Obedience

George MacDonald

I said, “Let me walk in the fields,”
He said, “Nay, walk in the town”;
I said, “There are no flowers there,”
He said, “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said, “But the sky is black,
There is nothing but noise and din.”
But He wept as He sent me back;
“There is more,” He said, “there is sin.”

I said, “But the air is thick,
And fogs are veiling the sun.”
He answered, “Yet hearts are sick,
And souls in the dark undone.”

I said, “I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say.”
He answered me, “Choose tonight
If I am to miss you, or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given;
He said, “Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in heaven
To have followed the steps of your guide.”

I cast one look at the field,
Then set my face to the town;
He said, “My child, do you yield?
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then into His hand went mine,
And into my heart came He,
And I walk in a light divine
The path I had feared to see!

With Love, from the Editress

Dear Sisters,

We each have our own fields of flowers, do we not? Those things which seem best to us, those beauties that are so real, so vibrant, so enticing to us. We also each have the town in front of us that God calls us to walk in. What is the town? It is God’s way. It seems dark, uncertain, not promising a light, easy life. It calls us to give up our choice things—the things, people, places that are most dear to our hearts.

The choice is ours alone to make. Your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your husband, your friend cannot make the choice for you. God has given you the serious responsibility to choose for yourself. Which will it be? It depends upon our vision. These are serious thoughts, my sisters. Behind our choices lie where we will spend eternity.

Why would we want to walk in the town? Our flesh calls for a life of comfort, enjoying the styles of homes we like best, and having a garden that looks like a picture from a magazine, it calls for us to do exactly what we want when we want it. The “town” denies us all this. If we are to work for the Lord, we are promised to be twisted inside out, upside down, exhausted, and at the end of our rope many times. We can expect to be thought of little, to be mocked and accused falsely. We will have to “muck” through the darkness and fog to find a lost soul, and then listen to a bunch of noise of why that soul doesn’t think he/she needs to be saved or is already all right. Then there are others that seem to have gotten ahold of God and are coming to God’s wondrous light. Then, suddenly they find something they do not want to give up to God and so plunge back into the slums. It is heartbreaking to walk in the town.

Flowers are beautiful things. I look out my office window now as I write and can see the beauties of flowers in our gardens. Where would I rather be; walking through the streets of New York or cruising through the Portland Rose garden? I think I can figure that out easily. Flowers are bright and colorful. Few people can resist admiring a well-kept, beautiful flower bed. It does not matter that they do not last more than a few days or weeks—people still love them and spend hours of time working with them.

In looking at these two paths, it is easy to see why most people choose to walk the field. Indeed, in the poem above, we can see the struggle this soul had in giving up the field of flowers. Why did he make that choice? I am convinced that on his own, he would have never chosen the town. Then why? He saw a little bit of the vision of the Lord, the higher vision, and by God’s grace, choose the shining crown over the fading flowers of this world.

We humans can only see so far. “We see through a glass, darkly.”* (1 Corinthians 13:12) We do not see the real picture.

It would be traumatic for us to see our home burn down to the ground. Do we realize why the Lord would allow it to burn? When young, my father knew a family who had a profession of salvation but possessed very little, if anything. One day when the family was away, the Lord allowed their two-story home to burn. The family, whose hearts were set on their beautiful home, mourned over the loss. One of their daughters said to my father, “Mark, my clothes! My beautiful wardrobe is all gone!” The Lord allowed her treasure, I believe, to be taken away, in an effort that she might look toward the things that really matter. Unfortunately, this was not the result. But how would we respond? Could we look beyond and see the fingerprint of God? Many people get very bitter over these “tragedies.” They are angry at God for letting their house burn, their car be smashed, their precious things be stolen, their business fail, their child die, even though the Lord, in His mercy allows these things to happen that they might look to Him. They are bitter against the many injustices that have happened to them throughout their lives. Why? Because they have not gotten a hold of the vision of the Lord. They are looking at things through their own limited eyesight. They cannot see beyond.

“I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”* (Ecclesiastes 9:11) Life is unfair. Dear sisters, we are going to have to rise above this world and get a vision of the Lord, or inevitably, we will become bitter against something.

Oh, that vision. The burden of it burns in my heart, as I write, my sisters. It is so important that we get the vision of the Lord—if we do not, we will do the wrong thing, for in our very limited eyesight, we cannot see past our current situations unless we have something higher to see through.

I was reading in Exodus 32 the other night before prayer meeting. I was so struck how the Israelites had such short eyesight. Moses had gone up into the mount to talk with God; the people were below, waiting. They got so tired—they couldn’t see anything happening. Perhaps Moses had been killed by wild animals, maybe he had decided to desert them. I can just imagine the stories that were started. Surely they had not been spending time with the Lord. All they could see was their discomfort; they could not see that the Canaan land was not too far off. They did not know that God was giving their leader the holy commandments, written with His very finger. They could not see it. Why? They did not have the Vision. Because they did not have it, they sinned against God; they gave up hope, and made a golden calf to worship for a god. It seemed reasonable to them. Dear sisters; it is easy to condemn what the Israelities did; we were not there. We have the privilege of looking back, over two thousand years later at their situation and the choices they made. In our own lives, our ways seem reasonable. Our ideas, the idols we hold to, they all seem so important. We reason that comfort is important and life would be harder without ______. Our shortness of eyesight will make us think that what we want is the best, and there is nothing better. But there is! Comfort is a fading flower. The crown will never lose its beauty, but grow brighter as eternity rolls on.

Many people are scared to look into God’s eyesight. They are afraid of what they might see. They do not want to leave all their world to follow Jesus. Their world is precious to them. They love the flowers and do not want to see beyond. As my grandmother says, “There is none so blind as those who won’t see.” Many people are blind to God’s vision because they want to be. There was a young man who asked an older minister to go out with him into the woods to pray and seek the Lord’s will concerning a young lady whom the young man was interested in. Out in the woods, the young man prayed first: “Lord, give me Mary, give me Mary, oh, give me Mary!” The older brother didn’t pray—he saw that the young man was not seeking the Lord’s will and His vision concerning this lady, but simply asking God to give him his heart’s desire. Many people make their own decisions without a speck of guidance from the Lord and then come asking Him to bless their decision to walk in the field of flowers. Have you asked the Lord if you could buy that expensive, extravagant dress? Or are you afraid to? Have you sought God’s eyesight concerning attending that social event which has nothing whatsoever to do with God, because you are afraid He will say “no”? You rather like the people there and don’t want to offend them… how can you win them for God if they become offended at you? Self will try to justify our own ideas and want we really want to do. God’s eyesight so far outmatches this that it is unthinkable that anything we can come up with what God has not yet seen or thought about.

