr. Morris' knowledge-and we've only read 2 chapters so far! :)), Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore(he reads this to us on Tuesday nights; this is the book that the men and sons of our church are currently discussing at their Wednesday night meetings) and Scetches from Church History: An Illustrated Account of 20 Centuries of Christ's Power by S.M. Houghton(available through the Banner of Truth Trust). Daddy reads this to us on Saturday evenings, in preparation for the discussion on it during our Sunday meeting with the Church. We've only read 4 chapters of it so far, but are already blown away by the glory of Christ! As for what books I'm reading in the Bible: 2nd Corinthians, Psalms, Genesis and Proverbs(among other various individual passages).

I am creating… this blog post! :)

One of my favorite things….our Friday night family parties! :) On Fridays, we enjoy popcorn, a movie(or TV show that we can all enjoy), ice cream and games. Then, Andrew and I get out our sleeping bags and sleep on the living room floor while Mama and Daddy sleep on our fold out couch/bed.

For education this week… government/history, theology, writing and literature, consumer math, Apologia chemistry, valuable homemaking and motherhood skills, growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning...making new dishes from brand new recipes I've discovered! I enjoy this immensely!

A spiritual lesson I’m learning…Christians must be selfless!

A godly character trait I plan to work on…Selflessness!!

Scripture I am memorizing… This week Daddy is leading us in memorizing John 15:7 and Philippians 4:6-7(KJV). We have now memorized 6 new verses together(2 per week for the last 3 weeks) and are working on our 7th and 8th! :)

I am praying for… Various family and church requests, prayer for God's guidance as to how this blog will be arranged and led this year, His guidance as to some projects that I feel He has laid on my heart-I pray that He would truly reveal His will to me.

For the rest of the week… I plan to be writing for this blog, Lord willing. I have school, will(Lord willing) be responding to the numerous blog comments and e-mails that I haven't been able to answer yet, will be busy caring for my family, and will happily attend a baby shower Saturday for a lady in our church(we have 3 ladies currently expecting and we're SO excited!! We older girls already have what we like to call the "itching arm syndrome"! This means that we cannot wait to hold those precious little blessings.) In fact, one of the ladies from our church will probably be having her baby sometime this week!

A picture I’d like to share… is this:

This is a brand new tea cozy by Co-z-t Treasures, entitled English Garden. Please click here for more information about my tea cozies that are available now(and about my brand new home business, Co-z-t Treasures!)

Handcrafted Tea Cozies by Co-z-t Treasures Available Now!

TEA COZIES BY CO-Z-T TREASURES!

Dress your teapot in style while keeping your tea, cider or coffee nice and hot with a delightful tea cozy by CO-Z-T TREASURES! Each cozy fits a 6-8 cup teapot and is handcrafted of cotton fabrics, polyester batting for insulation and coordinating ribbon that provides a look that is sure to be the perfect addition to your table for any occasion:

* Baby Showers

* Bridal Showers

* Wedding Receptions

* Anniversary Parties

* Birthday Parties

* Girl's Tea Parties

* Christmas Parties

* Victorian High Tea Parties

Each cozy is a wrap-around style with an elasticized bottom for a secure fit. Both ends are tied with ribbon which makes it easy to slip on and off when changing to another cozy for a different occasion.

They also make great gifts (don't forget Mother's Day will be here soon) and add a decorative touch to your home!

Styles currently available:

Grape, coral and shades of green adorn the Fruit of the Vine tea cozy which is accented with matching coral ribbons. Rich, dark green fabric serves as the lining, completing the look!
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"Lacey" feminine hearts and petite flowers grace the soft coral background of this delightful tea cozy! Bright white lining and grosgrain ribbon brings out the delicate white detailing of the fabric, while the red beads "tie in" with the red of the hearts and flowers, making the Feminine Hearts cozy truly darling!
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The reversible English Rose tea cozy will add a feminine touch to your tea time! It features shades of dusty pink and rose as well as delicate green leaves accented with creamy satin ribbon. The reverse features "vines" of dusty pink on a cream background. Femininity at it's Finest!
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The Under the Sea tea cozy has an aqua colored background covered with delicate blue, red, yellow, and white flowers. It is lined in matching aqua fabric, while white lacey satin ribbon adds the finishing touch!
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The Victorian Rose Cozy features petite rose blooms with sage/olive green leaves on a creamy tan background. It is lined in a coordinating striped fabric and accented with tan grosbrain ribbon and matching beads that add the perfect touch! Just what you need for your next Victorian Tea!
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The Vintage Floral Cozy will take you back in time with its soft shades, reminiscent of a water color painting! It is lined in a neutral fabric and accented with sparkly, transparent sage green ribbon! A time's-gone-by treasure!
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The Tutti Fruitti Cozy is bright and cheery with flowers large and small of yellow, orange, lavendar, purple, pink and magenta with green leaves on a bright white background. It is lined in a coordinating striped fabric that really adds to the look, while "lacey" bright pink ribbons add the finishing touch. A fun addition to your next tea!

~Please note: the Tutti Fruitti tea cozy is currently out of stock!~

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The Spring Garden Cozy features an array of roses with green leaves on a bright and cheery pink background. It is lined in white, trimmed with white grosgrain ribbon and accented with pretty green beads that really make it "pop"! It's sure to add "floral beauty to any occasion"!
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The Pretty 'n Pink Cozy features delicate pink and magenta blooms with sage green leaves on a pastel pink background with matching pink lining and satin ribbon! The Perfect Addition to a Girl's Tea Party!
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The Petite Blooms Cozy features delicate, tiny rose blooms with sage green leaves along with a few blue blooms scattered here and there, all on a cream background. It is lined with matching cream lining and accented with embossed creamy satin ribbon! Just Darling!

~Please note: The Petite Blooms tea cozy is currently out of stock!~

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You can almost hear the waves crashing with the Ocean Breeze Cozy and its shades of sand and surf! It is lined in white fabric and accented with matching aqua satin ribbons along with white beads for the finishing touch. Bring the beauty of the beach to your table!
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The Floral Elegance Cozy is crafted of rich taupe and creamy tan flowers on a grayish blue background, lined in cream fabric and accented with cream grosgrain ribbon and clear glass-like beads that add the perfect touch! It's pure class!
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The Daisy Sunshine Cozy brings a light, warm, cheery touch to your table with its white daisies on a medium blue background. It is lined in a matching blue fabric and trimmed in white grosgrain ribbon. It's Sure to Keep Ya Smilin'!
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This cozy features Precious Moments fabric and white grosgrain ribbon, with white and mint-colored beads to complete the look! A Precious Cozy for the Precious Little One!
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The Pink Delight Cozy features an array of various flowers in white, lime green and shades of pink. It is lined in a striped fabric of lime green and both pastel and dark pink (which makes it perfectly reversible), trimmed with white grosgrain ribbon! It's 2 Cozies in 1!

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The Cotton Candy Dots Cozy features a light pink background with slightly darker pink flowers and black polka-dot flowers! It is lined in black, trimmed with white grosgrain ribbon and features black beads to complete the look! It is sure to bring a smile to your face and a darling touch to your teapot!

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The Cottage Rose Cozy has shades of sage green, rose and dusty pink on a creamy background, trimmed with coordinating sage green ribbon. Reminiscent of a 19th century English Cottage!

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The Blooms on Blue tea cozy has red, white, yellow and blue flowers scattered across a background of sky blue. White grosgrain ribbon finishes the look and makes this cozy truly striking!

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Click each photo to enlarge!

Each of the above cozies is available on Ebay for $17.95 each. However, to show my appreciation to my blog readers, I am offering these tea cozies at a special sale price of $15.95 each to the blog readers who place orders!

Shipping and Payment Information:

USPS Priority Shipping within the US is $5.00 for the first cozy and $1.00 per each additional cozy ordered. USPS First Class Mail is available on individual tea cozies for $3.00.

International buyers: Please e-mail me at living_for_my_Lords_glory@hotmail.com (no apostrophe in the word Lords-hotmail is picky! :)) for accurate shipping rates.

Payment by PayPal and money orders is accepted, and your tea cozy order will be shipped as soon as payment is received!

Ordering Information:

To order, e-mail me (before placing your order, however, please e-mail for availability!) at the address listed above, and include the name and quantity of each cozy you wish to purchase. Also include in your e-mail the payment method you want to use. Once your order is received, you will receive an e-mail with all the info you will need to make payment, and once your payment is received, an e-mail receipt will be sent to you.

Always remember that I'm here to serve you, so if you have any comments, questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to e-mail me. The pleasure of the customer is always my goal!

Please click here to read more about my home business Co-z-t Treasures! If you would please spread the word about this business, I would greatly appreciate it!!

More cozy styles coming soon!!

Special announcement: Prices have been revised!! :) Because my tea cozies are now available on Etsy and Ebay for $15.95 each, the special blog reader price is now lowered to: $14.95! So, for blog readers only, tea cozies by Co-z-t Treasures are now available for purchase for only $14.95 each! :)

Also, international shipping rates are now available! Shipping for a cozy sent internationally will cost $7 (with $2 per each additional cozy you purchase in the same order).

Long Awaited Special Annoucement Post!

And now, ladies (and any gents who may be here), here is the special announcement post that you've all been waiting so patiently for!

My news is that the Lord has opened the doors for me to be able to have a home business(or cottage industry:)). I am so thankful to Him for His mercy and guidance.

Last year, my father began speaking to me a lot on the subject of home businesses and began making it pretty clear that he would like me to have one. I, too, liked this idea, as I had been wanting to find a way to earn some money from home-money that would allow me to help our family, minister to others, etc. Then, in June, I was happy to find the wonderful booklet by Crystal Paine, The Merchant Maiden: Earning an Income Without Compromising Convictions, for sale at our local homeschool curriculum fair. This pleased my father very much as well, and I began to read this great book that is so full of wisdom and practical advice(a must-read for every Christian young lady-as well as married ladies!). However, none of the ideas for earning money at home particularly leapt out at me.

While all this was taking place, the Lord was growing my love of tea parties and all things associated with them. By this time, I had attended 2 Vision Forum father daughter discipleship retreats with Daddy and had so enjoyed the special Victorian high teas at these retreats. Then, for my 16th birthday, my parents took me to The English Rose, a delightfully authentic British tea room in our area. While there, I became aquainted with domed tea cozies which are darling little works of art that sit over your teapot, thereby keeping your tea warm and adding beauty to your tea parties. I was definitely wanting one of my own! Well, then this Christmas I received a tea cozy hand crafted by my mother. What a delightful gift it was! This adorable tea cozy, however, was something I had never seen before! It was what is called a wrap-around tea cozy, and is wrapped around your tea pot and secured with ribbons, etc. I had never seen anything so adorable! :) This tea cozy style allowed me to keep the cozy on my tea pot at all times, while still allowing for easy pouring. I was thrilled! :) It was so enjoyable to put this cozy to use at the Christmas tea party I hosted for some of the young ladies from church.

Then about a month or so ago, my mother approached me with an idea she has just thought up. She well knew how much my father and I wanted me to have a home business, and she as well really liked the idea. She had been thinking about possibilities of things I could do when she came up with a brilliant idea: sell handcrafted wrap-around tea cozies! This would incorporate my love for all things tea parties with my desire to earn money while remaining under the authority and protection of my father. It would also provide me with valuable opportunities to sew more, which are always nice for me! :) Mama and I then approached my father with the idea, and he gave his blessing. I must tell you, I'm so excited about this new idea the Lord has blessed me with, and it is my desire to honor Him with it and give all glory to Him. It's my prayer that He would bless this cottage industry and would allow me to serve all those who would, I pray, benefit from it.

The past few weeks have been so fun as Mama and I have sought out fabric and accessories to fashion into tea cozies. Seeing pieces of fabric and spools of ribbon turn into tea cozies has been so delightful!

The tea cozies that are currently available (with more being added weekly) will be ready for purchase here on By His Grace and For His Glory beginning tomorrow. Pictures of the styles, info on each cozy, price, payment and shipping information, etc. will all be posted then!

It's my desire that these cozies would serve as pretty new additions to your home and the starters for some very enjoyable, relaxing tea parties with family, friends, and those who are in desperate need of Christian hospitality.

~Miss Rebekah Ann S., owner of Co-z-t Treasures, a home business begun with the purpose of giving glory to God and providing the public with handcrafted, custom made tea cozies

A Young Maiden's Daybook Entry #5!

Please head on over to Alexandra's blog to participate! Today is… Monday, March 2nd, 2009(am I the only one that can't believe it's already March?? :))

Outside my window…our hummingbird feeder is blowing in the wind. I can't wait until those darling little birds will be back to eat!

I am thinking…about all the devotionals I want to write on passages in Proverbs.

I am wearing...a black sweater with an aqua colored skirt.

I am reading… many books at once, of course. ;) They include: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by Bill Potter, God and Government Vol. 3 by Gary DeMar, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds, Systematic Theology by Robert Duncan Culver(I'm studying this with Daddy), etc. Daddy is currently reading to us The Genesis Record by Henry Morris, and Spurgeon: A New Biography by Arnold Dallimore. As for what books I'm reading in the Bible: 2nd Corinthians, Psalms, Genesis and Proverbs(among other various individual passages).

I am creating… this blog post :) and the Special Announcement post I referred to in my last daybook entry!

One of my favorite things….the times of calm and quiet each evening when Daddy gathers us around him and reads to us from God's Word and other solid Christian books and has us memorize Scripture. These are such precious times! :)

For education this week… government/history, theology, writing and literature, consumer math, Apologia chemistry, growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning...using coupons and saving money at the store! This is a lot of fun! :) I love getting good deals for my family.

A spiritual lesson I’m learning…just how important and beautiful it is for ladies to be meek and quiet.

A godly character trait I plan to work on…I'm still working on patience and humility!!

Scripture I am memorizing… Proverbs 31:10-31(I have been somewhat negligent to this duty lately); This week Daddy is leading us in memorizing 2 Timothy 3:16 and Joshua 1:8 (KJV). It's so wonderful to see the four of us memorizing God's Word together; this is precious family time, no doubt!

I am praying for… Various family and church requests, prayer for God's guidance as to how this blog will be arranged and led this year, His guidance as to some projects that I feel He has laid on my heart-I pray that He would truly reveal His will to me.

For the rest of the week… I plan to be writing for this blog, Lord willing. I have school, will(Lord willing) be responding to the numerous blog comments and e-mails that I haven't gotten around to yet, will be busy caring for my family, working on special little somethings-read announcement posts- :)etc. We're definitely staying busy. :)

A picture I’d like to share… is this:

I thought it was very pretty and delightfully feminine! :)

A Young Maiden's Daybook Entry #4!

As you can see, I am a day late in posting this! :( I was attempting to post it yesterday, but blogger wasn't allowing me to post the pictures for some reason. I'm sorry for the delay, but hope you enjoy! :)

Today is… Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Outside my window…is a view of the beautiful, calm blue sky the Lord has richly blessed us with today.

I am thinking…about all the countless article ideas I have floating around in my head(and when I'll be able to finally write them all!), and what a desperate situation of judgment this country finds itself in as it drifts farther and farther away from God's Word! Christians, it is high time for us to stand up and teach this lost and dying world the truths of God's Word, the Bible!

I am thankful for…the freedom we still enjoy in this country, although it is quickly diminishing and will continue to unless we Christians do something about it, and actually take the Dominion Mandate and Great Commission seriously!

I am wearing…my ankle length denim skirt and a green top.

I am reading… many books at once, of course. ;) They include: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by Bill Potter, God and Government Vol. 3 by Gary DeMar, Waiting for Her Isaac(for the second time!) by Mr. and Mrs. Stephen B. Castleberry, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds, Systematic Theology by Robert Duncan Culver(I'm studying this with Daddy), and The Potter's Freedom: A Defense of the Reformation and a Rebuttal of Norman Geisler's Chosen But Free by James White. The past couple weeks have not provided me with much time for reading anything apart from books I'm reading for my education(although, all books we read educate us, of course, but I was referring to those I'm specifically reading for homeschool! :))-that's why this list looks pretty much the same week after week. As for what books I'm reading in the Bible: 2nd Corinthians, Psalms and Proverbs(among other various passages).

