Important: Please Read

Theme Postponement

Due to the lateness of last issue, many of our readers received their issues on the date of the deadline for submissions on the “Standing Alone” discussion topic. We’re sorry, both for the lateness of the issue and the short deadline. For this reason, after much prayer, we’ve decided to go ahead and postpone the discussion until next issue. And since we seem to have a knack for particularly short deadlines, we won’t have one this time, but just lean on the Lord for the time He wants the submissions to come in and the issue to be put out. Please do write, sisters! See below for a list of questions to ponder on as you write.

• Is anything worthwhile enough to bear the pressures of standing alone? What are some of the pressures?
• In standing alone, must we always face pressure, or is there a place of relief?
• How can we be sure we are right in what we are standing for when others—good people—feel the opposite way?
• Can we stand alone in something right with the wrong attitude?
• Does this hurt or hinder or does it matter?
• How can we keep from being legalistic?
• How do we overcome that feeling of loneliness that can overwhelm us at times?

Many more questions could be asked, but these are just a sample of some of the things people can feel when standing alone. Please consider them and write what the Lord has laid on your heart, perhaps answering some of the questions, perhaps sharing your own testimony, maybe something different; the important thing is to share with others the much needed encouragement from what God has brought you through.

Haven’t received your back issues, answers to your questions?

We’ve been trying to catch up on our correspondence lately, as well as send out much-delayed back issues. As far as we know, at this date, all back issues after Fall 1998 have been sent out. If you haven’t received yours yet, please let us know. We will try to send you a note if the ones you’ve requested aren’t in print at this time. (We run out of them quite quickly and depend on the Lord to allow us to reprint them in His timing—thank you for your patience.) For those of you who’ve asked questions concerning parts of Dear Princess, doctrinally, or otherwise, we’re sorry we are so long in responding to you. We get many, many letters each week and it is difficult to keep up with them all. We love hearing from you—please don’t stop writing!—and will respond to your questions as soon as possible. (Please call if you’d like your question answered right away.) If it has been longer than three months and we haven’t answered, please feel free to write us again with the questions just for a reminder or in case your question has been lost.

Frequently Asked Questions

Over time, many similar questions have been asked from our readership. This is an attempt to cover those most often asked.

“Why don’t you print pictures?”

Our burden here is to put out the gospel, encouraging sisters in the Lord. We are endeavoring to put forth eternal truths that will stir sisters to go deeper into the Lord. Are pictures needful to do this? No, in fact they are a hindrance. Why? Because we are human and naturally look on the outward appearance. We tend to judge a person’s article by the way they look—most of us do it unconsciously. If they look like what we think they should, we tend to put their article on a higher level in our minds, but if they do not, no matter if the article itself was good food for us spiritually, we put it lower, judging on their outward appearance. This is not right, and yet it is such an unconscious thing that most do not realize they even do it. We wish to avoid this, as a matter of holy wisdom, and not print pictures. If you are interested in more information on the subject, please write and we will send you a short article/tract on the subject.

“Will you be my penpal?”

Publishing takes a whole lot of time, and although we will be surrendering the position of editorship for the larger portion of the magazine to our fathers, I will still be involved in the work. Aside from that, I have schoolwork (including music, art, and law classes, besides regular work), garden work, sewing, housework, serving my family, my neighbors, working with children, and finally personal letter writing is last. Skye is quite busy as well with many of the same things, with the exception of schoolwork and publishing. She is open to having you write her personally. Most of my close pen friends rarely hear from me as it is, so while I am willing to write, I cannot commit to writing on a regular basis, unless the Lord so leads.

“How much does it cost to put together one subscription per year?”

Someone once asked this question on the phone. I replied, “I’m not really sure, as we’ve never figured up the cost per person per year.” She said, “Oh, well then, we will just go to the Lord and ask Him how much we should send.” I suddenly realized that had I answered the certain amount, this person would have no doubt sent that much money without another thought. As it was, she realized she needed to go to prayer and seek the Lord about what she should do. We want to encourage sisters to seek the Lord about everything they do, so, no, we can’t give you a figure of the cost to lean on, just get on your knees and get an interview with the King, who knows just what He wants you to do.

“Do you need any articles written?”

We always are glad to look at your articles. Again, we feel that asking a person to write an article is the Holy Spirit’s work, and therefore we do not ask. However, if the Lord burdens you to write something, we are more than happy to look and pray about it for publication. Please feel free to write any time without “permission” except that which comes from the Lord.

“Is Dear Princess copyrighted or can we reprint articles?”