What about those thoughts that you harbor in your mind about marriage? Dreaming, dreaming, dreaming… are you afraid that if you get our Lord’s vision, He will ask you to stop the dreams and give them all to Him for safekeeping? So many people see consecration to God’s entire will as a dark, dreary lane with nothing cheery about it. It is common to hear people say, “Oh, I just would be dreadfully unhappy without ______.” But that is not true. For you see, my sisters, when you search for the Heavenly vision and find it, it will change you. If you have had a hard time in serving others, it will put a joy in it. The flowers, the fading pleasures of the earth, will lose their enticement. Your heart will be in the town. Yes, the places you use to dread will become the most joyful. This vision will make you want to follow Jesus, though He may lead through the dark, wearisome town. For the things that were dark, God will shine His light and the path that seemed so hard, will be joyous when walking with Christ. It will make you be glad to leave all flowers and follow Christ wherever He leads. No, you will not be able to enjoy the comforts of this earth—Jesus certainly didn’t—but Heaven will be worth it all a thousand times over. The song writer says about the earth, “Its pleasures soon decay… Its treasures fly away.”* Heaven’s joys will never leave us, and we can, in walking with Jesus, grasp some of those joys right here on earth while walking through the town. As the song goes on:

“I have found it, Lord, in Thee,
An everlasting store
Of comfort, joy, and bliss to me:
How can I wish for more?”

The following is a song that was written by one who had this wondrous vision and the consecration that comes when submitting our own will to His and leaning upon Him for our vision and guidance:

In this world I found no rest,
Sorrow filled my aching breast,
Till I turned to One who loved me best of all;
Oh, what sacred peace I find,
Since my all I have resigned!
I have left all the world to follow Jesus.

Refrain:

I have left all the world to follow Jesus,
Never backward to its follies will I turn;
Oh, I’m on my upward way,
And it’s brighter every day;
For I’ve left all the world to follow Jesus.

Oh, what wondrous joy He gives,
While His Spirit in me lives,
For it is my meat and drink to do His will;
He the treasure I adore,
Brightens all my way before;
For I’ve left all the world to follow Jesus.

I am wholly sanctified,
Walking closely by His side,
I will ever cling to Him, my all in all;
Sweetly doth His presence fill,
While I sink into His will,
For I’ve left all the world to follow Jesus.

Earthly treasures fade away,
As I travel day by day,
Up the shining way that leads to glory bright;
Soon I’ll gain eternal rest,
With the ransomed and the blest;
For I’ve left all the world to follow Jesus.*

May God bless you, my dear sisters, and lead you on to a deeper walk with Him. May we always, by His grace, look beyond into His vision, never trusting our own limited eyesight.

With eyes upon Jesus,
Abigail

P.S. We want to say also that, as we have sought for a higher vision, the Lord has been faithful to show us His perfect will. Seeing a glimpse of things through higher eyesight has made our burden somewhat change concerning Dear Princess. Perhaps change is not the right word—we have felt our burden expand, expand into something that we—Skye and I—in our youth and immaturity, could not handle. We have seen the need—not only are young women hungry for things of the Lord, but many times the entire family. Our families feel the same. Slowly, as the Lord has directed, the idea of a new publication has come together, one that would feed the whole family, not just a portion of it. As the Lord has been blessing this thought, we have all felt it would be best that Dear Princess be merged with this family publication. We hope to publish much of the same things now published in Dear Princess, only in a condensed form, as we will have a more limited space, being only a portion of the larger magazine, Foundation Truth. We are also thinking and praying about changing the name of Dear Princess, as this has been brought to our attention as a name pertaining to the fancifulness of childhood, unfitting for a publication addressed to serious young ladies who are mostly over the age of 14 and 15. The new name the Lord has brought to mind is Maidens of Virtue and Honor. So under this new name, we intend to publish, inside Foundation Truth, a condensed version of the Dear Princess you are holding now. As Skye no longer feels that she should be coediting [see “A Letter from Skye”], I will be editing the Maidens of Virtue and Honor section. We hope these changes are not too confusing and that you understand that we welcome each and everyone of you dear sisters to write in as always.

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.

From 212 Victory Poems.

Would I? Would You?

Author Unknown

One day in loved Jerusalem,
There rushed a shrieking, maddened crowd
Upon a lowly, kneeling form,
Before his God and Savior bowed;
And when with cruel stones they crushed
His beautiful and gentle life,
He prayed the Father to forgive
Their ignorance and raging strife;
This man was Stephen, lo, a Jew
Who died for Christ.
Would I? Would you?

See! Far upon a lonely isle
An aged man with snowy locks,
Exiled to labor in the mines,
His only temple wind-swept rocks;
Ah, once he leaned on Jesus’ breast,
And gazed with fond adoring eyes
Into that face, where love divine
Still beams upon us from the skies;
This man was John, beloved, a Jew,
Witness for Christ.
Am I? Are you?

A Galilean fisher stood
Amid a fierce and angry throng;
No tremor spoke of hidden fear;
His face was peaceful, calm, and strong;
And then they nailed him to a cross,
As they had nailed his blessed Lord,
He gloried thus to die for Christ,
And counted it a rich reward;
This man was Peter, lo, a Jew
Who died for Christ.
Would I? Would you?

A captive bound was brought one day
To Nero’s judgment seat at Rome;
For Christ he wore the heavy chain,
For Christ he had no wealth nor home;
The noblest martyr Rome could boast
Of all the thousands that she slew,
The great apostle, sent by God
To Gentiles with the message true;
This man was Paul, e’en Paul the Jew,
Who died for Christ.
Would I? Would you?

From The Instruction of Youth in the Christian Life.

How to View Life’s Circumstances

Charles E. Orr

We want you to fully comprehend the fact that the events of life are not left to blind chance, but all come to us under the government and direction of a good and gracious God. To see the hand of God in every circumstance of life is the only correct view of life for the follower of the Lord. Open your Book to John 12:24-29. You will there read where God spoke in audible voice to Jesus. Some of those who heard it said that it thundered and others said it was an angel’s voice. There is a vast difference between thunder and the voice of an angel. There is also a vast difference in the way people accept the circumstances of life. Some hear nothing but thunder, while others hear an angel’s voice.

A mother had two bright, lovely little girls which were very dear to her. One afternoon both of these girls were brought home from the river where they had drowned. As the mother looked calmy into the faces of her silent dead, she said, “I see God wants all my heart and He shall have it.” Even in such circumstances as this she heard an angel’s voice. There is an angel’s voice in every circumstance of life. Dear Lord Jesus, help us all to listen for it.