I am creating… this blog post :) and the Special Announcement post I referred to in my last daybook entry! I can't wait to share with you my news! :)

One of my favorite things…the fellowship meals at my church! :) What fun, blessed times we enjoy together as a likeminded church family! I'm very thankful for these times and for the close, loving family the Lord has placed us into.

For education this week… government/history, theology, writing and literature, consumer math, Apologia chemistry, growing in the grace and knowledge of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning...sewing (especially sewing special little somethings that I will speak of in my annoucement post! :))

A spiritual lesson I’m learning…the importance of using every moment of every day for God's glory and the furthering of His Kingdom.

A godly character trait I plan to work on…patience and humility!! I'm really lacking in these areas.

Scripture I am memorizing… Proverbs 31:10-31; Daddy had us memorize-as a family-2 Corinthians 5:17 and Galatians 2:20(KJV) last week. This week he is leading us in memorizing Romans 12:1 and John 14:21(KJV). I'm enjoying this very much, and am thankful that my dear father is helping us to hide God's Word in our hearts!

I am praying for… Various family and church requests, and that the Lord would burden me with just how lost the world is and just how little time I have on this earth to reach it for Christ.

For the rest of the week… I plan to be writing for this blog, Lord willing. I have school, will(Lord willing) be responding to the numerous blog comments and e-mails that I haven't gotten around to yet, will be busy caring for my family, attending a baby shower on Friday for a lady in our church, etc.

A picture I’d like to share… is this:

I encourage you to memorize this! It's a truth that we should meditate on day and night.

God bless you!

Vision Forum Father Daughter Retreat 2009!!

I am so excited that this years retreat will be here soon! Daddy and I have had such a fun, blessed time at the past two retreats, and are so looking forward to this one!

I was wondering: will any of my readers be attending the retreat this year? If so, maybe we could meet! It would be such a blessing to meet some of you likeminded ladies, so please send me an e-mail or leave me a comment to let me know if you'll be there!

Registration is still available, so click here for more info on the retreat, and to join in on the discipleship, edification, special father daughter time, and fun!

A Young Maiden's Daybook Entry #3!

Today is… Monday, February 16th, 2009 (I can't believe we're already half way through February!!)

Outside my window…the sun is shining beautifully!

I am thinking…about all the countless article ideas I have floating around in my head!

I am thankful for…this day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it! :)

I am wearing…my ankle length denim skirt and an aqua colored top.

I am reading… many books at once, of course. ;) They include: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by Bill Potter, God and Government Vol. 3 by Gary DeMar, Jeff McLean: His Courtship(for the second time!) by Mr. and Mrs. Stephen B. Castleberry, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds, Systematic Theology by Robert Duncan Culver(I'm studying this with Daddy), and The Potter's Freedom: A Defense of the Reformation and a Rebuttal of Norman Geisler's Chosen But Free by James White. As for what books I'm reading in the Bible: Hebrews, Psalms and Proverbs(among other various passages).

I am creating… this blog post :) and some other special somethings that I can't tell you all about yet! ;) Special annoucement post coming soon!

One of my favorite things…loaves of homemade bread...yum! :)

For education this week… government/history, theology, writing and literature, consumer math, Apologia chemistry

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning...cutting out and using coupons

A spiritual lesson I’m learning…the huge importance of praying without ceasing!

A godly character trait I plan to work on… being more discreet and quiet!

Scripture I am memorizing… Proverbs 31:10-31; also, Daddy is coming up with various Scriptures that he wants us to memorize as a family. We'll be memorizing approximately 2 passages per week. I'm not sure which ones he will have us start on, though! I'm really looking forward to this! :)

I am praying for… Various family and church requests, and that the Lord would make me into true salt and light in this dark, lost world. I pray that His hand would be on me, and that He would use me in amazing ways for His glory and the furtherance of His Kingdom.

For the rest of the week… I plan to be writing for this blog, Lord willing. I have school, will(Lord willing) be responding to the numerous blog comments and e-mails that I haven't gotten around to yet, will be busy caring for my family, helping to plan a baby shower for a lady in our church :), etc.

A picture I’d like to share… is this:

This beautiful photo makes me think of Jane Austen's books(and their movie adaptations!). How I would have loved to live in that era, enjoying long walks along the countryside, wearing beautiful gowns, etc. What bliss! :)

A Beautiful Valentine's Day Celebration!

I originally posted this article for the first time last Valentine's Day. I'm posting it again this year in the hopes that it will serve to be an encouragement and blessing to all of you!

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This post is dedicated to all of those dear and precious ladies who are committed to complete purity and chastity. You ladies may find yourselves "alone" by the world's standards on this Valentine's Day, but I hope this post encourages you and lifts your spirits, by showing you that the true Lover of your Souls is right by your side on this holiday! I hope that you will all join with me, and will dedicate this Valentine's Day to the Lord and His glory, honor and praise!

God has placed in the heart of every maiden the longing desire to meet her Prince Charming, to be pursued by Him, and to then ride off with him into the sunset to his castle, where she will forever be loved, protected, provided for, and cherished. This is a beautiful and wonderful desire created by God Himself. But Valentine's Day only intensifies this desire all the more, and the images of red and pink hearts, of couples holding hands and going on dates, only brings to mind yet again the reality that because you're a maiden committed to courtship and complete purity, you won't be celebrating Valentine's Day with a special someone as "everyone else" will. You may begin to feel sorry for yourself, thinking that simply because you have no "special someone" this Valentine's Day, that you're somehow all alone. But there's something you must remember, dear maiden: as a Christian, you already have something that countless girls and young women only dream about and wish they had-a perfect, fulfilling, everlasting, true love. As a Christian maiden, your true Knight in Shining Armor and Prince Charming has already come and swept you off your feet! The Prince of Peace and King of Kings has pursued you relentlessly, is jealous for your full attention and dedication, is enthralled by your beauty, has showered you with His amazing love, and will one day escort you to His beautiful castle-the Mansion in Heaven that He's furnished just for you, His own precious treasure. There, you will forever be in His divine, loving presence. You, dear sister in Christ, have already been pursued by the most complete and wonderful love to ever be found-a true and perfect love that will undoubtedly last forever and ever. Only His love is able to fulfill the deepest desires of your heart, and true satisfaction comes only from Him being #1 in your life.

Ladies, don't allow this Valentine's Day to slip by. Don't discontentedly waste your time on Valentine's Day by feeling sorry for yourself and by idlely pining away for your future spouse. Instead, dedicate Valentine's Day this year to the deepening of your relationship with your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the lover of your soul. Celebrate this holiday by doing everything in your power to make your relationship with Him deeper and more intimate. Make today a Valentine's Day to remember by spending it in a rendezvous with the King.

So, how about it, maidens? Will you join me this Valentine's Day, with the commitment to dedicate it to the deepening of your love and adoration for the Lord and to the strengthening of your relationship with Him? I wholeheartedly pray that you will, and that this Valentine's Day therefore becomes a day to remember and cherish always. I encourage you to begin planning now what you will do throughout the day to show the Lord how much you love Him. The following is a group of ideas to get you started:

• Compose a letter of love and thanksgiving to your Savior.

• Spend time in deep conversation with Him.

• Spend time alone with your Lord in a special place just for the two of you and read the Bible-the Lord's precious love letter to you, and enjoy drinking in the beautiful truths to be discovered in this wonderful Book.

• Find little ways to please Him by serving others today (perhaps by baking your family some special Valentine's cookies or by volunteering to babysit your siblings so that your parents can go on a special Valentine's Day date).

• Be diligent and creative to find other little special ways to please Him and to show Him your love.

• Memorize verses of God's Word that tell of His immense love for you.

• Sing praises to Him.

May the Lord richly bless you, dear ladies, and may this Valentine's Day prove to be one of the most special and precious days of your life-a day dedicated to the worship and adoration of the Lord! :)

A Young Maiden's Daybook Entry #2!

My dear new friend from the blog world, Alexandra, began this fun meme, and has chosen that those who participate do so on Mondays(if at all possible!). So, from now on, that's when I'll be posting mine! :) Enjoy(and please participate!!) Today is… Monday, February 2nd, 2009 (wow-February already!!)

Outside my window… the sun is shining brightly.

I am thinking… that I'm glad Alexandra came up with this meme! :)

I am thankful for… the amazing snow we had earlier today! Living in southern Tennessee, we don't get snow very much at all, but today for a while we had a beautiful, consistent snow fall. It didn't stick to the ground, but it was beautiful to watch the snowglobe scene unside our windows! :) Thank you for Your mercy, Lord!

I am wearing… a cream color sweater with a blue and cream long peasant-style, tiered skirt

I am reading… many books at once, of course. ;) They include: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by Bill Potter, God and Government Vol. 3 by Gary DeMar, Jeff McLean: His Courtship(for the second time!) by Mr. and Mrs. Stephen B. Castleberry, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards by Elisabeth Dodds, Systematic Theology by Robert Duncan Culver(I'm studying this with Daddy), and The Potter's Freedom: A Defense of the Reformation and a Rebuttal of Norman Geisler's Chosen But Free by James White. As for what books I'm reading in the Bible: Ephesians and Psalms(among other various passages).

I am creating… this blog post :) and, with God's guidance, I'm continuing to work on my 2009 Mission Statement for this blog!

One of my favorite things… little puppies!

For education this week… government/history, theology, writing and literature, consumer math, Apologia chemistry

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning… one of my favorite things...cooking and baking!! :)

A spiritual lesson I’m learning… the huge importance of diligently studying God's Word every day.

A godly character trait I plan to work on… being more discreet and quiet!

Scripture I am memorizing… Proverbs 31:10-31

I am praying for… Various family and church requests, and that the Lord would make me into true salt and light in this dark, lost world

For the rest of the week… I plan to be writing for this blog, Lord willing. I have school, will babysit my sweet brother Andrew while Mama's at her gastroenterologist appointment on Wednesday, and I will(Lord willing) be responding to the numerous blog comments and e-mails that I haven't gotten around to yet, etc. Busy, busy, busy!! :)

A picture I’d like to share… is this :

I love that beautiful garden area, and that dress is delightfully feminine and so, so pretty!

If you'd like to participate in this meme(and I hope you do!), please click here!

A Young Maiden's Daybook Entry #1!

I recently came across this delightful little meme on one of my favorite sites, and thought it would be fun if I began posting it regularly on here. Hope you enjoy! :) Today is… Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

Outside my window… is a cute little bird in a tree!

I am thinking… that I would like all of my readers to do this meme too, and leave me links to their answers! :)

I am thankful for… the amazing grace of my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ

I am wearing… a smokey blue top with a dark brown tiered skirt

I am reading…far too many books all at once yet again. lol :) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, Beloved Bride: The Letters of Stonewall Jackson to His Wife by Bill Potter, God and Government Vol. 3 by Gary DeMar, The Courtship of Sarah McLean(for a second time! :)) by Mr. and Mrs. Stephen B. Castleberry, Marriage to a Difficult Man: The Uncommon Union of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards(GREAT book so far!) by Elisabeth Dodds, Systematic Theology by Robert Duncan Culver(I'm studying this with Daddy), etc.

I am creating… with the Lord's guidance, my blog's 2009 Mission Statement

One of my favorite things… old-fashioned movies

For education this week… consumer math, theology, history/government, creative writing/spelling, chemistry

A keeper at home skill I am using/learning… meal planning and preparation

A spiritual lesson I’m learning… the importance of praying each day(multiple times a day!) that the Lord would be glorified in me.

A godly character trait I plan to work on… having a meek and quiet spirit; I tend to be too loud and boisterous, which is wrong, and so I'm therefore seeking to honor the Lord with my demeanor

Scripture I am memorizing… Long ago, I memorized the first half of Proverbs 31:10-31. Now I'm going back and memorizing it all together-something which I should have done awhile back!

I am praying for… Various family and church requests, and that the Lord would make me into true salt and light in this dark, lost world

For the rest of the week… I plan to write a lot for this blog, Lord willing! :)

A picture I’d like to share… is this :

I thought this photo was simply precious and delightful beyond words! :)

The immense influence women have upon a nation!

I find the late President John Adams to be the writer of much truth and wisdom in this excerpt from his autobiography: (note-capitals, incorrect punctuation and spelling in the original)

"From all that I had read of History of Government, of human life and manners, I had drawn this Conclusion, that the manners of Women were the most infallible Barometer, to ascertain the degree of Morality and Virtue in a Nation. All that I have since read and all the observations I have made in different Nations, have confirmed me in this opinion. The Manners of Women, are the surest Criterion by which to determine whether a Republican Government is practicable, in a Nation or not. The Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Swiss, the Dutch, all lost their public Spirit, their Republican Principles and habits, and their Republican Forms of Government. when they lost the Modesty and Domestic Virtues of their Women.......

The foundations of national Morality must be laid in private Families. In vain are Schools Accademies and universities instituted, if loose Principles and licentious habits are impressed upon Children in their earliest years. The Mothers are the earliest and most important Instructors of youth....The Vices and Examples of the Parents cannot be concealed from the Children. How is it possible that Children can have any just Sense of the sacred Obligations of Morality and Religion if, from their earliest Infancy, they learn that their Mothers live in habitual Infidelity to their fathers, and their fathers in constant Infidelity to their Mothers."

~quoted in Christianity and the Constitution by Mr. John Eidsmoe

Ladies, may we truly live up to these words of wisdom, and seek to have a reforming affect on our wicked nation(wherever we may live)!

Help needed! :)

I was having some trouble with my new background. The link box that came(from the cutest blog on the block) with it and sends you to the website where I got my background was showing up right where my post titles are, causing you all to not be able to read the full titles and/or contents. Does anyone have any idea how I can move it?? I have since deleted the new backgound I had put up, because it was blocking portions of my posts.

Thank you for your help!!!!

A warm hello to you all!

Hello, dear readers! I pray that all is going well with you this week.

My family and I were blessed with a very Merry Christmas. The Lord revealed Himself to us in a new way this beloved Christmas, through my father's reading to us from a wonderful book by John MacArthur entitled God's Gift of Christmas. The entire Christmas story took on an even new and more beautiful and precious light for us. While we enjoyed exchanging gifts(as I'm sure you all did as well), what we most took joy from was in meditating on the fact of what that beloved Gift from God was on that first Christmas morning-His Son, our Savior and Lord! I am so often amazed by God's goodness in sending His Son to die for such vile, wretched sinners such as myself. His mercy overwhelms me, and His love engulfs me! What a joy it was to dwell on our God's goodness this Christmas season! It is my prayer that all of you enjoyed a Christ-filled Christmas, as well. I hope you enjoyed the Christmas dinner, family time, and presents. But what I really hope and pray for you is that you truly had Christ at the center of your Christmas. Because if we don't, Christmas means nothing-it's just another day on the calendar, no matter how special the day may have seemed. So, I pray that you all had a very Merry Christmas-a Christmas where Christ revealed Himself to you in a deeper and more wonderfully intimate way!

I would like to share with you all some updates, as well! As to my mother's health(please refer to prior blog posts, to read about her syptoms the past 8 months), she has begun seeing a new doctor who seems infinitely more wise than the others she's gone to. Praise the Lord for His goodness in directing us to this new doctor! As it is right now, we're thinking that Mama's thyroid condition is what is causing all the other syptoms-chest problems, headaches, fatigue, nausea at times, nerve system problems, etc. Because she's not on medication for the hypothyroidism, it's continuing to get worse, thus causing all the other problems. We're very thankful that the Lord has led us to this place, and we're praying that this diagnosis is indeed the true one! Please continue to pray for comfort and peace and good health for Mama, and that the Lord would give the doctor wisdom in this time.

As to my wrist, praise be to God-the cyst has not returned!!! I'm SO thankful. I've now made 3 batches of bread, begun crocheting a baby blanket, etc., and the cyst has not gone back to its large size. I do experience some pain when I perform these activities, though. This is uncomfortable and I wish I didn't have it, but if this is the Lord's will for my life, then I will be content! This slight pain and discomfort is far easier to handle than was my bad pain due to the large cyst! I'm hoping this means that my cyst will not come back, but it still could. I'll keep you all updated on what happens. Thank you all so very much for your prayers-please continue lifting them up to the Lord!

I'm currently writing my blog's 2009 Mission Statement, which I am so excited about! I will be posting it as soon as it's finished(probably for sure by Monday, I would think. But as the Lord's taught me-Deo Volente!! Lord willing!).