Dear Princess and Foundation Truth are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Basically, you can copy any or all of these magazines, unless otherwise copyrighted, as long as you give credit and make clear our licensing terms.

“What is your doctrinal statement of faith?”

Ah, yes…. Many of you have written asking about this since we posted a short note in one of the issues that you were welcome to write and ask for our statement of faith. Our mistake. Later, after the printing, we regretted saying this because we realized that if we put out a statement of faith, many people would take it as “our creed.” We have no other creed than the Bible, and do not want to give the impression that we do, by sending forth a statement of biblical doctrines that we hold. But if any of you have specific subjects on which you want to know how/where we stand on them, please write and we would be glad to give you an answer.

On Writing and Contributions

As Dear Princess has been written, in a great extent, by its readers these past three years, we extend the invitation to write in Maidens of Virtue and Honor. Whether you have found any helpful tips or hints in learning a skill, or the Lord has been teaching you a lesson, given you help or answered prayer, please feel free to share. In this way, you can encourage, challenge, and strengthen others in the right, for we are called to “consider one another to provoke [stir up, spur] unto love and to good works.”* (Hebrews 10:24)

If you are feeling like you have nothing to share, please search your heart and find why. As daughters of the King, our hearts should be full of His praises, and lips ready to tell of His goodness. If that is not the case, we should find out what ails us. Don’t be cheated out of the blessing of sharing what the Lord has done for you or is teaching you! Do not let the devil tell you it is boastful or prideful to write and share what God has taught you—you are only glorifying the Teacher, which we are commanded to do.

We would greatly appreciate hearing from mothers, grandmothers, older sisters—we have much to learn from you. Please do write and share what experience in the Narrow Way has taught you (Titus 2:3-5).

Thank you all for your letters, which are a great source of encouragement to us. For as “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”* (Proverbs 27:17) Your comments and suggestions about past issues of Dear Princess are welcome, as well as future sections of Maidens of Virtue and Honor, so please feel free to write in if you have any. Keep in mind that we consider your letters for printing; therefore please state in your letter if you wish it not to be printed (or, if it is printed, for your name to be put under a pen name or “A Sister in Christ,” etc.).

Our Purpose

Our desire, in publishing Dear Princess, has been to uphold biblical truths by printing that which will stir and encourage girls of all ages to be holy, set apart, godly in this present world (Titus 2:12). In this day and age, when the spirit of the world is drawing many away from the old paths, there is a great need to set forth the high standard of God and call out all honest hearts to a deeper walk with the Lord. As Paul instructed Timothy to “Flee also youthful lusts: but follow after righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart,”* (2 Timothy 2:22) we want not only to focus on mastering homemaking skills, but also to be spiritually prepared for our futures.

With this burden, Abigail Spinks began publishing Dear Princess in the autumn of 1996. A year and a half later, she asked Skye Erickson to join her as coeditress. For almost two years, we have by God’s grace, striven together to glorify Him in this ministry that He has placed in our hands. As our time has now ended in publishing Dear Princess in this way, and Skye feels this is not what God has for at this time, Abigail alone will be “sub-editing” a portion of Foundation Truth, a family publication, for the young ladies, similar to the burden of Dear Princess, under the new name, Maidens of Virtue and Honor.

Our Families

This publication has been the Lord’s and directed by Him. We thank Him for building this work and using us as vessels. Abigail Spinks (15) and Skye Erickson (17) have mainly published Dear Princess together, but our families have played a big part as well! Each issue has been sent out under the oversight of Abigail’s parents and Skye’s aunt and uncle: Mark and Elois Spinks, and Rick and Krista Erickson. Our sisters, Laura Erickson (19), Coquetta Spinks (19), Kara Erickson (14) and Amanda Erickson (6) and brother, Joel Erickson (17), have helped in numerous ways with the proofreading, printing, and preparing for mailing of Dear Princess. Brother Rick will be taking the position of editor of Foundation Truth. Lord-willing, we hope to commence working on it when this final issue of Dear Princess is in the mail.

To Receive

We have published Dear Princess by faith, its only support being free-will offerings that God laid on the hearts of His children to keep this ministry supplied. Each issue has been a test of faith that has spiritually strengthened us and helped us grow in dependence in the Lord. We have felt blessed in this and plan to continue this way, as we feel that God’s word teaches us not to sell His gospel, and He will not fail us in obeying Him. Therefore the new publication will have no subscription price. We intend to send each one of you presently on our mailing list one issue of Foundation Truth; after this you must contact us for a (free) one-year subscription. When the year is up, (your label will show 4/4) you must again contact us so we know you are still interested in receiving the magazine.