A Letter from Skye

Dear Sisters,

The church at Ephesus was sound in doctrine and full of what seems to be outward good works, but they were lacking the most important thing: love. The list of all their virtues sounds noble and good, until you get down to verse 4: “Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.”* (Revelation 2:4) It leaves you with a feeling of awe and fear, lest we ourselves find our love growing cold.

How does one leave their first love? A hardening of conscience and awareness, a compromising of standards, laxity in spiritual diligence, temporal needs taken precedence over spiritual needs—any of these and more can account for our love growing cold. The reasons vary and can be as different as night is from day depending on the situation and particular weaknesses of the individual. Or, oft we might not even fully comprehend or realize (because we’re not paying especially close attention) until it’s too late.

I’d like to relate an interesting story to you out of Hannah W. Smith’s book, The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life. She writes:

I had moved into a new house and, in looking over it to see if it was all ready for occupancy, I noticed in the cellar a very clean-looking cider-cask headed up at both ends. I debated with myself whether I should have it taken out of the cellar and opened to see what was in it, but concluded, as it seemed empty and looked nice, to leave it undisturbed, especially as it would have been quite a piece of work to get it up the stairs. I did not feel quite easy, but reasoned away my scruples and left it. Every spring and fall, when house-cleaning time came on, I would remember that cask, with a little twinge of my housewifely conscience, feeling that I could not quite rest in the thought of a perfectly cleaned house, while it remained unopened, for how did I know but under its fair exterior it contained some hidden evil. Still I managed to quiet my scruples on the subject, thinking always of the trouble it would involve to investigate it; and for two or three years the innocent-looking cask stood quietly in my cellar.

Then, most unaccountably, moths began to fill my house. I used every possible precaution against them, and made every effort to eradicate them, but in vain. They increased rapidly and threatened to ruin everything I had. I suspected my carpets as being the cause, and subjected them to a thorough cleaning. I suspected my furniture, and had it newly upholstered. I suspected all sorts of impossible things. At last the thought of the cask flashed on me. At once I had it brought up out of the cellar and the head knocked in, and I think it is safe to say that thousands of moths poured out. The previous occupant of the house must have headed it up with something in it which bred moths, and this was the cause of all my trouble.

[Hannah W. Smith; The Christian’s Secret of a Happy Life, “Failures”]

Similarly, it may be hard to find the real cause of a departure in fervency and ardor of love for the Lord. We may face a peculiar temptation and wonder why. Perhaps the answer doesn’t quickly suggest itself, but the Lord knows. It could be you are getting too caught up in temporal matters and not spending enough time in the Word and prayer. Even ministries—while you are doing what you feel like God wants you to do—can have a way of crowding out all your time and consuming all your energy and thoughts.

Once we recognize that we’re really not where we should be, we shy away and are hesitant to “look under the mat,” or, like in Hannah Smith’s case, look in the cask. Perhaps it is because we’ll have to forsake a fond pleasure or give up a dearly-beloved belonging or secret wish. We don’t want to stare our problems in the face, and wish only too desperately that our difficulties would disappear and be forgotten. However, the mighty Maker of this Universe sees and understands each heart and will reveal the carefully hidden secrets in time.

I speak from experience. Not too long ago, I came face to face with the stark and painful reality that my love had gradually waxed cold. As always when love waxes lukewarm or cold, we meet with temptations without the sufficiently armed graces to fight off the enemy of our souls, thereby allowing the devil to have an advantage over us and we compromise our standards, giving place to failure and sin in our lives. I had not been as careful to stay sensitive and open to conviction, only I didn’t realize it at first. I tried to appease my conscience and distract myself. Gradually, my devotions and prayer time slipped more and more. The Lord manifested the sin clearly, showing me a hideous self. When anyone allows sin into their lives, they open themselves up to the devil and invariably lose what they had heretofore so strenuously sought out. The result is that they are weakened, spiritually, and it takes time to regain what they lost. The Lord gave me repentance and forgiveness, but because of this need for time of establishing myself again in Christ, my uncle has asked me to stop coediting Dear Princess for a season.

I apologize for my poor example and for not holding high the banner of holiness. By God’s grace, I am striving to do better. It is my desire to, but the reality of it will be determined by how close I guard my heart and how close I stay to Jesus.

As He did in my life, He will expose your greatest weaknesses—hopefully, if you allow Him, before they lead you to sin. The devil has a way of subtly showing us temptations—like wolves in sheep clothing—and if we’re not careful and if we don’t stay oh-so-closely to Jesus, we’ll give in easily, weakly to temptation. Please, please, please take heed to the needs of your soul! Guard your love and your devotion to the Lord. Don’t give place or allow the enemy to slowly and bit by bit take from you your precious desire to live pleasing to Him. Seek Him daily and cherish the times when He blesses you and gives you victory. If there isn’t any victory in your life, go to the Lord and ask Him why. Ask Him to search and try your heart. If there are sins in your life, take them to the Lord and humble yourself before Him. Love for God and sin cannot dwell harmoniously together. By giving place to one, you ultimately give up the other. Which will you choose?

Although our original plans were just to stop for a couple of issues, we have come to believe and recognize that this period in my life—this season of coediting—is over. He has given me great peace—yea, joy—in resigning my place, for I know that when He takes something away, He never fails to bless you in a greater way.

Please pray for Abigail; editing is a mountain of responsibility and there are pressures untold, not to mention several complicated and difficult tasks which she, heretofore, hasn’t had any experience in doing.

I undeniably miss all your sweet letters of encouragement, and I would still enjoy hearing from you! Please direct any personal correspondence to my home address, and I will try to answer it as the Lord blesses and gives me time.

My love and prayers to each one of you,
Skye

From Abigail’s Father

Several years ago, when Abigail began to express her burden for publishing a paper for young ladies, her mother and I prayed about it and felt that it would be a good thing. We were aware of some of the hazards that can come to a young person as a result of exposure in this way, but also knew that the Lord could keep and sustain if she would trust Him. If the thing was of the Lord, it would be to her spiritual profit and to others as well. We were also aware of the solemn responsibility that comes with any kind of leadership position—the serious and weighty possibility of bringing a reproach which would hinder others.

It was a young person’s paper, and it was expected that they would make the mistakes that young people make and hopefully learn from them. We regarded it as our responsibility to exercise a certain oversight and to provide certain directions which she could not be expected to grasp at this time in her life. Within that area, we left a great deal up to her, knowing that she must seek the Lord herself if the paper was to be spiritual. We remained watchful and on watch in our place and were gratified and thankful to see some spiritual progress on her part.