May our Sovereign God bless you all richly this day!

A long overdue hello and some updates!

A warm hello to all my dear readers! I've missed you all greatly; thoughts of you all often fill my mind throughout the day.

Before I give you all updates, I just wanted to thank you all so much for the caring and concerned e-mails and comments I've received from you all. The outpouring of love and sympathy has been simply overwhelming, and I'm so thankful to know that I'm in your prayers!

As for my hand/wrist, we have now, by God's grace discovered what was ailing me. We had pretty much determined that it wasn't CTS. My grandmother who had carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists gave me a wrist test for CTS and I failed it. Our suspicion then was that it was more than likely not CTS, but we still didn't know what it was. My mass pretty much completely disappeared and my pain also went away due to the fact that most of my normal activities that would overwork my wrist (i.e. writing for my blog, crocheting, kneading bread, spending time on the computer, etc.) were eliminated from my weekly schedule. I then had an appointment with a local hand and wrist specialist on Tuesday, December 16th. We were very pleased with this doctor-he was very kind, quiet and seemed very knowledgeable(I'm very thankful to the Lord for directing me to this particular doctor; it also was a blessing to learn that he attends a local conservative Presbyterian church in the downtown Chattanooga area). After doing 3 x-rays and working my hand and wrist around a lot(with my wrist popping a lot for some reason), he determined that I had been suffering from a ganglion cyst that had just gone away(which they often do when they cease to be irritated). He said that I'm free to go back to my daily activities (praise the Lord-I had really been missing all my domestic work, and I had gotten behind on my article and devotional writing for this blog, not to mention the fact that I haven't been able to visit my favorite blogs in weeks!). Dr. Jemison wants to see me back in 4-6 weeks(after I've returned to my regular activites and have been doing them again for a while) to see how things are going, as ganglion cysts can and often do return(for when they reduce in size, they do just simply that-reduce-but don't go away completely-the cyst wall, etc. is still intact in my hand/wrist area). If, after returning to my regular duties my cyst comes back, then I may have to have surgery to remove it. However, ganglion cysts are pesky little things, and after surgery, another one could form. So, please continue to pray for me, that the Lord's will would be done first and foremost, and that, if He wills, my wrist would be healed for good. Thank you all so much for your faithful prayers and loving concern!

I don't feel that I can apologize enough for the article and devotional delays. I know you are all very patient and understanding, but I almost feel as if I've failed you all. I know this whole wrist thing couldn't be helped, but I feel terrible for making you wait so long for blog posts. Thank you all so much for bearing with me! You are all such a God-send, and I pray that He blesses richly each and every one of you!!

If there's one thing I've learned throughout this whole ordeal, it's that I must not plan things of my own accord and leave the words Deo Volente(God willing) out! So often I've published posts promising that certain articles, etc. would be published in a certain time frame. And each time I've left those precious words out. And guess what? Each time, the Lord has postponed my plans, teaching me the very gracious lesson that I'm NOT in control-HE is! I'm so thankful that He's taught me this; I only regret that through this time of learning, you've all had to wait so long. The following passage has been one of great conviction for me lately: " Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” ~James 4:13-15(emphasis added!). Therefore, I will not be promising a certain time for when my stay-at-home daughterhood article series, etc. will be posted. But I will say this: I will begin posting the articles(once they're completed) included therein very soon Lord willing! :)

Thank you all again so much for your goodness to me!

May you have a very blessed Lord's Day tomorrow!

New Development: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

It appears that all my computer time, writing for school and this blog, crocheting, bread dough kneading, etc., has led to my having carpal tunnel syndrome. A couple months ago, I was noticing that as I would write or knead bread dough, my right wrist would seem really weak and would hurt at times. I didn't think anything of it, as I thought it would go away. When I was in Indiana, however, I made a batch of my wheat bread, and after kneading it for 24 minutes!!(due to the weather and atmosphere, I suppose), I looked down and noticed that there was a bump on my hand, just above the left side of my wrist. I felt it and noticed it felt fleshy. Later that night however, it felt hard. I then knew something was up! I have since been doing research on the computer(I'm very thankful for Google, I must say! :)), and have come to the conclusion that I'm now suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome. I read that when someone has carpal tunnel, they always suffer from swollen soft tissue in the wrist or hand near the wrist. I also have most of the symptoms and there is also a history of carpal tunnel in my extended family. I didn't even know teens could suffer from carpal tunnel(I always thought adults were the only ones who got it), but discovered I was wrong when my dear friend Jasmine did a blog post about her CTS. I also read online that CTS can be caused by a previous wrist injury(such as a fracture) followed by a whole lot of activity with that hand. About 5 years ago while I was in Indiana, I was pushed down by the daughter of one of my mom's childhood friends, and this resulted in my falling on my right wrist. It hurt pretty badly, but I thought it was probably just a sprain or strain. It turns out that may have indeed been all it was, or it could have been a minor fracture. Either way, we're pretty sure I have CTS. We bought a wrist brace while in Indiana, but it's not one specifically for CTS, so we'll be purchasing a new one soon. In the mean time, I will be taking a break(about a week long unless I notify you otherwise) from the computer and my blog. This will be really hard for me to do, but it's important that I take care of my wrist at this time, to prevent it from getting worse(I don't fancy the idea of wrist surjury at all, but especially seeing as how I'm right handed!). Therefore, adieu for this week, dear readers!!

I'll miss you all greatly.

Safe Return from Indiana!

We arrived home safely yesterday evening from our wonderful, wonderful trip to Indiana to visit my great-grandparents. I've never had such a special time, nor such a fun one either! I didn't even want to leave to return home. I can't wait to post for you pics and commentary from the trip! I've missed you all terribly. I hope all is well with each of my dear readers.

Blessings,

Miss Rebekah

Back Safely! :)

This will, regretfully, be a very short post! :/

We arrived home safely from our wonderful trip last night at around 12:30 am. We were delayed in our arriving home by the fact that my dear little brother got sick about 3 hours after eating a hamburger at McDonald's! That may be just a coincidence, and he may actually have a bug, or he may really have food poisening. Either way, by God's grace, he's doing much better this morning.

Our vacation was wonderful! It was so great to visit with family, meet my new little 7 week old cousin, and visit Voddie Baucham's church(and meet my dear friend Jasmine! :)). More info about our trip as well as pics from it will be posted asap.

A huge thank you to all who commented on my blog during my vacation. It's a joy to know that my dear readers follow my blog just as much when I'm here as when I'm not. There are many comments I received that I must respond to, but cannot at the present, for we are unpacking, trying to get our house back in order, do school, etc. etc. All comments will be responded to asap, though! There are also many posts that will soon be published on the subject of Gov. Palin and women in leadership positions. While on vacation, I received the extremely common question, "What about Deborah??" I will be addressing this subject as well asap. Please be patient! :)

Many blessings to all!

Update on the Progress of Upcoming Stay-at-home Daughterhood Article Series

I've received numerous e-mails and comments about my upcoming stay-at-home daugherhood article series, and I'm so thankful! The Lord has been so gracious to generate such an interest in this important series. I'm so happy that the word has spread and that so many families are excitedly anticipating this series.

One of the most popular questions I'm receiving right now is: "When will the series be posted??", so I feel that I need to give you all an update on the series' progress! :) I've completed the introduction to the series and am editing the "Biblical Case for Stay-at-home Daugherhood" article. I'm currently preparing for the second full-length article which will be on the subject of why stay-at-home daugherhood is so important to God and why feminism thus so adamantly attempts to destroy it. During our trip(driving to Arkansas, then driving to Texas, and finally driving back up to Tennessee), I will be reading a book that will prove, I'm sure, to be most helpful in my endeavors. The book is entitled Karl Marx on Education, Women and Children, and I'm sure will help much in my mission to uncover the hand Mr. Marx had in the Women's Rights movement, and ultimately, in feminism.

So, that's where I am right now in my preparation and writing of this series! :) As soon as the Biblical Case article and the article mentioned above are completed, then I will begin posting the series, with the introduction on a Friday and one article on each of the following Fridays. During these first 3 weeks when the introduction and first 2 parts of the series are being posted, I will continue to write the other installments of this series, and post 1 on each following Friday, until all has been posted.

During this writing and preparation time, I ask that you would all please pray for me, that the Lord would give me the words He wants me to write and that His hand would be on this series, blessing it and making it fruitful.

It is my humble prayer that the Lord would use this series in amazing ways to reform our families, churches and nations, and take all Christians back to the "old paths, wherin there is life".

Question Received on the Subject of Modesty

I recently received the following question:

I had a question for you about your sewing. Last summer I bought several dresses before I understood about dressing modestly. I still love the style and fabric of the dresses but would like to add length and make them not so low cut. Do you have any ideas to do that to dresses (or other articles of clothing so I'm not getting rid of much loved clothing and not spending tons of money for a new wardrobe but can make them modest. )

~Anonymous

Anonymous,

First of all, what a great question! I'm so glad you asked it! Secondly, praise God for His working in your life, to bring you to the joys and blessings of modesty! That's so wonderful. I also must say that I really admire your desire to be frugal-that's a great and very helpful

characteristic for a woman to have!

I'm not the most skilled sewer by any means, but I'd be happy to share with you some tips I have. First off all, I often wear a tank top or cami of some sort with tops and dresses that are cut low. Layering like this is really cute and fun, and adds some unique detailing to your outfit. You can also go to a fabric store to search for some fabric that will match your dress and then possibly sew that to the top of the dress front. You could also buy some lace and sew that to the front if the article of clothing is just an inch or two too low. Also, with some patterns, you can, when cutting the fabric out, lengthen the bottom of the article of clothing, or make it higher in the front. You can't do this with all patterns though, so be careful! If you have a pattern that this can be done with, then do not cut along the line of the pattern piece where you want to add length-instead, cut a few inches above it.

As to adding length to the bottom of skirts or dresses, I would suggest adding some lace or detailing to the end of the skirt or dress. You could also purchase some fabric to match and make your skirt a multi-fabric skirt, which are really cute!

Also, if you're in need of modest clothing but don't want to spend much, I encourage you to check out thrift stores and resell shops. You can find some really cute, like-new dresses and skirts for low prices.

My dear friend Allison gave some great ideas in the comment section of this post:

"**Anonymous: My sister and I have added pieces to make sleep-shirts not so low-cut, so it's kind of the same idea. I'm not an expert seamstress at all, and it might depend on the kind of dress it is, but if you simply find a material that matches, you can sew it on the inside of the dress to make it higher-cut. My sister also added length to her sleep-shirt, but she ended up not liking it because she couldn't take very far steps or sit down well. Keep that in mind--unless you add a material that's stretchy or have a dress that flares quite a bit, you might have some trouble doing stuff in it! However, my sister's was a sleep-shirt, so it's not quite the same thing. :) Also, with some shirts or dresses I layer them with a tanktop to make them more modest. Hope this helps a little! In Christ, Allison"

Thanks so much for your help and great advice, Allison!

I hope her tips and mine prove helpful to you, anonymous!

**Input requested: do you have any tips for this lady? If so, please write about them in the comment section.


*this is scheduled post #1-I'm currently on vacation.

Should Women Vote?

In light of the fact that this is the anniversary week of Women's Suffrage, I issue forth a question that I hope all my readers will take the time to answer:

In your opinion, should women have ever been given the right to vote? Why or why not?

When I return from vacation, I will weigh in with my own opinion on this subject and the reasons behind my beliefs in this area.

Thank you very much for your input, everyone!

*P.S. I will be leaving for vacation tomorrow morning, Sat. Augu. 29th. I'm currently writing up numerous posts which will be scheduled to be published while I' m gone. I will have brief computer access while on vacation, so I will be moderating comments and may publish an unscheduled post while on vacation! :) Have a blessed weekend everyone, and a great Labor Day!

Sen. John S. McCain's VP pick: Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin

Just when we thought America was going to be able to go through another election year without the possibility of a woman in the White House(as either Pres. or VP), our hopes were dashed with the news of today.

Sen. John S. McCain has chosen Alaskan Gov. Sarah Palin to be his VP, which means that we may very well have a female Vice President-for the first time in American history. Gov. Palin is the first Republican woman in history to ever be on a Presidential ticket. It's dicouraging that even that political party which has always been more conservative is now ok with picking a woman to be on the ticket. Secondly, it was saddening to hear Sarah Palin's speech where she said, "It's such an honor to be chosen VP on a day so close to the anniversary of women's suffrage." It's a sad time in our nation's history, as even more and more, America falling under the curse found in Isaiah 3:12:

"As for My people, children are their oppressors and women rule over them."

America has, for too long, been apostate in its beliefs, actions, laws, disrespect for God, etc., and God is not willing to just sit back any longer. If we do not begin, as a country, to return to the "old paths wherein there is life", we will face the judgment and wrath of God on our nation. It is time that we fall on our knees and repent of our unfaithfulness to God and His Word. Only then will there be hope of reformation.

In light of this news, I will be posting(when I return from vacation) an updated and expanded version of my article, "The Curse of Women Rulers", which is an article based on Is. 3:12 and which was originally written when Hillary Clinton was running for President. I pray that this updated version will be a blessing and will be used by God to help turn our nation back Him.

New Dress! :)

A few weeks ago, McCalls patterns at one of our local fabric stores were on sale for $1 each. I really need work on my sewing(a very important skill for a young woman to have!), so we bought a few of the patterns. I found one in particular that I really loved, so I decided to begin with that one. We found some fabric we liked and began the dress making process. My mom was a huge help to me (such as with explaining what the pattern was telling me to do! :)) as I did the sewing. I did the majority of the sewing myself, but my mom was a huge help in the areas I wasn't comfortable with doing yet(such as the hem, etc). I'm so pleased with the finished product.

Though the pattern was found in the regular dress section of the McCall's book, it is a Pride and Prejudice/ Regency era dress. I had been really wanting to have a more casual dress like this(my dear mother made me a fancy one for the Father Daughter retreat in April), and am so pleased with the outcome. I wore it to church this past Sunday and received numerous compliments. It's so pretty, comfortable and gloriously feminine! :)

Here are pics of it:

What do you think?

Please understand.........

A couple weeks ago, I received an e-mail that, in part, read as follows:

"This shall be my last mail. I left a comment on your blog but unfortnately it never showed up. I also sent you an email in which I told you all about my blog and asked you to help me out in terms of the Christian outlook towards life ( as I believed your blog to be a very good example of one) but unfortunately I never recieved a reply. As you had mentioned in your blog that you are "very eager" to recieve replies and comments, I would have thought that as a fellow human being you would have considered sending a short reply to my mail concerning what I have undertaken to achieve and my desire for help. But unfortunately it was very disappointing for me to realise that apparantly you only allow the posts which are along you "own" mentality and any posts (even though in the most respectable format) not in accordance are never acceptable. I was very much looking for a comprehensive dialogue but to my dismay found only an irritating silence."

I wrote the following in response(this is a portion of what I wrote):

"Please forgive me, dear one, for not yet responding to you. Yes, I did read your sweet and loving comment and your e-mail. That's all I've been able to do so far- I haven't been able to respond to the comment of yours on my blog yet. And I don't like to post comments on my blog if I can't immediately respond to them(if they're ones that really require a response, that is!), because that makes the readers of my blog and the one leaving the comments feel like their input is useless and like they won't ever get a response back. Therefore, I thought the wise thing to do would be then to read all my comments, post the ones I can at that moment, and asap get back to the ones I can't, then responding to them asap. However, I see that wasn't the wise way to handle it, as I see how you're hurt. And I fully understandI can't tell you how very sorry I am, and how burdened I am knowing that I hurt you. This is a very busy season in my family's life right now-we're trying to get everything prepared for starting up our homeschool stuff again here in a couple weeks, we have various activities, we've got two trips coming up, I'm preparing a baby blanket for my brand new little cousin who we will be visiting for the first time during our first trip coming up, etc. etc. I'm not saying all this to try to justify myself, or excuse my foolish folly away. I'm simply trying to give you a glimpse into my life, so that you can know without a shadow of a doubt that I'm NOT ignoring you, or wanting to somehow post only comments that are to my liking, etc. Nothing could be further from the truth, and so I'm trying to help you see that. I ask you to please look further on my blog-I post MANY comments that I disagree with(not that I was disagreeing with yours-I wasn't!). I partake in Christian debate often. But I have to choose what's most important in these busy times. And that's my family. If I'm going to have a blog speaking out on how we young ladies should serve our families, then I have to live that out-not just talk about it on my blog and then not actually practice what I preach! There have been times where I've felt so obligated to all the numerous people on my blog, that I have let family responsibilities go by the way side. And I can't do that! That's not pleasing to the Lord! He doesn't want me on the computer all day, but of course, neither does He want me ignoring my dear, treasured readers. And trust me, there have been times where I've felt like breaking down, because I feel so overwhelmed! I feel like I have huge obligations to everybody, and wonder how in the world I can fit them all in. This has warn me thin at times. Therefore, I'm trying to go about these issues in a wiser manner. However, I see from your hurting e-mail that I failed. I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you or anyone else. I still have other numerous comments I still must get to and respond to. I'm just trying to find the time to without letting anything slip through the cracks! I want to serve my family like I am Biblically commanded to, and yet I also have a calling from the Lord to minister to my readers. I understand that I should have sent at least a short e-mail to you, to assure you that I was interested. It was very, very unwise for me to not do that. I see that now(I should have seen it then!!!) and I'm terribly sorry. I pray that this e-mail has patched things up. I truly am so sorry. I can't apologize enough. If there's anything I can do, let me know. I look forward to hearing from you in the future, dear. I would like more information about the vision you have for your project, and what it would be about!! Once again, I am sorry. Please accept my humble apology. And please pray for me, that I would be more skilled in time management in the future!"