When Skye was invited by Abigail to coedit, this responsibility for oversight was shared by her Uncle and Aunt (with whom she resides). The Lord has helped us. We have always felt that if each child of God will live close to the Lord and be directed by Him, He is able and so willing to help us to live in unity, each to the point of speaking the same thing and having the same judgment (1 Corinthians 1:10). We trust God to help us to live to this Bible standard, readily recognizing that it is impossible without a purified heart and the assistance and direction of the Holy Spirit.

The teenage years are the most unsettled periods of our lives, and an effort such as Dear Princess raises all kinds of questions and provides generous portions of challenge for good parental government. It seems best to the adults involved to merge the magazine with a family publication that the Lord has burdened us to print. Therefore this is the last “stand-alone” issue of Dear Princess.

The Lord has convicted us that He wants us to print a family paper, Foundation Truth. Brother Rick Erickson will be editing the paper while the rest of us will contribute and help. The Dear Princess paper will be part of this family paper. It is anticipated to include a Bible discussion feature as well as a section devoted to issues of special interest to young men. We hope to begin work on the first issue after the last issue of Dear Princess is mailed, and to publish it as soon as we can. Terms of subscription are exactly the same as Dear Princess; upon receiving your first issue, you must let us know whether you wish to continue, and you must let us know each year whether you still wish to receive the publication. There is no subscription price, as the means to print the paper are supplied through faith in God.

“Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”* (Psalms 127:1) We are looking to God for help to be able to do good with this effort. We certainly do not want to do you any harm. Please pray for us.

We love the Lord and want to please Him, and we love you, too. If we can be of service to you by personal correspondence or telephone, please feel free to contact us.

Mark Spinks
Timeless Truths Publications

From the Hearts of Our Readers

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Dear Abigail and Skye,

I was so touched by the first issue I received (Spring 1999). Thank you for printing all the letters about dresses vs. pants! I got a lot of good insights from them. I have been realizing more and more the importance of not just wearing dresses, but having a modest spirit and therefore wearing clothing that reflects your heart. It’s such a blessing to know that there are other girls studying on the same topic. I especially was encouraged by the letter from… Bethany C——. Also the letter from “A Brother In Christ” and “Excuse Me, But Your Attitude is Showing” must have been written just for me! And it went along perfectly with the theme of this issue (modesty). How much I have to learn in having the right attitude! It’s so sad that so many “Christians” are no different from the unsaved. They are grumblers, covetous, selfish….

Well, I must be going. Oh, wait a minute—I was glancing through DP and began reading “The Path of Purity,” which I had skipped over before. What an excellent article it is! What truth is in it! I thank the Lord that He has allowed you to be such a blessing to me (and many others)! May He richly bless you, my dear sisters!

Until He returns,
Miriam Leavitt
Lewiston, ID

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Dear Abigail and Skye,

Greetings in our Savior’s precious name! I received DP in the mail today and just finished reading it. It is a very well-done magazine that is obviously Christ-centered. After reading it, I’m encouraged to keep heading up the narrow way. My cup overfloweth.

Thank you for sharing the poem, “Through Sunshine and Shadow,” in your editorial, Abigail. May our only request be to be like Jesus, to follow Him wherever He leads! May we give our all to Jesus so that then He may do His perfect work. I want to always say, “with me, Lord, have Thy way.” Oh, to trust in Jesus, to take Him at His word, then truly to go on rejoicing, for Jesus our Savior awaits at the end of the road! How wonderful it is to know that when we die we will go to heaven to be with Jesus for eternity.

Skye, I really appreciated the second-to-last paragraph in your editorial. Yes, we must allow Him to have full reign in our hearts. I think I will write that up and put it in a place where I can see it often. I need to remind myself of the reason our Lord gives us trials.

The words at the top of page ten were very good and true. We need to not focus on what we are missing out on down here, but on how more fully we can serve our Lord, King, and heavenly Father. “Let the pleasures of earth fade away.” Amen.

I also enjoyed “From the Hearts of Our Readers.” It’s interesting and nice to hear about other princesses who are also striving to live for the King of Kings! May we encourage one another to never give up on reaching “The Promised Land.” “Tell What the Lord Has Done for You!” is an excellent section! It is inspiring to read others’ testimonies.

I thank God for bringing this magazine into my life. Please keep me in your prayers; I’ll be praying for you both. May we always be heading onward, upward.

Love from an encouraged sister,
Michigan

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…hopefully in the next couple of months I will have enough dresses to start wearing them all the time. One of the reasons that it is taking so long is that I can’t sew very well, and my mom doesn’t have very much spare time to show me. We have tried shopping, but had a hard time trying to find modest dresses. We only found one, and so we bought two of them. Please keep me in your prayers, dear sisters; this is all very new to me.

I’d like to warmly thank all of you who wrote something for the dresses vs. pants feature. What an encouragement to know that I’m not alone! Much thanks to each and every one of you! Keep on serving Him!

Striving to follow the King,
A sister in Christ

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Dear Skye and Abigail,

Greetings in the name of our King! Thank you so much for sending me Dear Princess. I just received my first issue and am very happy with it. Your editorials were a blessing to me. I agree wholeheartedly with what you said, Skye. Oh, that we all would, like Mary, continually sit at Jesus’ feet to be taught of Him and given up to Him. I believe, also, that these early years of our lives should be spent learning to love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul and strength and to be Jesus’ true bride.

It is such an encouragement to know that there are other young ladies who go through the same or similar struggles and experiences and also desire Jesus and His ways above all else. May we never leave our first Love, my dear sisters.

“No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”* (Luke 9:62)

May God bless you and keep you!

With love,
Deborah Solum
Spring Grove, MN

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Dear Sisters,

I have so enjoyed the summer edition of Dear Princess! It has been so encouraging at this point in my life and such a blessing to read about so many girls that are struggling with the same things as I am. Yet, we are “more than conquerers” through Him!

My family believes in courtship, and I made a personal commitment to not date many years ago. But it is so hard not to focus on such things, especially when everything in this world is geared toward the sensational pleasures. It has been good to hear of so many young ladies who are, with the Lord’s help, denying such temptations and putting God in entire control of their lives. This has become my earnest desire—that Jesus would be my all in all. I know that He has a precious plan for each of our lives if only we would submit to it, and lay aside our own desires.

Thank you, Abigail and Skye, for your commitment to the Truth. You are such an encouragement to me God bless!