By God's grace alone, everything between me and this dear woman has been patched up. She is one of the most gracious, understanding women I've ever met, and the Lord has seen fit to patch everything completely up between us. My purpose in posting this was to attempt to help my readers understand why I haven't responded to every comment or e-mail I've received lately, and why I haven't even posted every comment. I have around 21 comments currently in moderation for the above mentioned reason. I see that this was not the wise way to go about things at all, but at the time I seemed to think that it was. I see now how wrong I was.

The past couple months have been crazy for me and my family. My mother hasn't been feeling well at all lately(off and on since April actually-she's suffering from low blood sugar type symptoms), we're preparing for 2 trips coming up, we've had to begin our homeschooling things about 3 weeks earlier than we usually do due to these trips, we've had to prepare for this school year, etc. etc. This is why I haven't been posting regularly or getting back with everyone in the amount of time that I should. I pray that you will all please understand and be as gracious as the dear lady mentioned above. I'm sorry for the delay in responding to all the questions, comments, e-mails, etc. that I've received. Please know that I'm trying my best to get back with all of them asap. But, please don't let this keep you from sending more! In a short time(Lord willing) everything will be back to normal, and I will be getting back with everyone much, much quicker. Please know that I believe the more e-mails and comments, the merrier! :) I LOVE hearing from my readers. Every comment and e-mail(whether I agree with the thoughts therein or not) is highly treasured. So, please comment, ask questions and e-mail as much as you'd like. EVERYTHING will be responded to. That is my promise to you, my dear readers!

So, thank you for standing by me in this busy time, and for being so patient and understanding. You are all such a God-send. May He richly bless you all-each and every one of you!

Blog Updates Scheduled for this weekend!

If you visit my blog tomorrow and or Sunday, please don't be disturbed by the look of my blog's sidebar! :) This weekend, it will be under construction. I'll be moving things around, adding features, and getting everything into the order I want. By Monday, my sidebar will be new and vastly improved(Lord willing!).

I pray that all of you, dear readers, have a blessed weekend and special Lord's Day.

Coming Monday will be a couple very informative posts that none of you will want to miss, so be sure to be on the lookout for those! :)

Have a blessed day, everyone!

1 Year Anniversary! Praise God!

Yesterday, August 12th, 2008, was By HIS Grace and for HIS glory's 1 year blog anniversary! I simply cannot believe that one year has passed already since I began this blog in the hopes of reaching out to the young women of the world. The Lord has been so merciful this past year and has blessed this ministry beyond words. When I began the blog, I had sincerely hoped that word about it would spead, but I didn't know how popular(in # of readers, that is) it would become or how the Lord would work. I stand in absolute awe of the Lord! He has spread the word about this blog ministry of mine in such a manner that is beyond my wildest dreams. I'm so thankful to the Lord for His grace and abundant mercy. I would not have this blog were it not for HIS grace, and the reason I do have this blog is to bring HIM glory. My sole mission is to bring my merciful Savior glory and honor. I have a heart that is burdened by the way our culture is these days. I'm severely saddened when I see young ladies in the world today without hope and without direction in their lives. They've just bought into the lies of feminism, humanism, etc. that their cultures have sold them. The Lord has placed this burden on my heart, just as He has also placed there the desire to see things turn around. My desire is that this blog would be used by the Lord to impact the women of this world and would encourage them to turn back to "the old paths wherein there is life" (and joy and fulfillment, I might add! ;)).

1 year and 321 posts later, the vision and mission behind this blog remains the same as it was the day I created it. Here is what I posted the day my blog's history began:

Hi, everyone! Welcome to my blog! I'm so glad that each and every one of you is here to visit and hope you will come back quite often, as well as tell your friends and family about it! This blog is dedicated to encouraging, strengthening, and edifying girls and young women as they seek to return to the beauties of home and family, Biblical femininity, modesty, discreetness, chasteness, humility, and Biblical daughterhood and womanhood.

I hope that this blog will be a breath of fresh air to you, and be a haven where you can be girded, strengthened, encouraged, and prepared for the battle before us in the savagely humanistic, feministic culture in which we live. I pray this blog and its posts will encourage you as you grasp the Biblical vision of returning to the glorious and noble missions of Biblical femininity and womanhood in the midst of a culture that is disgusted with and belittles anything or anyone who is distinctly feminine and ladylike: a homemaker, a submissive wife/daughter, one who loves and enjoys the noble titles of virtuous daughterhood, submissive wifehood, blessed motherhood, or someone who enjoys and takes great joy from being a helpmeet (or helpmeet in training). This world desperately needs more young girls who will embrace this vision now, and who will grow into noble, virtuous, God-fearing women. We need girls and young ladies who will grow up to be godly and virtuous women who love and are not afraid to have the precious titles of wife, mother, and homemaker (titles that were lovingly God-ordained exclusively for women). Girls who have no concern or desire to look "cool" in the world's eyes or to please them, but rather desire to bring glory and honor to and please their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has bought them with a price.

The following beautiful poem so clearly depicts this truth:

The Need of the Hour

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

What does our country need? Not armies standing
With sabers gleaming ready for the fight;
Not increased navies, skillful and commanding,
To bound the waters with an iron might;
Not haughty men with glutted purses trying
To purchase souls, and keep the power of place:
Not jeweled dolls with one another vying
For palms of beauty, elegance and grace.

But we want women, strong of soul, yet lovely
With that rare meekness, born of gentleness;
Women whose lives are pure and clean and holy,
The women whom all little children bless:
Brave, earnest women, helpful to each other,
With finest scorn for all things low and mean:
Women who hold the names of wife and mother
Far nobler than the title of a queen.

Oh! These are they who mould the men of story,
These mothers, ofttime shorn of grace and youth,
Who, worn and weary, ask no greater glory
Than making some young soul the home of truth;
Who sow in hearts all fallow for the sowing
The seeds of virtue and scorn for sin,
And patient, watch the beauteous harvest growing
And weed out tares which crafty hands cast in.

Women who do not hold the gift of beauty
As some rare treasure to be bought and sold,
But guard it as a precious aid to duty-
The outer framing of the inner gold;
Women who, low above their cradles bending,
Let flattery's voice go by, and give no heed,
While their pure prayers like inscense ascending:
These are our country's pride, our country's need.

I pray that this beautiful poem was an encouragement to you to be godly young women to the glory of God in the middle of this world which scorns all things feminine and lovely.
May the Lord richly bless you and grant to you strength as you strive to glorify, please and honor Him through Biblical femininity, amidst a world and culture who belittles such ladies.

By His grace and for His glory,
Rebekah Ann Shadoin

*The above poem is an excerpt from the beautiful book entitled, Verses of Virtue: The Poetry and Prose of Christian Womanhood. It is compiled and edited by Elizabeth Beall Phillips, mother to 8 children, and wife of Doug W. Phillips, Esq., the President of Vision Forum, Inc. This book is available through http://www.visionforum.com/, and I would very highly recommend it to each and every one of you young ladies out there who are seeking encouragement regarding your vision of noble daughterhood and womanhood.

This was the first post that I ever published, and my feelings on these subjects remain the same. My purpose and mission is the same. I praise God, from Whom all blessings flow, for blessing this first year so richly. I do not deserve His blessings, but He lavishly bestowed them upon me anyway. All glory goes to Him and Him alone! Through the past year, I have met the sweetest young ladies in the world. These dear girls have become my closest friends, and I thank the Lord for them. I have also been so blessed by the comments of many women(and a few men!) who have visited this blog and have given me encouragement and grace. To all of the people who have ever commented on my blog(whether you agreed with me or not): thank you. Thank you for leaving your comments. The wonderful comments and e-mails I receive are what makes blogging so wonderful. I'm so thankful that the Lord has spread the word about my little corner of the blogosphere, and by so doing, has allowed me to meet and converse with such wonderful people. I pray that He continues to spread the word and make my blog known to even more people in the coming year of ministry. Praise God for His goodness and grace!

I have such a big vision for the next year of this blog! There are so many, many articles and article series that I will be posting in the next year that I'm so excited about! I will be branching this ministry out(Lord willing) with many more posts, new blog features, and some new ministry ideas that I cannot disclose at the moment. :) Needless to say, I'm very excited! All glory and honor belongs to my wonderful Savior, Who I know has wonderful plans for this blog and its upcoming year.

In closing, I would like to issue forth another huge thank-you to all the readers of my blog. This blog is for YOU and each and every one of you make it a success. Thank you for your gracious comments, your faithful reading of this blog, and for your friendship and mentorship. May you all experience the Lord's richest blessings.

By HIS grace and for HIS glory,

Miss Rebekah Ann S.

*beautiful photo courtesy of http://www.allposters.com/

Surprise Pics Installment 2! ;)

Here's installment number 2 of the surprise pics I promised you all. I had so much fun doing installment 1, because I thoroughly enjoyed your excited and sweet comments. :) I could tell that you were all having fun with this, and that was neat.

So, here is installment 2, with pics from 1994 and 1995. Remember-I was born in July 1992, so keep that in mind and you'll know approximately how old I am in these! :)

1994:

Dental hygiene is very important! :)

Don't you just love my curls? :) This is around the time of my second birthday. We went up to one of my very favorite places-the corn field and country area of Indiana to visit my great-grandparents for the first time! I've always had fun up here, but it wasn't until recently that I've really come to appreciate my great-grandparents so very much. This was my first croquet game!! :) Now I enjoy playing croquet at the Vision Forum father/daughter retreats!

Having a very important talk with my grandfather! :) This is my mom's dad. I think this is just such a sweet picture.

Already preparing to be a homemaker! :) I LOVED that little stove. It was definitely the best gift for me!

Christmas 1994. Believe it or not, I'm only 2 years and 5 months in this picture! Amazing, itsn't it? I've always looked much older than my actual age.

1995:

While living in Texas near my grandparents(where we lived until I was 12 1/2, when we moved up here to Tennessee), it became a tradition beginning in 1995 for my grandmother(my mom's mom) to take me to a great big field of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes for an annual photo. I have some sweet memories of these special and fun times. :)

July 12th, 1995-my 3rd birthday! :) Once again, I look much older than I really am.

Christmas morning, 1995. Preparing already to be a mommy. :) This was one of my first, if not my first, doll. I was SO happy to receive her and her special stroller. I named her Jessica, and took her with me wherever I went, to care for her and take care of her. :) I still have her to this day-she's tucked away in my room near my window seat, ready to be given to my(Lord willing) first born daughter. :)

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into my childhood. :) More pics(from 1996 and 1997) will be posted soon!

Summer Blowout Sale!

Have you been ministered to through Crystal Paine and her Biblical Womanhood site? Have you been wanting to purchase all of her Christ-exalting e-books, but never thought you had the money to?

Well, now you do! Only for today, Wednesday July 30th, Mrs. Paine is very generously offering up for sale all of her e-books for the amazing price of only $5.97!! This is an over $100 value!

This is an exceptionally great deal when you consider the fact that each of these e-books can be printed out if you prefer to read them as actual booklets! You don't have to read them on the computer if you rather not.

So, please go here to show this wonderful lady your support, while at the same time, getting your hands on some wonderful, Christ-honoring products.

:)

Surprise Pics Installment 1! :)

As I disclosed a couple days ago, the surprise "gift" I was going to be giving you all in honor of my 16th birthday was the ability to see various pictures from the first 16 years of my life. I thought you all might enjoy this, so I hope you have fun viewing the following glimpses into my life. :) This is installment 1, with more pics to follow on Monday.

Enjoy! ;)

1992:

Me and my dear Mother on July 12th 1992
What fun!
Me and my Daddy :)

Getting bigger! :)


1993:
Look how tall I am! (but still not as tall as Daddy!....)
Our family on Easter Sunday, 1993
1st Birthday!!!
Awww..... :)

Only the Lord knows why things don't happen according to our plans. :)

I was going to post the pics on here last night while my father was at our church's Wednesday night men and sons meeting. He didn't end up attending it last night, though, and so in order to not steal away from family time, I didn't post the pictures.

The plan was then for me to post them today obviously! But we've been on the run all day and now that my father's home, I don't believe I should steal away from family time tonight either.

The pics still have to be saved to the computer and then I will post them(unless the Lord has something else planned for me that I don't know about! ;)) tomorrow.

Thank you ladies, for being so gracious and understanding!

A man plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps. ~Prov. 16:9!

Without Further Ado........

The surprise pictures will be:

drumroll please.......................

pictures from my first 16 years. :)

I thought it might be fun for all of you to enjoy a little glimpse into my life thus far. I thought you would enjoy seeing what I looked like as a little child, etc. I hope you enjoy the surprise pictures and that they bring a smile to your face! :) The first set of pics will be posted today!

Update Regarding Suprise Pics!! :)

Regretfully, my camera wasn't working and therefore I was unable to post the surprise pics when I wanted to. The camera is up and running again, praise the Lord, so the pics should be posted very soon!! ;)

Special Surprise! :)

As some of you know, my 16th birthday is tomorrow, July 12th. On one's birthday, the day is always centered on them and they are the ones who receive all the gifts. Well, I'm going to turn that around! Either tomorrow or Monday(hopefully tomorrow!!), I will be posting something special for all of you to enjoy. I can only give one hint: there will be special pics posted. :)

Just for fun, would any of you like to make a guess as to what the surprise is? If so, leave your guess in the comment section!

I'm excited about doing this special, fun little thing for all my treasured blog readers.

May the Lord richly bless you this day!

Oh, how I've missed you all!

Where do I begin?? :)

I've missed you all so much and have really missed posting on here and corresponding with you all these past few weeks!

First off, we had a WONDERFUL vacation to Indiana. I will be posting pics from that vacation shortly, and will fill you in on some really special, memorable happenings that took place while we were there! :) The Lord really blessed us during this vacation, to say the least!

We returned from vacation on Sunday night, June 1st, and since then have been trying to get back on track with everything, sort out our summer schedule, begin piano lessons(taught to me by my wonderful mother-more on that later ;)), etc. etc. Have you ever experienced a week or two in your life where you know pretty much what happened during that time, yet you wonder where the time went and whether or not you accomplished anything? Well, that's exactly how I've been feeling the past two weeks.

But, don't fear! This blog will very soon be up and running full swing ahead! :) The article series I mentioned a few posts ago will be begun here on my blog within the week. I will be getting to each and every comment and e-mail I've received in the past month or so(most of which have been on the subject of homemaking and that post I did a few weeks ago!!). Never fear-all your questions, comments, and input will be acknowledged and answered in full! :)

Thank you all so much for your patience. You are all such a God send! God bless you all.

Today's Bible Verse

"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His contenance upon you, and give you peace."

~Numbers 6:24-26(NKJV)

Today's Bible Verse

Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His Word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who abides in Him ought himself to walk just as He walked.