In Christ,
Rebecca Anderson
Altoona, IA

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Dear Skye and Abigail,

This, my second issue of Dear Princess, was wonderful, bringing the encouragement I needed today. As with many of you, I have struggled in giving up my dreams and hopes of marriage, and though in my mind I have given it over to Jesus, my heart still sometimes intensely longs to be married. This issue was a wonderful reminder of the love Jesus offers us, and that our hearts need not starve. He knows what each of us need, and the desire of our hearts to be loved, and He will not leave us cold and empty.

Skye, I have read the little book by C. E. Orr you sent me, and gained much by it. I still turn to it and read a chapter or two when I need encouragement. I thank you.

May you both continue in the work of the Lord!

My love,
Elizabeth Anne Lorenz
Techachapi, CA

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Dear Skye and Abigail,

I was very touched with the testimonies concerning modest dress. (In the Spring 1999 issue.) I truly did read, and reread it over the weeks, praying to really know His will. This could be a very long story but to make it short, I have finally found peace again and am blessed with the firm conviction that God likes to have me be feminine and modest by wearing dresses. I realized that I needed that personal conviction in order not to waver after tasting the “freedoms” of pants and shorts once again. He has answered my prayers and I just simply know this is right. I cannot dress like the world without being tempted to slip into worldly thoughts and ideas. It has taken all summer for me to realize how worldly I had become; ideas from influences in my work situation had rubbed off on me, too. Dressing differently helps me to remember the goals I am striving for are different. Hopefully I will be able to redeem the lost time and be a better witness for Jesus.

I feel that your prayers and the prayers of those that contributed to the modest issue have touched my life. My favorite line was, “It’s not that important.” But it is. What is inside is manifested on the outside. It’s hard to find the right words, and I could share more lessons, but I’ll forebear; I just wanted to thank you and say, “God bless you for the influence you have had on my life!” Praise the Lord!

In Jesus,
Rebecca Aughinbaugh
Stewartsville, MO

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Dear Skye,

I am the mother of three girls, ages 18, 17, and 13. My husband and I, by God’s grace, have always homeschooled them. Our family has gone through many changes over the years; most recently, we have moved to a rather remote location in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. This has caused our lifestyle to change rather dramatically… fewer trips to town, doing things the “hard way,” trimming expenses, and because our house is small compared to what we were used to, learning to love one another in close proximity! Miriam, Lisa, and Christina all share a room, which to our way of thinking is a special blessing to them, but of course creates challenges to deny self.

A friend of ours gave us a copy of the Summer ’98 edition of Dear Princess. Our entire family has been blessed by it, even my husband informed our dear friend that he had “been reading his Little Princess,” which made us all roar with laughter all the more because of the mistake in the name! But when Daddy recommends something, we know it is good and are all the more eager to check it out.

I was especially blessed by your article, “Forgetting and Reaching Forth.” So many of the trials you mentioned are common to us, and I appreciated your trustworthy recommendation to entrust them to the Lord and go forward on His strength. Recently I experienced an utter failure in my faith, which to be honest, was quite frightening, as I have known the mercies of the Lord in my life for over 20 years. Even now I cry to think of it, but your article was a great encouragement to leave it behind and go forward, trusting in God’s mercy in Christ. I can only hope that He alone will be the Comforter and Guide our girls need.

Again, I thank you for sharing and we are looking forward to future issues of Dear Princess! May the Lord bless you as only He can!

Love,
Mrs. Ernestine Koehn
Oregon House, CA

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Dear Skye and Abigail,

Greetings!

I received the latest issue of DP and am enjoying it right now. The article by Brother Mark Spinks looks very good. My Daddy and Mom have a wonderful marriage, too, by the grace of God. We are so thankful for His mercy in our lives. My parents have had to come out of a lot of past generation sins, and we are still having to forsake the former things as the Lord reveals them to us. I am very thankful to have Daddy and Mom. They are always trying to point Hope and I to Jesus—I know it takes a lot of courage to set a good example to children. It is such a blessing to know they try their best…. And do a good job at it, too!

The Lord has been showing me to not repay evil for evil when I am wronged. It seems as though everything I’ve been reading has been talking about that. I often get “bugged” at others when I am asked if I’m a child, or if I’m my mother’s sister (yes, girls, it’s happened!), etc. I used to selfishly wonder if people thought I was older than I am [because of my dress]. Yet God has been showing me that I’m not! Oh, well, I need to learn to be happy with who I am and what I am. I want people to see Jesus in me, not myself, and in order to do that, I must not want to “clear things up” when someone says something that bothers me. I’ve been thinking about your editorials on that issue, and thank you for writing them.

The Lord has been showing me these Bible verses, and I’ve been mulling over them lately, also. Here they are: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.”* (Psalm 19:7-14)

I love those verses. The Lord is faithful; we must fear Him. I want all that I say and do be a reflection of Him, and not me. Myself is so ugly, wanting its own way, and wishing to be recognized. I sometimes want to “prove” to the world, that Jesus is the only way, that home education is best, etc. Yet, that is God’s job—not mine. He will prove Himself in His time. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked.”* (Galatians 6:7) What the world sows will eventually be reaped. All I need to do is trust my Savior, resting in His will and His timing.

God bless you, Skye and Abigail, as you serve Him with your hearts, minds, and souls. May He continuously become our all in all.

Reflecting His love,
Faith Hellikson, CA

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May God bless you, Skye!

…I have just received the most recent issue of Dear Princess (Summer 1999), and was immensely blessed. God has been reminding me over and over lately, that He is to be my number one priority, and your wonderful editorial was just what I needed. How we need to be one with God. He should not be something to add unto ourselves or just another thing to fit in our schedule, but we are to “allow” ourselves to be embraced by God, to let Him take us unto Himself. He is to be our substance, our every heart beat should depend on Him. When we “allow” Him to take us, then He shall become our number one priority; when we “allow” Him to mold our heart, He will make us so that he will be our number one priority.

He is the only friend that we can trust our whole heart with, and our whole emotions to. We can be close to some earthly friends, but they can at time fail us, but God will never fail us. Praise and glory be to God! This is all so easy to say, but to do it can be so hard. We know that God loves us, and that Jesus died for us. We know that God is in control. But it seems so much easier to let the cares of this life embrace us, and take us, and to trust in our money, houses, or something other than God. Then, when this happens, we have another Ishmael. I find myself at times trusting in fences, houses, bikes, and cars, to keep me safe from bears, cougars, or any other wild animal. I know it is so wicked, and I would greatly appreciate prayer in this area. God wants me to trust Him with my whole heart, not just a part.

Trusting is part of becoming “best friends” with God. Once we have learned to trust Him, I believe it is much easier to communicate with Him. When we are in fear, there is something in between God and us. It just dawned on me that when we are afraid of something, or not giving God our all, we are making that something greater than God. Our dear Lord said so clearly in the ten commandments, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”* (Exodus 20:3) Skye, isn’t God so good to teach us all His ways, and to show us what He wants, then help us do so? He is so good, so loving, so perfect, so awesome. My heart cries, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?”* (Psalm 8:4) How my Spirit wants to give all, too, but as I have said earlier, these are words, now the action.

Your prayers are greatly appreciated.

May God bless you and keep you my dear sister,
Linnae Joy Kreamer—God’s handmaiden in training
Moyie Springs, ID

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Dear Princesses,

Greetings to all in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope this letter finds you all growing closer to the “Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.”* (2 Corinthians 1:3)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of you dear princesses who took the time to remember our family in prayer and the lovely cards and letters. Each one was appreciated very much. It was such a blessing to realize that we are cared about by those who we have never met. Your thoughtful words brought comfort in this time of our loss—heaven’s gain. What a comfort to know that my dear brother, Brad, is in glory with his Savior—the place where he longed to be. I am so glad that we have no doubt that Brad is with Jesus. Brad was His faithful servant and is now experiencing the rewards of having had a godly Christian life and testimony. Anyone who knew Brad would say without a doubt he was living for Jesus. Brad experienced the joy of leading precious lives to Christ and three souls upon hearing of his entrance into heaven gave their hearts to Christ. It is my desire to live such a steadfast life. Since Brad’s passing, I have often asked myself the question, “How many people will be at my funeral?” Around 700 were present to witness Brad’s funeral and burial. In Brad’s short life of 23 years, he touched countless lives all over the world. He served as a missionary in the Ukraine, preached in state prisons, county jails, on street corners, passed out thousands of tracts, and was involved in relief work for flood, tornado and hurricane victims—everywhere he went, he spread the Word of God and shared Jesus with anyone who would listen. Oh, to have such a testimony for Christ!

When Jesus came for Brad, He found him hard at work and not unprepared. Just the week before his passing, he shared these words with a friend: “I’m not depressed or discouraged, but why should I want to stay here when my goal is heaven? My work in Montezuma is done.”

Heaven has never seemed so real to us. We look forward to the day when the clouds will open to reveal our Savior, arms open wide to receive His children, when we will go with Him to our eternal home to be reunited with Brad and those we love, never to part again. Why should we want to stay here when our goal is heaven?

Dear princesses, please continue to pray that God would comfort us with these thoughts and that we would live faithful lives for Christ. My brother left us a good Christian example and I am ashamed to see how negligent [in comparison] I am in my Christian life. But by God’s grace, we can triumph—He gives the victory!

“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”* (2 Timothy 4:8)

With joy in His service,
Emily Lester
Montezuma, GA

The King’s Daughter

Sarah Redmond

Many daughters are most lovely and fair
Endowed with things that are costly and rare;
Yet none is so favored and truly blest,
None knows true happiness and gets the best,
Like the King’s own daughter, richly attired,
For He clothes her in things highly desired—
With joy and peace, gentleness and love,
Gifts that come only from above;
All else is but poverty and dross,
And life is there a terrible loss;
But the King’s own daughter, with great delight,
Steps into the palace where He is the light.

The Fragility of Life

I had a large pane of glass that I found useful to cover a seedling bed of pansies. Propped up on bricks, it helped keep the pansy bed warmer as the sun shone through the glass and heated up the soil. When the soil needed moisture, I leaned the sheet of glass up against the fence behind the bed. Since it was winter, the rain did my watering job for me.

A windstorm came up one day when I had the glass up. Passing by, I noticed that the sheet of glass was again lying on the bricks—and all in one piece, too! How glad I was that it didn’t break!

But when this took place a second time, and a third, I forgot how breakable glass is, and soon took it for granted that the wind would blow it safely down each time. I began to think this glass would never break, and didn’t think to take any more precautions. The winter was windy with quite a bit of rain. Many blustery days found my sheet of glass leaning against that fence. The wind had become my friend, I thought.

Then came the day when I learned the lesson of my carelessness the hard way. It was another windy day, and my dad came into the room to inform me that he had just seen that sheet of glass get blown over by the wind—but instead of being a nice flat pane of glass, it now lay in a million pieces. My pane of glass had shattered at last.

But that was only the beginning of my reaping. As the saying goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Glass lay like snow in the pansy bed and on the nearby sidewalk. Each piece of broken glass was like a finely constructed puzzle, breaking into many smaller pieces if it wasn’t carefully handled. It was nearly a week later before we got most of it cleaned up (some small pieces were still left), but the lesson it taught me still tarries….

How often do you look at life like I did this pane of glass? Maybe you weren’t meaning to be so careless about endangering yourself in the beginning. At the first escape, you were grateful, and promised to be a bit more careful next time. But when nothing horrible happened, you began to take lightly the instruction of your youth. You thought you were doing fine. You were unbreakable and the wind became your friend. But how many lives that began this way are now shattered on the bricks?

I plead of you to consider, to take note of this lesson and apply it to your heart. Life is fragile, whether you have personally experienced it or not. We cannot afford to take chances and waste our time with carelessness. You know not what wind will be your last; so take heed before it is too late!

Have you been instructed in the truth? Don’t waste your time in foolishness and pursuits of this world—that wind only brings heartache in the end.

Life is not meant to be wasted. How we live now will make the difference in eternity.

Do you think you can wait until later? Oh, but life is short and you know not when you shall be called into judgment! The pleasures of youth and the lust of the flesh do not bring satisfaction. What you sow now, you will also reap. You cannot afford to be careless! And who knows but that you will sink so low “while there is yet time” that you find it is impossible to return when the “later time” has come. Oh, be watchful and keep your life, or else you might wake up to the realization that it is too late—and your life lies in pieces about you.

“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”* (James 4:14)

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”* (John 14:6) “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”* (2 Peter 1:2-4)

We Trusted in God: Part 2

Mark Spinks

By the time that I came around the young woman who was to be my companion, my eyes were on the Lord. I was sold out for God and wanted to please Him more than anything else in the world. By the help of the Lord, I was living up to Romans 12:1. I wasn’t trying to pay special attention to any young lady at that time for I had committed that whole area to God. I had consecrated to be single if the Lord felt best.