~1 John 2:3-6(NKJV)

Dear readers,

I wanted to inform you all that while I'm in Indiana(this is a scheduled post!), I more than likely will not have computer access. Therefore, if you leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I do not respond to you for a week, or if you're comment doesn't show up on my blog for a week, it's not because I'm ignoring you! It's simply because I am void of internet access.

Thank you for understanding!

Before I close, I would like to ask all of you to please pray for safe travels for us.

Many blessings to you all!

Comments and E-mails

I have received MANY comments and e-mails today on the subject of homemaking, etc. I've posted and responded to as many as possible. I wanted to respond to all before I leave on my vacation early tomorrow morning, but I'm finding out that this simply isn't possible! Therefore, please understand that the reason your comments have not shown up yet/the reason I've not responded is because I've simply run out of time, with trying to respond to these, pack, clean the house, etc. etc. Thank you for understanding. I'm really very sorry for the wait, but please know that I will get to each and every one of your comments and e-mails when I get back from Indiana. Thank you so very much for your wonderful patience. :)

Many blessings,

Rebekah

Please Pray!

I just came across this heart-wrenching article on the tragedy that just struck the Stephen Curtis Chapman family.

I'm saddened beyond words, and my heart goes out to this poor family-especially the oldest son.

Please pray for this family, that the Lord would comfort them and give them the peace that passes all understanding. Thank you for praying for them! I'm sure they covet your loving prayers.

Trip Info

We will be leaving early tomorrow morning to travel up to Indiana to visit my precious great-grandparents. I'm so excited, and this family vacation is such a rich blessing every time we go on it. We will be returning on June 1st. I will be taking lots of pictures that I will post along with all the other pics that have not yet been posted.

I will be typing us some posts and will take advantage of Blogger's new feature, and will schedule them to be posted while I'm gone. Be sure to be on the lookout for those!

May you all have a blessed weekend, dear readers!

Introducing......

.......the new up and coming 6-part article series on the subject of Stay-at-Home Daughterhood!

The 6 articles you will be reading are:

1. Stay-at-Home Daughterhood: The Biblical Case

2. Why Stay-at-Home Daughterhood is So Important to God, and Why the Feminists Thus Want to Destroy it

3.Refuting the Myths: Answering the Nay-Sayers of Stay-at-Home Daughterhood

4. Dealing With Difficulties(subjects covered will be: what if my family's not supportive?, what if my family needs extra money?, etc.

5. What's a Girl to Do?(discussing how the stay-at-home daughter can fill her time to the glory of God)

6. The Top 50 Reasons Why it's Such a Blessing to be a Stay-at-Home Daughter

And possible bonus(if this series generates a lot of input and questions):

7. Answering the Questions Raised by the Doctrine of Stay-at-Home Daughterhood

I'm so excited about this new article series! It will take a lot of work, but I'm so ready for it. The first article is almost finished(I have 2 paragraphs left, and then I need to edit it), and it's been such an amazing article to write. As I set out to write it, I wasn't prepared for all the numerous Scripture passages the Lord would lead me to. It's really been a blessing to write this article and to discover just how important stay-at-home daughterhood is to the Lord. I pray that this series will be a tremendous blessing to you, and that the Lord would use it in a mighty way to change the convictions of many and to encourage stay-at-home daughters!

May the Lord richly bless you all!

~The 12 Pillars of Biblical Womanhood~

The 12 Pillars of Biblical Womanhood

by Scott Brown

1. An Image Bearer ~Genesis 1:26-27

2. A Woman Not a Man ~Genesis 2:21-23

3. A Disciple ~Deuteronomy 6:7

4. A Member of the Church ~Acts 2:49

5. A Demonstration of Unfading Beauty ~1 Peter 3:4

6. A Helpmeet ~Genesis 2:18

7. A Trustful and Submissive Wife ~Ephesians 5:22

8. A Keeper at Home ~Titus 2:5

9. A Domestic Entrepreneur ~Proverbs 31:10-31

10. A Fruitful Bearer of Children ~Genesis 1:28

11. A Teacher of the Next Generation ~Ephesians 6:1-3

12. A Godly Mentor ~Titus 2:3-5

Question and Answer Week: Response #8

I received the following question yesterday morning.

Rebekah, tell me where did the whole "stay-at-home daughter" thing come from? who introduced it to you? and can you back up this notion with scripture?

~Anonymous

Anonymous,

Hello! Thank you for your great question. Yes, I can indeed back it up with numerous Scripture passages-in fact, that's what I'm doing right now! I'm currently writing an article(the first in a 5part series on this very subject) entitled Stay-At-Home Daughterhood: A Biblical Case. It's a really long article, and I'm so excited about it! I pray that it will be a blessing to all who visit this blog.

The whole "stay-at-home daughterhood thing" came directly from the Scriptures alone. In fact, that was normative prior to radical feminism! Feminism has changed the way we all think(even Christians have been drastically changed by it, sadly), and so now, when we're presented with a Biblical doctrine we tend to kick against it and claim that that surely couldn't be found in the Scriptures anywhere. We need a HUGE change in our thinking! It's high time we stopped conforming to this sinful, God-hating world, and instead transformed our minds!

I was first introduced with the concept of stay-at-home daughterhood through a book I read at the end of 2006/beginning of 2007. I was shocked when I read this part of the book, because I'm ashamed to say, I had no idea this was taught in the Scriptures! I was very feministic in my thinking(and thus, very anti-God and anti-Scripture), and so was so unfamiliar with the Scriptures that I had no idea this sort of idea was contained there. To make sure the authors of this book were actually right and knew what they were talking about, I set out on a deep study of the Word, to "see whether these things be so." I was determined to "rightly divide the Word of truth" and to "test all things; hold fast what is good." I was simply amazed at the end of my study! I had come across even more Scripture passages supporting this idea than the authors had even referenced! I repented before the Lord for not knowing His Word, and for going against what it so clearly teaches. It is now my goal in life to teach the Scriptures(especially on the subject of Biblical daughterhood, womanhood and femininity), to refute feminism by exposing its true history and foundations, etc.

May you have a blessed day, Anonymous! Thank you again for your question, and should you have anymore, please don't hesitate to let me know!

In Christ alone,

Rebekah

Question and Answer Week: Response #7

I received the following question for Q&A Week:

1)I would like to know what your views are on women working outside the home? Do you think it is a sin?

If your answer is it is not, it is something between the Lord and the individual, I have no more questions.

On the other hand, if your answer is yes, do you on principle refuse to go to female doctors, nurses, grocery store checkout ladies, bank tellers, and the 1000 different arenas women are working in today's world?

~AnneK

Hello, AnneK! Thank you for your great question. It's funny you should ask this right now, because I was just in a lengthy debate over on another blog on this very subject! :)

I'm afraid you're going to have to wait for my full answer and all the whys behind it, because I'm currently gathering all my thoughts and Scriptures for a lengthy article on this very subject, that I will be posting here on my blog in the near future. I hope you don't mind the wait; thank you for your patience!

I'll just provide you with my short answer now, and ask that you return for the rest of it, along with the Scriptures that back me up in my upcoming article. Basically, yes, I believe that it is a sin for Christian women to not be homemakers, for they are explicitly commanded to be so, and disobeying our Lord's commands is sin. I will be answering all the arguements I get from people who disagree with me, in my upcoming article, and will also be answering the question: what about single moms and older women?

No, I do not refuse to go to female nurses, etc. One thing we have to understand is that very sadly, the majority of women in the workforce are not Christians(simply because the plain truth and sad fact is that most people are not Christians). Therefore, it's not a sin for them to be in the workforce(although they would greatly benefit from following the Lord's commands that are issued to Christians). Also, going to female doctors, etc., provides us with a great mission field! If we were to refuse to go to female doctors and other females in the workforce, we would be shunning many non-Christians who need the Good News, and we would not have the mission field that we would be blessed with if we did go to these women.

Thank you so much for your question, AnneK! If you should have anymore questions, please don't hesitate to let me know-I love answering my reader's inquiries! :)

Have a blessed day,

Rebekah Ann

Question and Answer Week: Response #6(the first 5 were posted during last time's Q&A Week)

I recently received the following question for Q&A Week:

As you may know many christian families are against romance novels for their children because they might get children thinking about marriage and romance to soon. However, tell me what's the difference between a romance novel and a Disney movie? Disney movies promote romance and marriage so does that mean that we're no longer allowed to let children watch classic Disney movies?

~Anonymous

Hi, anonymous! That's a really great question, and I'm glad you asked it.

Well, for one thing, I don't think the main reason that Christian families are against romance novels is because they get their children thinking about marriage in and of itself too fast(although that may be the case for some, because the fact is that some parents, even Christian ones, don't believe that marriage is very good or something their children should be preparing for), but rather because these books get their children thinking about the physical and emotional aspects of marriage and romance far too early. These books breed impurity and discontentment and thus should not be read by any Christians, let alone children. These kinds of books get a child thinking that his/her spouse will be perfect, and they make adult readers wish that their spouses were more like the characters in the book. This is just one of the reasons why it is highly dangerous for people to read these oftentimes filthy books.

With Disney movies it's a little different. There are some Disney movies that I'm heavily against, because they make witchcraft look cute, teach children things that are heavily contrary to Scripture, etc. But the ones we have in focus now are ones such as Cinderella, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, and Sleeping Beauty. I don't tend to find anything all that wrong with these particular movies. Some may disagree with me(and if my readers are among those, I encourage you to please leave me a comment explaining why-I may be missing something ;)), but this is my own personal opinion. In fact, I think there are some very good lessons taught in the above mentioned Disney children's movies. First of all, the young ladies in each of these movies is not pining away, waiting for Prince Charming to come. Rather, she's busy about some task, whether it be serving others, learning new things, etc. This is something that many young girls today need to learn. They should be preparing for and saving themselves for their future Prince Charmings, but should not be wasting their time pining away for him. Also, marriage is praised in these movies, and is seen as a good thing. The movie Cinderella teaches us selflessness. Also, Prince Charming comes and rescues his princess. Prince Charming is seen as a strong man who is the protector of his wife-he is the one out fighting for her, protecting her from those who would desire to hurt her, etc. These are very good, Biblical teachings.

In conclusion, one of the huge differences between the romance novels and Disney movies is that in the romance novels, impurity is praised and fills every page, whereas it isn't present in the Disney movies. Romance novels teach many bad things and are worthless, whereas the specific Disney movies mention above teach many good life lessons.

Thank you again so much for your great question, Anonymous! If you ever have anymore questions, please don't hesitate to let me know-I'd be happy to answer them for you!

The Return of Question and Answer Week

A few months ago, I came up with the idea to host Question and Answer Week, where my dear readers could contact me and ask me any question(s) they wanted-on anything from my favorite food, to what I think regarding different aspects of Biblical womanhood, Biblical daughterhood and Biblical femininity, to inquiries as to homemaking tips, advice on being a faithful daughter and sibling, etc. etc. I was amazed by the huge response and outpouring of inquiries, and was so thrilled to answer each and every one of the great questions I received. It is for this reason that I'm please to announce:

The Return of Question and Answer Week!

Please e-mail me(or leave me a comment) with any questions you may have. I will answer them in interview style, and will post the questions and answers here on my blog.

So, now without further ado, start the questions coming!! :)

Many pictures coming soon!!!

I wanted to let you all know that I will be posting my long-awaited pictures soon. Pics from the Vision Forum Father/Daughter Retreat, the Puritan Family Reformation Conference, recent random family pictures, and pictures that I will take tonight at our church fellowship will all be posted very soon, so please be on the lookout for those!

Also, I'm still currently working on many articles to post on here, and I'm looking into the possibility of making podcasts! I know you all are anxious to start reading those articles, so please pray that the Lord would be gracious and would provide me with the words He wants me to say. I'm also seeking the Lord's guidance over my idea of possibly having my devotionals published! I also have a couple other ministry ideas up my sleeve, that I can't wait to share with you all very, very shortly! :)

Much will be going on here at By His Grace and For His Glory(especially with summer just around the corner), so you won't want to miss a single thing!

I must sign off for now, but before I go, I wanted to let you know that I would love to hear from you! Please feel free to e-mail me (living_for_my_Lords_glory@hotmail.com) or leave me a comment at any time! Another thing I am currently in the process of doing is answering all the many questions, comments and e-mails I've received! If you are one of the people who has sent me an e-mail/question/comment that I have not yet responded to, please be patient. You are all on my mind, and I'm striving to get to each and every e-mail and question as time permits. :)

May you all have a blessed day!

~Numbers 6:24-26

Home Safely! :)

I just wanted to quickly post, to let you all know that we're home safely from the wonderful Puritan Family Reformation Conference!! :) We were so blessed by this outstanding weekend. More info to come soon!

I have to sign off for now, as we're very busy with unpacking, finishing up school for this school year, etc., but I'll fill all of you in asap! :)

Puritan Family Reformation Conference!!!

We're really busy right now, trying to do school work, pack, and get everything situated for our mini-trip this weekend. I'm SO excited and pleased to announce that we will be attending the Puritan Family Reformation Conference this weekend, presented by Vision Forum and Scott Brown. The conference will be held from Friday, May 9th through Sunday, May 11th in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Please click the above link for more information about this great conference(also be sure to take a peak at the titles of the messages that we will be blessed with this weekend). Also, please click here to watch a video promo for the conference! I'm so excited about this conference, and feel so very, very blessed by the Lord to be able to attend it. It will be so refreshing and encouraging to be around likeminded families, and will be so wonderful to be edified and exhorted in the Word. I'm also really looking forward to learning the history of the family life of many of the puritans, such as Matthew Henry. This weekend will be such a rich blessing. I will be taking pictures that will be posted(along with photos from the father/daughter retreat and the baby shower I mentioned a couple weeks ago) this coming week.

We will be leaving early tomorrow afternoon(as soon as Daddy gets off work) to drive(for about 7 1/2 hours) to Wake Forest, North Carolina. Please pray for safe travel, that the Lord would have His hand on the conference attendees to bless them and keep them safe, that the Lord would teach us all what He wants us to learn and live out, and that we would all come away with a renewed, invigorated Biblical vision for victorious Christian family life. We will be driving back on Sunday afternoon(and will not get home until very late at night!), so please pray that we will have safe travels on the way back, as well. Thank you for your prayers, and I will let you know all about the conference when we return. :)

By the way, Blogger has a new feature that allows blog authors to write up posts that can be scheduled to be posted at a time in the future. If I have time(I'll try my hardest), I will write up a special post for you all that will be posted sometime this weekend while I'm gone, so be on the lookout for that! :)

May the Lord richly bless you this coming weekend, and may all you mothers have a blessed and joyous Mother's Day with your little blessings! :)

Daily Bible Verse

My lips shall utter praise, for You teach me Your statutes. My tongue shall speak of Your word,for all Your commandments are righteousness.

~Psalm 119:171-172(NKJV)

Please refer to the new blog schedule, so that you can know what to expect here on this blog!

1st Devotional!

I'm trying to get back on track with my blogging, while at the same time, write, edit and rewrite many, many articles for this site. Therefore, I find that it would be most convenient for me to (for the next few days) post(on devotional days) some of my old devotionals. That way, those of you that didn't get to read those when they were first posted can read them now, and doing this will provide me with much more needed time to write my long articles! :) Thank you for understanding! So, without further adeiu, I want to present to you the first ever devotional that I wrote for this blog. I pray that it blesses, convicts, edifies, and encourages you in your walk with our wonderful Lord!

Devotional #1! :)

Yay!

I don't have much time at the moment, but wanted to sign in real quick and leave you all with some updates. Praise be to the Lord-I am feeling so much better! I'm on antibiotics right now, and for the first time in a week, I'm actually enjoying more of what is actually a good night's sleep! I'm by no means completely 100% yet, but how wonderful the Lord is! I'm getting more sleep and am not dreading the time when night comes anymore, because I'm actually able to fall asleep and stay asleep longer. Due to my sinus infection and all it brings with it, I had been unable to fall asleep for about an hour, and would then only sleep about 2 hours at a time, with numerous breaks in between my sleep. It was horrible! But the Lord is so merciful, and I'm feeling a lot better. I hope to be fully fine within the next couple days.

Our second living room is still being "refurnished". More pics and updates about that soon!