The vital importance of being absolutely consecrated cannot be exaggerated. The emotions that bind one to one’s lifelong companion are some of the strongest that we have. They can bind us just as strongly to the wrong one as to the right. The story is told of a young man who asked an older minister to go and pray with him that he might clearly understand whether or not God was leading him to seek a certain young Christian sister as a marriage partner. The younger man prayed first. He prayed, “Lord, give me Mary! Lord, give me Mary!” The older minister said that he did not even pray as he felt that the young man already had his mind made up. He was not seeking guidance. He just wanted God to bless his choice.

In every really blessed marriage that I know, each one will tell you of how he/she came to an end of themselves, “of how they gave up on their heart’s desire and consecrated to be single.” One sister said that she came to the conclusion that since there were more sisters interested in living for God than brothers, some sisters would have to be left out. So she consecrated to be one of the left out ones. Not so long after she came to this decision, God sent her a very humble and precious brother who had gotten saved not so many months back. Because she fell into the ground and died, so to speak, God saw to it that she was no longer alone, and she brought forth much fruit (John 12:24). It was not her purpose to somehow “make it work.” She was sincere and honest in her decision not to seek marriage, but this consecration is what God was interested in working in her to His glory and to accomplish His purposes.

May I ask you, are you really dead to all else but God’s will for you? Will you take your Isaac (your only son, so to speak, whom you love) up the mountain, bind him to the altar, and there slay thy (legitimate) heart’s desire before Him who tests you? Have you heard the angel speak and call your name? (Genesis 22:1-12). Most are so full of their own ways and pursuing the same that they cannot hear the still, small voice. If, almost by accident, they marry a suitable companion, they do not have the fullness of blessing that the Lord wants to bestow.

I noticed the young people around me who seemed to be sold out to live for God. As did Moses, they esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt,”* (Hebrews 11:26) and chose “rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.”* (Hebrews 11:25) I treasured that quality in them. There was a relatively small group of us that loved the Lord that much among the young people I was around (Matthew 7:13-14). And I wasn’t around them that much. Hardly anyone home schooled back then, and I lived for the Lord as I attended a public school in Shreveport, Louisiana. There were some who professed to follow Jesus at this school, but they did not seem to have much (Luke 6:46). As usual, if you really followed Jesus, you were pretty much an outcast with the worldly crowd (2 Timothy 3:12). So I valued the ones I did know who seemed to walk with God and love Him with all their heart. We were scattered around the country and usually only saw each other at a meeting or two in the summer. There were lots of other young people at these meetings, some professing and some not. They dated and broke up more or less as the world did. The spiritual young people did not.

There were older couples, too, who walked with God and had that special blessing in their marriage that means so much. They were years up the pathway from me, and I was too ignorant of even the right questions to ask, or what to look for in their lives, but I sensed the victory in them and the blessings from God on their lives together. Most of them have gone on from this life into Eternity now, and I miss them a great deal. It is my turn now and my wife’s, and, oh, how I want to walk and live in such a way as to show the greatness of God’s salvation and His blessings in the lives of those who yield to Him!

I knew that if I ever married that I would marry one of these spiritually-minded young people. If nothing worked out in that way, I would not marry at all (2 Corinthians 6:14-15). That decision was tested to the maximum. The Lord helped me, else I could not have kept it.

I began to pray about one of the spiritual young sisters. I committed it to the Lord over and over. It was extremely difficult to tell if my attraction to her arose from myself only or if the Lord was in it. I was just out of school, idealistic, zealous, and very naive. I shared my feelings with different ones for counsel. It brought very little in the way of counsel and quite a bit in the way of gossip. This prejudiced the young lady’s family. My parents were unable to help me much with this way of finding a companion, as they had dated and broken up freely in their young adult years and thought it was ordinary. They respected what I was trying to do and had confidence in my life, but they were not persuaded that it was workable or valid.

Matters went from bad to worse. In retrospect, I believe that the young sister’s parents were trying to be as fair as they could be to their daughter and to myself as well. She was mixed up and confused. Looking back on it all, I feel certain that the Lord knew how it would all be when He allowed me to get into this. In the fire of this trial, I learned some things that I do not think I could have learned anywhere else. The flames heated me through and through; the dross rose to the top, and the Lord would skim it off of me as I recognized it and called on Him. Truly, “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.”* (Malachi 3:3-4) “Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer.”* (Proverbs 25:4) “Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.”* (Psalms 66:12)

Before you can experience God’s wealthy place for you, it is necessary to go through His refining process.

But Thou art making me, I thank Thee, Sire.
What Thou hast done and doest Thou know’st well,
And I will help Thee: gently in Thy fire
I will lie burning; on Thy potter’s-wheel
I will whirl patient, though my brain should reel;
Thy grace shall be enough the grief to quell,
And growing strength perfect through weakness dire.

I have not knowledge, wisdom, insight, thought,
Nor understanding, fit to justify
Thee in Thy work, O Perfect. Thou hast brought
Me up to this—and, lo! what Thou hast wrought,
I cannot comprehend. But I can cry—
“O enemy, the Maker hath not done;
One day thou shalt behold, and from the sight wilt run.”

* * *

Thou workest perfectly. And if it seem
Some things are not so well, ’tis but because
They are too loving-deep, too lofty-wise,
For me, poor child, to understand their laws:
My highest wisdom half is but a dream;
My love runs helpless like a falling stream:
Thy good embraces ill, and lo! its illness dies!

[George MacDonald; The Diary of an Old Soul, “October”]

God saw fit to bring me to a point where it seemed that everyone condemned me and misunderstood my motives. This was not actually true, and I was blessed with those who stood by and prayed for me, although I largely perceived them not. The trial was prolonged for months, fed by my own lack of wisdom in some ways, and the general ways of human nature stirred up by the devil in others. Some days I had less of a battle than others. One day, I reached such a low point in discouragement that I actually wished I had never been born. It seemed that a black discouragement covered me. That was the lowest point of all the low places in the trial, but the Lord helped me to hold on to Him. The Lord Jesus taught me to forgive, to consecrate to be misunderstood, to leave my judgment in the hands of Him who knows all things, to continue to do what is right in spite of all, and to overcome evil with good. Oh, how good is the Lord! To teach us in the furnace flames what He can do! “He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”* (Job 23:10)

One of the precious things that I learned in this trial was that God allows for human error and uncertainness. I learned the great value of waiting on God, of letting Him work instead of trying to help things to work out. “To let go, and let God.” And, at the end of this trial, when the clouds broke and I came out into the wealthy place that God had prepared for me, He placed in my hands an invaluable tool for trusting Him amid the tribulations of life.