I'm writing up a daily schedule for myself, where I'll actually be able to get up really early, get everything done, have plenty of time for writing for my blog, be able to dedicate much time to my education, etc. Due to my lack of schedule, I had found myself getting up around 9, drifting from this subject in my homeschooling to that subject, never really feeling like I got a whole, whole lot done, do to the fact that my blog/ministry time was almost nonexistant lately. So, I will be beginning this new schedule on Monday, and this blog will have a LOT of more time and work dedicated to it, while still allowing me to accomplish all the other tons of things I need to do in a day. :) Having this schedule will be so wonderful. I'm really excited! More info on my schedule, etc. will be coming soon!

I must get off now, but will be on either tomorrow or Saturday. And on Monday, this blog will be able to abide by the blog schedule I posted about a month or 2 ago! :)

Have a blessed night, dear readers,

Rebekah

Updates

Oh, dear readers, so much has happened lately that I've been unable to do much of anything on the computer(i.e. I haven't been able to post on my blog, views other people's blogs, etc). I've had a sinus infection for the past week resulting in headaches, etc. etc., Mama hasn't been feeling well, I've had so much school work, I'm preparing for a conference coming up at our church by coordinating different resources we'll be buying for the resource table, sending lots of e-mails to members of our church and companies we'll be purchasing resources from, etc. Also, we're(as I type) having a family from our church install laminate(hardwood look-a-like) flooring in our second living room. We had to move out all the furniture(including the computer), books, carpet, carpet padding, etc. etc. out from the room in order to prepare for today-the day the new flooring is being laid. This is what has been keeping me away from the blog. Thank you all so, so much for understanding, for asking about me, for worrying about me( but remember-the Bible says don't worry!! ;)), and for sticking by me even though it seems that I've been abandoning you this past week. I'm really looking forward to the very(Lord willing) near future when everything will get back to normal. I have SO many article and devotional ideas running in my head that I'm SO thankful to God for and so excited about. Unless the Lord wills that something else happen, I should be getting back to my normal(only more involved with many more posts) blog schedule very, very soon.

Thank you all for sticking by me and for being so interested in my blog and me even though I've been bobarded with many things lately. :)

The Lord is good and His will is good, and everything that happens is planned by Him-including this sickness, etc. :) So, I'm excited about getting everything back to normal soon, but am also excited that everything's going according to His perfect plan. :)

May the Lord richly bless you all until I post again(which should be tomorrow, Wednesday or Thursday for sure).

Just Checking In.......

No, I've not forgotten about you all, nor have I forgotten to post about the wonderful retreat. :) I've been very busy with my schoolwork and with finishing up a crocheted baby blanket I'm working on for a baby shower I'm going to tomorrow. Pictures from the retreat will probably be posted today or tomorrow; Monday at the very, very latest!! Keep on looking out for those and for my coverage of the wonderful 2008 Vision Forum Father and Daughter Descipleship Retreat! :)

Hello!

Hello, all! I just have a few minutes to check in with you all, but I wanted to let you know that we returned home safely from the retreat. It was wonderful!!!!

I'm looking forward to sharing with all of you the pictures I took, as well as sharing with you how the retreat was, and what a blessing it was. I must go tackle some of my school work right now, but will come back on here with coverage of the retreat as soon as possible! :)

I'll be leaving for the retreat in just a few minutes. It'll take us 3 hours to drive down there to where it's held in Georgia. Please pray for our safety, that the fathers and daughters would grow closer together, and that the Lord would teach us all want He wants us to learn.

Thank you for your prayers!

I'll be taking pics that I'll post on either Monday or Tuesday.

Have a blessed weekend, dear readers!

Thank you!!

Dear readers,

I want to thank you all so much for the sweet words of comfort you left me in regards to losing my sweet little Cocoa. Your kindness blessed me so much, and helped me to get through this time of sadness. You are all such wonderful friends, and I want you to know what a blessing your sweet comments were to me! I thank the Lord for all of you; each one of you is so dear to me, and your loving words of sympathy really cheered me up quite a bit. Thank you all so, so much!!

In Christian love,

Rebekah Ann

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I published a post the other day on the subject of the upcoming Vision Forum Father/Daugther Retreat. In case some of you had not seen it, please check out that link. And, for those of you who may not have seen my question on that other post, here it is again: are any of you going? If so, maybe we could meet! :) Have you ever been before?

Daily Bible Verse

Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way. Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old. My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.

~Proverbs 23:19,22,26(NKJV)

Tribute to my precious little Cocoa

There are some outside cats that we feed. One of them, Reese's (named so because of her chocolate and peanut butter coloring) had her first litter of kittens last year at the end of May. One of her babies, Cocoa(named because she looks exactly like her Mama, and was predominately brown with some orange markings and an absolutely adorable orange foot and leg) was found by us yesterday in the road. She had gotten run over and was obviously instantly killed. I cried and cried in my room last night as I watched out my window as Mama and Daddy buried her in our backyard. Needless to say, yesterday was a horrible day for me. Little Cocoa had been brought to us from the woods by her Mama at a time in her young life when she was already scared of people. It took a lot of patience and a great deal of time, but I finally got her tamed, and after working with her for so long, we had developed a very special bond. Whenever I would open the door to step outside, she would back away a bit because she was still a little timid. But once she discovered that it was me, and I called her to me, she would immediately walk over. I would pick her up and she would start purring profusely; she'd always gaze up into my eyes or give me a little kiss on the cheek. She was a really sweet little girl. The following is a tribute to my sweet little baby, Cocoa, who will be in my heart forever and ever.

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Cocoa

May 2007 to April 6th or 7th, 2008

In our eyes, your life was far too short, my sweet girl. But in the Lord's eyes, everything in your little life went according to His perfect will and plan. At times, I feel like screaming out to God, "Why did you take her so soon?! She was such a joy to me!". But then I have to step back and look on the bright side-you brought such joy to us, you had a happy little life, and you suffered from no pain or fright when you died. For that, I will be eternally thankful to my merciful Father.

Your life was so short-only 10 1/2 months-but those were such joyous months! :) I so enjoyed the time I spent with you. You were so recognizable by your little orange leg, sweet girl. :) Your cute little perfectly circular eyes used to look up at me with a look of love as I held you. You brought me such joy, and you will be in my heart forever and ever! I miss you terribly, and wish you were still here with us. A part of me almost believes that as soon as I open the front door, you'll come running. I know that isn't the case, though, and I know that I'll never be able to hold my little sweetie again. Just know how much I love you! I'm crying as I type this, sweetie, because I just love and miss you so much. I would give anything to be able to hold you again just once. I miss being able to cuddle you. A part of you will always live on in your Mama-whenever I look at her, your look-alike, I'll think of you with fond and joyous memories, but also with a heavy heart. I love you so, so much, sweet baby, and I will always carry a picture of you in my mind forever and ever. Thank you for blessing my life so richly like you did while you were here with us. Thank you, God, for those few short months that I had with her.

I miss you, sweet girl, but will never forget you!! Everyday, I'll look in our back yard at your little burial spot and will remember all the joy you brought to me. I love you, little Cocoa.

"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."

~Job 1:21b

Daily Bible Verse

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

~Psalm 90:1-2(NKJV)

Great Devotional by the late Mr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon

I was planning on posting one of my own devotionals today, but when I came across this devotional in this book written by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, I just had to share it with all of you.

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and will all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.

~Mark 12:30

Suggested further reading: 2 John 1-6

We are bound to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Thus, we deduce that we are to love God supremely. Thou art to love thy wife, O husband. Those canst not love her too much except in one case, if thou shouldst love her before God, and prefer her pleasure to the pleasure of the Most High. Then wouldst thou be an idolater. Child! Thou art to love thy parents; thou canst not love him too much who begot thee, not her too much who brought thee forth; but remember, there is one law that doth override that. Thou art to love thy God more than they father or thy mother. He demands thy first and thy highest affection: thou art to love him "with all they heart". We are allowed to love our relatives:we are taught to do so. He that does not love his own family is worse than a heathen man and a publican. But we are not to lovethe dearest object of our hearts so much as we love God. You may erect little thrones for those whom you rightly love; but God's throne must be a glorious high throne; you may set them upon the steps, but God must sit on the very seat itself. He is to be enthroned, the royal One within your heart, the king of your affections. Have you kept this commandment? I know I have not; I must plead guilty before God; I must cast myself before him, and acknowledge my transgression. But nevertheless, there standeth the commandment-"Thou shalt love God with all thy heart" that is, thou shalt love Him supremely.

For meditation: The Lord Jesus Christ practiced what He preached(Matthew 10:37,38). His Heavenly Father's house came first, but he was obedient in His earthly parents' house(Luke 2:48-51); His Heavenly Father's will came first(Matthew 26:39), but even while He was carrying it out, His earthly mother's wellbeing was upon His heart(John 19:26-27). We love our families, our fellow-believers and the lost ones best, when we love and obey God first.

2008 Vision Forum Father and Daughter Discipleship Retreat!!

I attended the Vision Forum Father and Daughter Retreat with my father for the first time last year. It was a weekend filled with life-changing, convicting, edifying, encouraging messages, walks in the beautiful Callaway Gardens, a Victorian high tea, games and a picnic on a large, beautiful field, an ice-cream social, and blessed fellowship with likeminded fathers and daughters. Needless to say, it was one of the best weekends of my life! The Lord used it to bring my father and me even closer together, and we had such a wonderful, wonderful time together learning from God's Word, making new friends, and enjoying the beauty of nature.

Well, the time of year for the retreat is here again already!! That's so hard to believe. It seems like just a few months ago we were preparing for last year's retreat. I'm so excited about this year's retreat!! :) I can't wait to meet with the dear Botkin sisters, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Botkin, and Mr. Brown again. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing my friends from last year there, and I can't wait to make new friends! I'm so looking forward to soaking in the wisdom and truth from the great speeches, I'm looking forward to dressing as a Victorian lady for the high tea, and I'm so excited that my dear friend from church, Kelsey, will be attending this year with her father. As you can tell, I'm just really looking forward to the retreat! :) I think I'm looking forward to it even more this year than I was last year, if that's possible. :)

The retreat this year will be held at the beautiful Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia again, from Friday, April 11th thru Sunday, April 13th. For more info, please click here!

So, dear ladies, are any of you attending this great retreat this year? If so, maybe we can meet up!!! :) Have you or someone you know attended this retreat? If you won't be attending this year I highly encourage you to attend next year! :)

Great Devotional by the late Mr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Charles Haddon Spurgeon was an outstanding preacher who lived in the 1800s. He was nicknamed the Prince of Preachers, and he was indeed that! If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Spurgeon, I highly recommend that you purchase some of his books or sermons. Your soul will be fed and nourished by the convicting yet encouraging words of this amazing man.

The following devotional of his is actually an excerpt from one of his sermons. It's taken from the book 365 Days with Spurgeon Vol. 1. This book is "a unique collection of 365 daily readings from sermons preached by Charles Haddon Spurgeon from his New Park Street Pulpit. I recommend that each of you purchase this book and the other 2 volumes that go along with it. Your life will forever be changed! You will grow closer to the Lord, and after reading just a few of Mr. Spurgeons writings, you will be amazed by how much stronger your faith is.
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Everywhere and Yet Forgotten

"Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind."

~Job 12:9-10

Suggested further reading: Deut. 8:11-20

This forgetfulness of God is growing upon this perverse generation. Time was, in the old puritanic days, when every shower of rain was seen to come from heaven, when every ray of sunshine was blessed, and God was thanked for having given fair weather to ingather the fruits of the harvest. Then, men talked of God as doing everything. But in our days where is our God? We have the laws of matter. Alas! Alas! That names with little meaning should have destroyed our memory of the Eternal One. We talk now of phenomena, and of the chain of events, as if all things happened by machinery; as if the world were a huge clock which had been wound up in eternity, and continued to work without a present God. Nay, not only our philosophers, but even our poets rant in the same way. They sing of the works of nature. But who is that fair goddess, Nature? Is she a heathen deity, or what? Do we not act as if we were ashamed of our God, or as if His name had become obsolete? Go abroad wherever you may, you hear little said concerning Him who made the heavens, and who formed the earth and the sea; but everything is nature, and the laws of motion and of matter. And do not Christians often use words which would lead you to suppose that they believed in the old goddess, Luck, or rested in that equally false deity, Fortune, or tremnled before the demon of Misfortune? Oh for the day when God shall be seen, and little else beside! Better, my brethren, that philosophical discoveries were lost, than that God should be concealed behind them. Better that our poets had ceased to write, and that all their flaming words were buried with their ashes, than that they should serve as a cloud before the face of the eternal Creator.

For meditation: When men replace Father God be mother nature, God leaves them to behave in ways which are unnatural and opposed to their false new deity(Romans 1:21-27).

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Convicting, wasn't it? How guilty we Christians always are of saying to people, "Good luck!" or "Oh, I'm so lucky!" What a horrible witness! We need to erase the word luck from our vocabulary! Instead of saying "Good luck", how about saying, "May the Lord bless you!" Instead of saying, "Oh, I'm so lucky!", how about saying, "Oh, the Lord has blessed me far more than I could ever deserve!". We need to begin taking those worldly sayings from our vocabulary, and begin replacing them with words and phrases that glorify God and bring others to Him.

My pastor often reminds us that we're only one sentence away from witnessing to someone. You can be in the middle of a conversation with a person, and you're always only one sentence away from speaking about the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And that brings me to my next point. So often, we say to people, "God bless you!", thinking that somehow we've just witnessed to that person. What a false idea! The Devil is not scared by us saying "God bless you" to someone! No one is saved or brought closer to Christ by us saying that. The word "God" doesn't offend anyone or bring anyone to salvation. People like Oprah use the word God all the time but are lost as can be. Oprah has said things like "God is whoever you want it to be." Therefore, it becomes obvious that mentioning the word God to someone doesn't really do all that much or help bring them to Christ. The term God means a thousand different things to different people. We need to begin speaking of Christ Jesus. If we don't speak about Him, then our witnessing isn't any good. We're bringing no one to salvation unless we consistantly speak of Jesus Christ- the only Savior there is, without Whom, all go to Hell rather than Heaven. We need to begin adding the words Jesus Christ to our everyday conversations with people. I encourage you to do that this coming week. The more you do so, the more natural it will become. And remember, dear readers: you're only 1 sentence away from spreading the Gospel! :)

Rich blessings to you all!

P.S. I want to hear about all of your witnessing experiences this coming week! Do what I've prescribed above, and then come back and let me know how it went!

Daily Bible Verse

The wise woman builds her home, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands.

~Proverbs 14:1(NKJV)

Spring is in the Air!

Ladies(and gents), let this post serve as your devotional today. I encourage you to read the first few verses of Ephesians chapter 2. Meditate on its words, and remember all that our loving, merciful Savior has done for you! I don't know what the weather is like right now where you are, but spring is in the air here in southern Tennessee, and I'm quite excited about it! :) Winter has a beauty all its own, but there comes a time when one gets tired of all the cold weather!

The beauty of spring is everywhere! To me, spring is such a special time of the year-a time when the Lord richly blesses the earth with abundant new life. Pear trees are budding out beautiful little white flowers, cats are birthing new frisky, furry little kittens, cherry blossoms are showing forth their pink and white lacy flowers, fawns and lambs are being introduced to the big, wide world for the first time, and birds are singing joyfully in the trees, happy(just as I am) that the frigid weather is gone for the most part, and that the Lord has blessed us with warmer days and new precious life everywhere we look. p>

You know, when I think about how the Lord is bringing new life to the world this time of year, I often think of our spiritual lives. We were dead in trespasses and sins and were much like those barren, withered pear trees are during the winter. But then, something miraculous happened! The Lord saved us and gave us new life, just as He does with those pear trees at the beginning of spring. We are now white as snow and those pear trees are now adorned with beautiful, new pure white little flowers!

Yes, spring is indeed a special time of the year!

What is the weather like where you live, dear readers? Are there traces of spring in the air yet? What does spring mean to you? What's your favorite aspect of this season?

To all my treasured blog readers: I Apologize!!!

Ladies (and any gents who may be here),

I deeply apologize for not posting on here for 2 weeks!! I cannot believe it's been so long since I've been on here. You have no idea how very sorry I am for not posting in such a long while. Life has been crazy lately- our days have been filled to the brim with much activity, that has left us buzzing here and there, trying to get everything done that we need to! Needless to say, that has not been possible these past 2 weeks, and one of the things that did not get attended to was this blog. :( I'm so, so sorry! I hope that you all have not given up on me. ;) Please know that I've been thinking about all of you during these past weeks. I may not have been online, but I did not at all forget about you or this blog, which mean the world to me.

So, what have I been doing these past weeks that's kept me so unbelievably busy? Well, these past 2 weeks has been packed with(just to name a few) family time, Easter, lots of school work(for the handful of those who may not know, I'm homeschooled and love it!), much studying for tests in biology and geometry, reading and studying in-depth theology and history books, and planning out, writing, rewriting, editing and polishing many, many articles for this blog. The Lord has given me SO many ideas for numerous blog articles that I believe the women(and young girls) of this century are in desperate need of. Just some of the article titles that you will be seeing here in the near future are: 1.The True History of Feminism, 2.Feminism's Destructiveness, 3.Making Your Home a Haven(tips for young girls and married women alike), 4.Stay-At-Home Daughterhood: A Biblical Principle?, 5.Is it a Sin to not be a Homemaker?(revised and heavily updated), 6.The Burden of the Double Curse: How Feminism is Enslaving and Battering Women, 7.The Curse of Women Rulers(updated with much more Scriptural commentary), 8.How the Lord and His Word Raise Women Up and Extol Them, 9.An in-depth Scriptural Defense of Male Leadership and Female Submission(this article will not only show that these two roles are Biblical, but will also reveal why it is such a blessing to be a woman! Women have a special priviledge of imitating Christ in a way that men do not have), 10. Feminism: Is it really pro-woman or is it enslavement?. These are just some of the many articles that will be posted here in the near future. Others include answers to questions I've recently received from my readers, many more uplifting and encouraging devotionals, quotes from famous men and women in history, excerpts from books, posts on my family life, recipes, and much, much more!! This blog will soon be flooded with articles, so it might have been a good thing that I was gone for so long-that way you could enjoy some rest and relaxation before the numerous articles come. :)

Please refer to my new blog schedule so that you can see what sort of articles and posts to expect when. I've missed you all terribly and pray that you will please forgive me for my absense. I never ever meant to leave you for that long(especially without notice!). Please accept my heartfelt apology, and know that it's so great to be back with you all!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter celebration. This Easter was a very special one for me, and it brought be even closer to my precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I would love to hear how your celebration went, so be sure to drop me a comment or e-mail! :)

A special note to all of those dear blog readers who recently sent me an e-mail or left me a comment: thank you so much!! Your input and inquiries as to how I was doing and where I was greatly blessed me! Thank you all so much! I will be responding to each and every one of your comments and e-mails as soon as is at all possible.

Once again, I deeply apologize for not being on here in so long. Thank you all for understanding and for being so gracious! May the Lord richly bless you all!

With warmest wishes and love through Christ,

Rebekah Ann

Feminism's Hate towards Women

The following is an article that I came across a few weeks ago, written by Virginia Haussegger, an ABC TV news presenter. It's entitled The Sin of our Feminist Mothers and shows in a painfully clear manner that feminism is not pro-woman in the least.

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The Sin of our Feminist Mothers

A few years ago, in my mid-30s, had I heard Malcolm Turnbull pontificate about the need to encourage Australians to marry younger and have more children ("The crisis is fertility, not ageing"), I would have thumped him.

How dare he - a rich father of two, with perfect wife and perfect life - presume for a moment to tell women, thriving at the peak of our careers, that we should stop, marry, and procreate. The sheer audacity of it.

Yet another male conspiracy, a conservative attempt to dump women out of the workplace and back into the home. A neat male arrangement: a good woman to run the household, and a workplace less cluttered with female competition.

A win-win for patriarchy. And precisely the kind of society I was schooled against.

As we worked our way through high school and university in the '70s and early '80s, girls like me listened to our mothers, our trailblazing feminist teachers, and the outspoken women who demanded a better deal for all women. They paved the way for us to have rich careers.

They anointed us and encouraged us to take it all. We had the right to be editors, paediatricians, engineers, premiers, executive producers, High Court judges, CEOs etc. We were brought up to believe that the world was ours. We could be and do whatever we pleased.

Feminism's hard-fought battles had borne fruit. And it was ours for the taking.

Or so we thought - until the lie of super "you-can-have-it-all" feminism hits home, in a very personal and emotional way.

We are the ones, now in our late 30s and early 40s, who are suddenly sitting before a sheepish doctor listening to the words: "Well, I'm sorry, but you may have left your run too late. Women at your age find it very difficult to get pregnant naturally, and unfortunately the success rate of IVF for a 39-year-old is around one in five - and dropping. In another 12 months you'll only have a 6 per cent chance of having a baby. So given all the effort and expense, do you really want to go through with this? Why don't you go home and think it through? But don't leave it too long - your clock is ticking." Then he adds for comic value, "And don't forget, the battery is running low!"

For those of us who listened to our feminist foremothers' encouragement; waved the purple scarves at their rallies; read about and applauded the likes of Anne Summers, Kate Jennings, Wendy McCarthy, Jocelyn Scutt, Morag Fraser, Joan Kirner, Elizabeth Proust etc (all strong examples of successful working women); for those of us who took all that on board and forged ahead, crashed through barriers and carved out good, successful and even some brilliant careers; we're now left - many of us at least - as premature "empty nesters".

We're alone, childless, many of us partnerless, or drifting along in "permanent temporariness", as sociologist Zygmunt Bauman so aptly put it in a recent Age article by Anne Manne to describe the somewhat ambiguous, uncommitted type of relationship that seems to dominate among childless, professional couples in their 30s and 40s.

The point is that while encouraging women in the '70s and '80s to reach for the sky, none of our purple-clad, feminist mothers thought to tell us the truth about the biological clock. Our biological clock. The one that would eventually reach exploding point inside us.

Maybe they didn't think to tell us, because they never heard the clock's screaming chime. They were all married and pregnant by their mid-20s. They so desperately didn't want the same for us.

And none of our mothers thought to warn us that we would need to stop, take time out and learn to nurture our partnerships and relationships. Or if they did, we were running too fast to hear it.

For those of us that did marry, marriage was perhaps akin to an accessory. And in our high-disposable-income lives, accessories pass their use-by date, and are thoughtlessly tossed aside. Frankly, the dominant message was to not let our man, or any man for that matter, get in the way of career and our own personal progress.

The end result: here we are, supposedly "having it all" as we edge 40; excellent education; good qualifications; great jobs; fast-moving careers; good incomes; and many of us own the trendy little inner-city pad we live in. It's a nice caffe-latte kind of life, really.

But the truth is - for me at least - the career is no longer a challenge, the lifestyle trappings are joyless (the latest Collette Dinnigan frock looks pretty silly on a near-40-year-old), and the point of it all seems, well, pointless.

I am childless and I am angry. Angry that I was so foolish to take the word of my feminist mothers as gospel. Angry that I was daft enough to believe female fulfilment came with a leather briefcase.

It was wrong. And Malcolm Turnbull has a point.

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*edited very slightly due to some inappropriate words.

Friday's Devotional: On Prayer

But the prayer of the upright is His delight.

~Proverbs 15:8a(NKJV)

Are you delighting the Lord as you should be, as His child? The prayer of you, His upright servant, is His delight. Are you praying to your Father as often as you should be? I'm preaching to myself every bit as much as I am to you. I'm ashamed to say that I often find myself rushing here and there through the course of each very busy day, not even taking the time to enjoy a deep and intimate conversation with my Savior, the lover of my soul. How sinful and shameful that is! I should desire to speak with Him above anyone else! He's the One who I'd been consistantly sinning against. He's the One I had been the rebellious enemy of-the One whose soul I was grieving because of my unrighteousness. Yet He came down, out of immense love for me that I can't begin to comprehend, to willingly endure the most agonizing, traumatizing, excrutiating death that anyone could possibly go through. Yet He spoke not a word of anger or malice through the whole ordeal. And here I am, not even taking the time to speak with Him?! How that must grieve Him! How that must sadden Him to know that His daughter, who He died for so that He might save and spend eternity with her, isn't even speaking to Him everyday all day as she should be!

Are you guilty of this sin as well? There is hope, dear sister! Repent of this sin and then set aside a special portion of each day to be dedicated to close communion with the Lord. Not only will this delight your Savior, but you will also be filled with much peace and joy yourself!

There's something I want to point our about this verse. It says that the prayers of the upright are a delight to Him. This means that the prayers of those who are not upright or righteous are not delightful to Him whatsoever. This is because the person who is chained in unrighteousness doesn't have a heart and soul yielded completely to His will. This person's prayers, therefore, will be rebellious in nature, selfish, and unpleasing to the Lord. So, if you've found yourself giving into temptation a lot lately, repent of those sins! After you've done so, your prayers will once again be a blessed delight to your merciful Savior!

Announcing: New Blog Schedule!

Hello, ladies! I promised you yesterday that I would post a blog announcement today. Well, here it is! :) I have written up a new blog schedule, that will be in effect as of Monday, March 17th, 2008. This schedule, which reveals what types of posts will appear on which days, goes as follows:

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Mondays- Devotional, "Meal Mondays" recipe

Tuesdays- Daily Bible Verse, posts on daily life(i.e. pictures and stories of my home life, etc.)

Wednesdays- Devotional, Essays in response to questions received, posts on recommended links, books, movies, etc.

Thursdays- Daily Bible Verse, Articles on Biblical daughterhood, Tips on homemaking, etc.(less controversial issues)

Fridays- Devotional, Articles on hot button, controversial topics such as feminism, Biblical femininity, Biblical daughterhood, and Biblical womanhood, education, etc. (on occasional Fridays, the above mentioned type of article will not be posted. In its place will appear excerpts from books, quotes, a blog announcement, etc.)

Saturdays- Daily Bible Verse

Sundays- No posts published (this would be a great opportunity for you to go back and read older posts, that you may have missed!)

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The sorts of posts I mentioned will not all be posted on the mentioned days every single week. In other words, on some Thursdays, for instance, nothing but a daily Bible verse will be posted. But if there's a homemaking tip I want to share, then it will appear on my blog on a Thursday. Does what I'm saying make sense? Am I explaining this well? :)

There will be days when I publish types of posts that weren't specifically mentioned in this schedule, but for the most part, this schedule will be adhered to.

As you can see, there's not really a day that you'll want to miss out on accessing this blog! Important, edifying, encouraging, life-changing posts will be published every day.

It is my prayer that through this new schedule, By His Grace and For His Glory will be able to meet its full potential, and will be able to glorify the Lord all the more.

Now, I have a request to make! :) It's my desire that the message of this blog reach far out into the world, encouraging, strengthening, and edifying as many people as possible. I want to ask you to please help me in this mission by spreading the word about this blog! Tell your friends, family, and fellow church members about it, make a post about it on your blog, link to it on your site, etc. I want to issue forth a huge and very grateful thank you in advance for doing this for me, that the Word of the Lord might be spread!! :) May the Lord richly bless you, my dear and treasured readers!

Daily Bible Verse

The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy; teach me your statutes.

~Psalm 119:64(NJKV)

Is this your prayer, dear ladies? I truly hope that it is!

Wednesday's Devotional

A good man obtains favor from the Lord.

~Proverbs 12:2a(NKJV)

This Scripture makes it clear that a good person obtains favor from the Lord. From this, we are able to deduce the following: a wicked person finds no favor in the sight of God Almighty. So, what constitutes a good person? Well, it's evident that this verse is in no way teaching that God only saves good people, for there's no such thing as a good person! All have fallen short of the glory of God. So, it's clear that the favor a good person finds in God's eyes is not the same thing as salvation!

So, we come again to the question: what is a good person? A "good person" is someone who has been saved by God's miraculous grace, has been justified and sanctified, and who has been made righteous through the death of Christ. Because faith without works is dead, it becomes clear that the good person who finds favor in God's eyes is the Christian who lives according to God's Word-by always obeying His commands, living in the manner that is set forth in Scripture, and by imitating Christ in all areas of life. It is only the Christian who obeys the Lord's every command that finds favor in the sight of God. No one else can find favor in God's sight, for all others are enemies of God(as we all were before the Lord graciously saved us) on whom the wrath of God rests. Now, this is not to say that the Christian will never disobey God's Word. Christians are not perfect and will at times disobey God's commands. But a true Christian's life will be characterized by joyful, unquestioning obedience to Christ and His Word. For the person who has favor in the sight of God, disobedience of the Bible causes immense shame, guilt, and sadness. If you want to be a righteous person, a person who finds favor in God's holy sight, then become learned in the Scriptures, and strive to make daily obedience a characteristic of your life.

Are you a person who, without a doubt, has favor in God's eyes? The book of James commands us to diligently examine ourselves to see if we be in the faith. Examine yourself, dear lady, to see if you are truly a peson who has found favor in the Lord's eyes.

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Please make sure you come back tomorrow, for an important blog announcement!

Daily Bible Verse

Beginning tomorrow, I will be returning to my normal blog schedule, I assure you! :) Thank you so much for your patience. These past few days have been filled to the brim with activity. I'm currently working on many new articles, some responses to questions I've recently received, etc. etc., so please be on the lookout for those! :) I will also soon be responding to all the ccomments I've received in the past few days. In the meantime, may the following verse richly bless you all!

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

~Psalm 134:14(NKJV)

Daily Bible Verse

Hello, dear ladies! I pray that all of you had a truly wonderful weekend. I'm terribly sorry for not posting a devotional today(this day has gone by way too fast and has been filled with much activity!). I haven't even been able to respond to all of the many comments I've received recently(a big thank you to all who have commented in the past few days!!). I'm sorry for my lack of blog time today; thank you so much for understanding!!

I will praise you, O Lord, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and Your glory above all the earth.

~Psalm 108:3-5(NKJV)

"Feminism in an Attack Against Femininity"

The following is a very true and thought-provoking essay on the subject of feminism written by Robert Lewis Dabney(March 5, 1820-January 3, 1898). The wisdom with which he speaks in this essay is nothing short of amazing. In his day, the "Women's Rights Movement" was just beginning to arise. Nonetheless, in each of his essays on feminism, he correctly prophesied what would happen if feminism continued to grow without being quenched. His "prophecies" have sadly come true and our nation is falling apart at the seems and is being destroyed because of feminism. Our country is now anything but what our Christian Founding Fathers designed and planned for it to be due to the wide-spread belittlement of Christian principles. Here is just one of the many essays wise Mr. Dabney wrote on the subject of feminism:

"Feminism in an Attack Against Femininity"

It would not be hard to show, did space permit, that this movement on the part of these women is as suicidal as it is mischievous. Its certain result will be the re-enslavement of women, not under the Scriptural bonds of marriage, but under the yoke of literal corporeal force.

The woman who will calmly review the condition of her sex in other ages and countries will feel that her wisdom is to "let will enough alone." Physically, the female is the "weaker vessel." This world is a hard and selfish scene where the weaker goes to the wall. Under all other civilizations and all other religions than ours woman has experienced this fate to the full; her condition has been that of a slave to the male-sometimes a petted slave, but yet a slave.

In Christian and European society alone has she ever attained the place of man's social equal, and received the homage and honor due from magnanimity to her sex and her feebleness. And her enviable lot among us has resulted from two cases: the Christian religion and the legislation founded upon it by feudal chivalry.

How insane then is it for her to spurn these two bulwarks of defense, to defy and repudiate the divine authority of that Bible which has been her redemption , and to revolutionize the whole spirit of the English common law touching woman's sphere and rights? She is thus spurning the only protectors her sex has ever found, and provoking a contest in which she must inevitably be overwhelmed.

Casting away that dependence and femininity which are her true strength, the "strong-minded woman" persists in thrusting herself into competition with man as his equal. But for contest she is not his equal; the male is the stonger animal. As man's rival, she is pitiful inferior, a sorry she-mannikin. It is when she brings her wealth of affection, her self-devotion, her sympathy, her tact, her grace, her subtle intuition, her attractions, her appealing weakness, and places them in the scale with man's rugged strength and plodding endurance, with his steady logic, his hardihood and muscle, and his exemption from the disabling infirmities of her sex, that he delights to admit her full equality and to do glad homage to her as the crown of his kind. All this vantageground the "Women's Rights women" madly throw away, and provoke that collision for which nature itself has disqualified them, they insist upon taking precisely a man's chances; well, they will meet precisely the fate of a weak man among strong ones.

A recent incident on a railroad train justly illustrates the result. A solitary female entered a car where every seat was occupied, and the conductor closed the door upon her and departed. She looked in vain for a seat, and at last appealed to an elderly man near her to know if he would not "surrender his seat to a lady." He, it seems, was somewhat a humorist, and answered: "I will surrender it cheerfully, Madam, as I always do, but will beg leave first to ask a civil question. Are you an advocate of the modern theory of women's rights?" Bridling up with intense energy, she replied, "Yes, sir, emphatically; I let you know that it is my glory to be devoted to that noble cause." "Very well, Madam," said he, "then the case is altered:You may stand up like the rest of us men, until you can get a seat for yourself."

This was exact poetic justice; and it foreshadows precisely the fate of their unnatural pretensions. Men will treat them as they treat each other; it will be "every man for himself; and the devil take the hindmost." There will be of course a Semiramis or a Queen Bess here and there who will hold her own; but the general rule will be that the "weaker vessels" will succumb; and the society which will emerge from this experiment will present woman in the position which she has always held among savages, that of domestic drudge to the stronger animal. Instead of being what He makes her, one with her husband, queen of his home, reigning with gentle scepter of love over her modest, secluded domain, and in its pure and sacred retirement performing the noblest work done on this earth, that of molding infant minds to honor and piety, she will reappear from this ill-starred competition defeated and despised, tolerated only to satiate the passion, to amuse the idleness, to do the drugery, and to receive the curses and blows of her barbarized masters.

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*the above essay is an excerpt from the booklet: Robert Lewis Dabney: The Prophet Speaks. In this book, this very wise man speaks out on subjects such as government schools, politics, the family, and feminism. He correctly prophesied regarding how government schools and feminism would destroy our country. This is a fascinating book that I very highly recommend! It is available through http://www.visionforum.com/ and is edited by Douglas W. Phillips, Esq., President of Vison Forum Inc.

Devotional on 1 Timothy 2:11

Let the women learn...

~1 Timothy 2:11(NKJV)

I'll be conducting a devotional series on the rest of this passage at some point in the near future. For today, I just wanted to focus on the beautiful words that begin this verse in 1 Timothy.

"Let the women learn." This sentence may not seem so amazing to you, but these 4 little words contain such a treasure! Feminists and feminism-minded women try to tell us that God pushed women down and belittled them when He commanded them to be homemakers, to submit to their husbands, to abstain from being pastors or elders, etc. Nothing at all could be further from the truth! At the time in which this passage of Scripture was written, Jewish society was a horrible place for a woman to live. The Jewish men used to recite a prayer every morning that went like this: "Thank you, God, that I'm not a slave, a pig, or a woman." Women were viewed(as they still are in Muslim society) as things, as second class citizens, etc. Now when Jesus came on the scene, He was viewed as a liberal(today, of course, He's often viewed as too conservative-go figure! :))! He spoke to women, ministered to them, blessed them, began friendships with them, healed them, liften them up, and respected them. The Jews of His day thought He was crazy! Here was the Messiah elevating women(yes, I understand that many Jews did not view Him as the Messiah)! He treated women as exactly what they were: special people, that were equal with men, yet had different roles than men.

In Jewish society at the time when 1 Timothy 2:11 was first penned, women were oftentimes not allowed to learn much of anything. Other Jews allowed women to learn, but didn't see a woman's education as very important, so they certainly didn't encourage it. And then comes a command from our Lord: "Let the women learn!" It was important to our Lord that women learn, that they be fully and highly educated. The Lord saw this as a very important thing, and viewed learning as a woman's responsibility! He believed that women need to be educated, and so He left us with this command: let the women learn!

So, the next time you come across someone who tries to lead you astray by telling you that Jesus hated and belittled women, you point them to this verse and reveal to them that that simply is not the case!

Devotional on 1 Timothy 2:9-10 part 4

In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation; not in braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.

~1 Timothy 2:9-10(NKJV)

Through this devotional study, we've discovered that Christian women are to be adorned with modest apparel. But verse 10 teaches that Christian ladies are also to be adorned with good works and are to be clothed in righteousness.

Proverbs 31:30, " Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." A Christian lady's true beauty does not come from braided hair, fine and expensive clothing, or pearls and gold(which will all pass away). Her true beauty comes from within-when her inner chastity, discreetness, virtue and fear of the Lord shine through, it is then that she is truly beautiful.

A Christian lady is not beautiful in God's eyes because she has perfect clothes or a perfect hairdo. Rather, her beauty that the Lord is enthralled with comes from her heart that has been purified, sanctified, refined by fire, and cleansed by His work in her life. 1 Peter 3:3 says, "Do not let your adornment be merely outward-arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel-rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."

If you want to be truly beautiful, then clothe yourself with righteousness, a meek and quiet spirit, and good works. It is only when you've acquired these characteristics that your're truly beautiful. No apparel, hairdo, makeup, or jewelry can make you attractive if you aren't filled with godliness and purity. A Christian lady is only beautiful when she's adorned in modest apparel, righteousness, and good works.

Ladies, begin cultivating in yourself the characteristics that will make you a truly beautiful lady!

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I hope this devotional series has been a blessing to you! Now, it's up to you to share what you've learned in this series with those around you! Be a beautiful, salty shining light for your Lord!

Devotional on 1 Timothy 2:9-10 part 3

...but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.

~1 Timothy 2:10(NKJV)

In the first two parts of our devotional series on 1 Timothy 2:9-10, we discovered what modest clothing really is. It became clear that not only is modest clothing not tight or revealing, but it's also not gaudy, overdone or loud. This also refers to any ornamentation that may be worn-it must not be worn in excessive amounts and our appearance must not be overdone.

Now we come to the part of the passage that reveals to us why Christian ladies must wear modest clothing: because that is the only type of adornment that is proper for godly women. Flip that around and it soon becomes clear that immodest clothing is not proper for women professing godliness. Yet, what is happening today? Countless girls and women are claiming to be Christians, but are adorning themselves with horribly immodest attire. Many see this and think, "Yeah, what a shame, but so what? It's not that big of a deal." Excuse me? Yes, it is a big deal! Don't ever underestimate just how sinful it is for professing Christians to go around dressing just like the world (or, in some cases dressed even worse than most of what the world wears!). This sort of behavior is causing God's Word to be blasphemed, is making Christians appear as hypocrites (which drives unbelievers away from church, for they don't want anything to do with hypocrisy or fakeness), and is telling the world that the "Christian God must not have any power to change people, because the 'Christians' appear to be just like the world". Christian females being immodestly clad is a huge problem we have in the church today, and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise! Christians wearing the world's attire is a slap in the face of Almighty God, is an abomination to Him, and is a sin that must quickly be repented of and discarded, or we will soon face the Lord's judgment and displeasure for these actions. Lest we think that this is all "no big deal" and that this "doesn't really bother God", let's take a look at Isaiah 3! In this sad and eye-opening passage, we discover that the women of Israel and Judah were anything but modest! When I read this passage, I often think about our culture and wonder, "How long will it be until God does this to us? How long will it be until God shows us just how angry and sick immodesty makes Him?" Isaiah 3:16-26 says, "Moreover the Lord says: 'Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, making a jingling with their feet, therefore the Lord will strike with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will uncover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will uncover their secret parts. In that day the Lord will take away the finery, the jingling anklets, the scarves, and the crescents, the pendants, the bracelets, and the veils; the headdresses, the leg ornaments, and the headbands, the perfume boxes, the charms, and the rings; the nose jewels, the festal apparel, and the mantles; the outer garments, the purses, and the mirrors; the fine linen, the turbans, and the robes. And so it shall be: instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of well-set hair, baldness; instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mouren, and she being desolate shall sit on the ground." As you can see, immodesty is no little think in the sight of God Almighty. When people profess Him, but don't follow His commands, they will face punishment. Christians dressing immodestly is a serious thing in God's eyes, and so shall it be in ours!

Ladies, if you've been guilty of dressing immodestly, there is hope! 1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Repent of your sin of immodesty, and turn from that sin. The Lord will give you the strength needed to never return again to immodesty. With Him, ALL things are indeed possible! :)

Question and Answer Sessions: Responses Part 5

I've so enjoyed receiving and answering all your questions, ladies! Please continue to send them to me(on any subjects), in interview style, and I would be more than happy to answer them!

I received the following questions from my dear friend from church, Hannah.

First of all thank you so much for your great questions, Hannah! If you have anymore, be sure to let me know! :)

What is your favorite story/character in the Bible?

I can only pick one?! lol I have many favorites.

My favorite stories would be the love story of Ruth and Boaz, the love story of Rebekah and Isaac, the parable of the sower, the amazing story of when our Lord did not condemn the adulterous woman, and the story of the sea storm, where the disciples are rebuked for being of little faith. The love stories I mentioned are so beautiful, and show that in reality, every single marriage is an arranged marriage-arranged by our all-loving and all-wise God. The parable of the sower encourages and strengthens me so much to teach God's Word more. The sower didn't know how or when the seed began to grow, but it did by God's grace. He just threw the Word and left the results up to the Lord. To me, that's so very encouraging, because I tend to worry and fret over whether or not the people I'm debating with will realize the Biblical truth of what I'm teaching or not. But, I don't have to worry! :) All I have to do is be faithful to teach God's Word, and leave the results completely in His hands! How refreshing is that! The story of when the Lord forgave the woman caught in adultery simply amazes me! What amazing, wondrous love our wonderful Lord has for us! Lastly, the story of the disciples and Jesus in a boat when the powerful storm arises convicts me every time I read it. I would often be rebuked by the Lord for being of little faith. Not only does this story convict me, but it also encourages me, because it shows that at all times, the Lord is completely trustworthy, and in control of all things.

As to my favorite Bible character, I would have to say Mary. Her unwavering and unquestioning faith in the Lord and willingness to do whatever He required of her absolutely amazes me! Because she was unmarried, she knew that she would be persecuted, ridiculed, looked down upon, made fun of, etc. for being with child. But she was a willing servant of Christ, and her example convicts me so much! I pray that the Lord would make me more like Mary.

Do you like my mother's famous no-bake chocolate oatmeal cookies? ;)<p>

I love those! They are so good. Maybe you could bring those to the fellowship meal at church Sunday! :)

Your devotionals are great! Have you ever thought of putting them together as a book?

Thank you so much! That's very kind of you. :) I hope they're a blessing.

It's so funny that you should ask that, as I was talking to Mama about that very idea just a few weeks ago. That is something that I'm very seriously thinking about. If I did have them published, I would probably add study questions, application tips, etc. to the end of each one.

What do you think, ladies? Should I have my devotionals published? Is this something that you would be interested in purchasing? Please share your input!!

Devotional on 1 Timothy 2:9-10 part 2

...not in braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing.

~1 Timothy 2:9b (NKJV)

We are now on part 2 of our devotional study of 1 Timothy 2:9-10. In part 1, we discussed the huge importance of dressing modestly. Part 1 of this series showed that the true godly lady has no desire to draw attention to herself during church services(or at any other time, for that matter), but rather desires that all the attention be directed to the Lord. She wants the worship services to be about Him-not her.

Now we come to the second part of this verse. A lot of confusion arises when people read this part of the passage, because they begin to wonder whether or not it's a sin to braid your hair or to wear jewelry or nice clothing. Let me assure you once and for all: it's not! In fact, it would be sinful for us to not look our best-we are ambassadors for Christ, and so we need to show that we pay careful attention to how we present ourselves, for His glory.

Now to understand what the Bible is teaching on the subject of braiding your hair, we need to look to what is said in this verse after it speaks on braids, and we also must look to the culture in Ephesus at the time this was written, so that we can better understand what God's Word is truly teaching. During the time when this verse was first penned, women were attending church services with ribbons of gold weaved through their braids, as a way to show off and flaunt their wealth. That is what this verse is commanding against. Braided hair, pearls, nice clothing, and gold are all ok-as long as they're not worn in excess, or worn in such a way that you are flaunting what you have. The truly Biblical woman is not haughty or prideful- the Lord abhors pride and hautiness, and this includes hautiness of spirit, adornment, etc.

When we hear the word 'immodest' we tend to think only of clothing that is tight and revealing. But immodest clothing has a much farther range than just this. Gaudy, overdone, excessive, loud clothing and acessories are every bit as immodest as tight, revealing clothes are.

The bottom line about clothing and hair is this: our adornment is not to be tight, revealing, or gaudy and overdone. Jewelry is fine, providing that it's not worn in excess. Braids are beautiful and perfectly modest, providing that you don't adorn them throughout with pearls, gold, etc.

Be sure to return on Monday for part 3 of this series!

I've Been Tagged!

I've just been tagged by my friend Kathleen to do this game! :)

RULES:

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my facts:

1. I skipped second grade.

2. I've had two surgeries: 1 to have my wisdom teeth(that weren't even through the gums yet) removed, and one to have a pin placed in the top of my femur bone after it slipped out of its socket in my hip.

3. I'm HORRIBLY afraid of spiders-I can't even go near them to kill them, because I'm afraid they're going to jump on me(I know-I'm a little strange, aren't I? :))

4. Green peas disgust me!

5. I've never had a cavity.

6. I've only been outside the US once, and that was when I went to Mexico.

7. I would love to go ski-diving(if I knew my parachute would open) and hang-gliding(if my landing was good!), but I'm scared to go bunjee jumping.

That was fun! :) Ok, ladies, now it's your turn to join in on the fun! The ladies I'm tagging are:

1. Anna S.

2. Anna Naomi and Miriam Rebekah over at Maidens of Worth

3. My sweet friends from church Hannah and Geneva over at The Heritage Sisters

4. Ella

5. Monika (since you don't have a blog, feel free to leave your answers in the comment section)

6. Jade and Autumn over at Handmaidens with a Mission

7. Allison

I'm looking forward to reading your answers!

Daily Bible Verse

Whoever loves instruction love knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

~Proverbs 12:1(NKJV)

Devotional on 1 Timothy 2:9-10 part 1

In like manner also, that th women adorn themselves in modest apparel with propriety and moderation.

~1 Timothy 2:9a (NJKV)

This is an exceedingly important command that all too often goes unheeded in the church today. In our culture,(as it was in Ephesus at the time this passage was written), church-going women oftentimes attend worship services dressed in very immodest clothing, whether it be revealing clothing, tight clothing, gaudy clothing, etc. These women are preocupied with the desire to snag a guy by the way in which they're dressed. In the youth group of our old church, many teenage girls attended the church services for the sole reason of getting a young man's attention, and this showed in the way they dressed. Other girls there did truly attend church for the purpose of worshipping the Lord, but they as well attended the worship services in very immodest attire so that they might also acquire the attention of the boys there. Their thoughts were not on being godly young women attending church for the purpose of worshipping God and learning more about His Word. Rather, their thoughts were on ensuring that their clothing, hair, makeup, etc. looked such a way so that they would be liked by the boys at church. Sadly, women guilty of this as well. This is a wicked and vile sin and is immensely abhorred by God Almighty. The female after God's own heart desires to dress in a manner that while she's at church, no one's thoughts are on her, but rather on the Lord to Whom the church service is dedicated. The true godly woman doesn't want attention placed on her in any way, but rather on the Lord and His goodness. When people at church see her, the true Christian lady desires for them to see Christ in her. She wants them to see her modesty, chasteness and love for the Lord.

In his study Bible, Mr. John MacArthur, regarding the words 'propriety' and 'moderation' in this verse, writes that "the Greek word for 'propriety' refers to modesty mixed with humility, which carries the underlying idea of shame. It can also refer to a rejection of anything dishonorable to God, or refer to grief over sin. 'Moderation' basically refers to self-control over sexual passions. Godly women hate sin and control their passions so as to not lead another to sin." As you can see, the truly Christ-like lady is clothed with modesty and humility. Simply the thought of dressing in such a way at church as to cause another person there to sin, or to cause their attention to Christ turn rather to attention dedicated to her, is enough to make her ill. She would never ever want to be guilty of being dressed at church in such a way that there would be sin there in the house of God.

I cannot even begin to express to you the huge importance of dressing in a modest manner at all times-not just at church. We are to be shining lights for Christ in this dark world, and the simple truth is that we will be unable to be a shining light for Him if we're adorned in immodest apparel.

So, ladies, band together with me, and purpose to be a lady of modesty for the glory of our blessed Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!