I had driven my car out into a large pasture by a river to pray. There were cows around grazing, and the entire scene was placid and tranquil, but my heart was not. Months of trial and fighting to be true lay behind me, and I was there to pray yet again. I parked my car in the middle of that pasture and knelt on the seat through the open doorway and called on God. I pled His promises again, and as I prayed, the Lord sent an answer. It was strongly impressed on my mind. “It’s not what happens to you in life that matters; it’s how you take it.” Immediately, I comprehended this invaluable truth. What a wonderful thought! Nothing can do permanent harm to a child of God under His Father’s care if he will take the trial as he should. Surely, “all things work together for good to them that love God.”* (Romans 8:28) What a privilege to know this! I embraced it in my heart. And with this came the thought, “It’s not how people treat you; it’s how you treat them.” I consecrated afresh to follow the Lord’s path marked out for me, whatever He saw fit to do with me. The blessing of that surrender, that sacrifice, fell upon my heart, and I knew that by the grace of God, I would be able to follow Him all the way.

Not too many months after this, I left the area and went west on a mission of passing out Bible truth in literature and attending various meetings. At times, my hopes and disappointed expectations would come upon me, and the rest of my life seemed bleak indeed. During this trip, I was driving somewhere in Colorado or Utah across a flat, flat surface between stone formations. It must have been nearly fifty miles across. The highway was straight as could be. There was no car in sight, no sign of human habitation anywhere. It was as if I was the only human being on the planet at that time. My heart was still grieving and I felt so bereft. And then the singing began. Such singing! It was as if a heavenly choir sang. I do not know to this day if it was audible to the ear. It went on for miles.

As far above the howling storm,
Secure from danger’s reach and harm,
Triumphantly the eagle flies—
My soul on wings of faith would rise;
When raging is the tempest’s blast,
Ere yet its wrath is overpast—
My soul would rise from earthly woe,
To leave the stormy winds below.

Upon the troubled, restless wave,
His fearful, trembling ones to save,
The Master walked and calmed the sea,
The wildly tossing Galilee;
By faith again I hear His voice,
In tones which make my heart rejoice,
When fears my soul with terror thrill,
He gently whispers, “Peace, be still.”

The lilies clothed in garments fair,
The ravens flying through the air,
Our blessed Father cares for all—
He seeth e’en the sparrow’s fall;
His children more He surely loves,
Their cry His heart with pity moves:
Though thorns bestrew the path we’ve trod,
He whispers still, “Have faith in God.”*

At this point in the singing, I broke down and wept. I wept as I had not wept since a child. And in that weeping, the Lord comforted me, and I realized that He knew all. He knew all, and He cared for me. Over and over, the verse rang in my mind,

His children more He surely loves,
Their cry His heart with pity moves:
Though thorns bestrew the path we’ve trod,
He whispers still, “Have faith in God.”

Surely He is “the God of all comfort.”* (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Prepare Today for the Long Tomorrow

What on earth are you doing for heaven’s sake?

Elizabeth Lorenz

Dear Sisters,

The Lord has, this past year, placed something heavily upon my heart, and I feel His prompting to share it with you all. My life, at this time, is filled with uncertainties, and my walk is by faith and trust… and yet, I have a vision that has been following me through my days, that will not go away and ever grows brighter! This is not a mere ideal, but a true burden, one that has called me to surrender my own ideas, dreams, comforts, and even life, into the Hands I love so well. I am seeking not to live for earth alone, but for eternity.

Looking about me, I see many people in the world devoting their whole lives to earthly things: art, music, literature, science, acting… the list is endless. They sacrifice all things for this one passion, they eat and sleep and breathe for it… and yet, when they die, it does, too! They most certainly cannot take their paintings and scientific discoveries with them into the next life. The things of this world shall pass away, but the soul shall live forever, whether in eternal bliss or torment depends on their choice while still here. Oh, my sisters, this is so important! How many people do we daily meet that have no hope of heaven? As Christians, do we truly care about the eternal souls of others, or are we too occupied with our own “living for the Lord.” Yes, even when trying to live for Jesus, we may be buried in our own selfishness. I know that I was, and to some extent I still am. So often we don’t even recognize it!

We are called, as Christians, to be separate from the world. How is this to be done? Some have tried to physically separate themselves by living away from cities (usually the centers of ungodliness), and lead quiet lives in the country, or even in their own Christian Communities. Perhaps they are able to still bring the Good News to others who have not heard. For my part, I feel the separation is more of an emotionally letting go of the things which are not pleasing to God or take our focus off Him. And, of course, obedience to the Word in areas such as dress, education, and relationships, will certainly mark us as peculiar! However, often with our convictions comes pride. We soon feel it is our duty to separate ourselves from those who do not dress as we do or perhaps choose to date rather than heed the principles of courtship. This, my sisters, is wrong! Yes, we must uphold our convictions, and cling to them lest the Enemy persuade us to give them up, but let them not dwell in the forefronts of our minds.

When people look at us, do we want them to see, “I am holy!” or “I love Christ, and I also love you!”? Love, the first commandment of our Lord. When we look upon another Christian, even if he or she does not have the same standards as we have, let us think, “another washed in the life-blood of Christ!” and be truly glad to see them. [Not condemn them, but rather pray that the Lord would open their eyes if there are biblical standards that they do not see.] And when we meet those who dwell in darkness, let us look at their soul, so black, in need of Jesus, doomed to die forever! My sister, this is the burden of my heart. Should I be content with the occasional meeting with an unbeliever, the occasional chance to witness, or should I devote my whole life to bringing them the gospel? People have given their lives for much lesser things. How many men have given their lives for liberty? If only the same passion and devotion were given to sharing the gospel! Eternity is a long time.

My dear sisters, I have no practical ideas on how to devote my life to missionary work. But I am trusting my Lord to work all things according to His Will. To say I am willing is no little thing, for already I have had to emotionally give up the comforts of a self-pleasing life. The vision is ever before me, and at times, I see how God is working to bring it about. I, in the mean time, the waiting time—I am giving myself to my family… and the few people God brings into my life to minister to. No doubt, if I prove faithful in the little He gives me, He will give me more and more. The love of Christ is my reward. How sweet, how real it is!

Blessings to you all,
Elizabeth Lorenz
Tehachapi, CA

Have you a Friend whose wondrous grace
Lights up with joy the darkest place,
Who to the end will still prove true?

“Tell What the Lord Has Done for You!”*

Oh, tell what He’s done for you,
Of His love, so strong and true,
Oh, tell, what He’s done, what He’s done for you,
Others may need Him, too.

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On Trusting in God

In the fall, our oldest girl, Ruth, started to school. Scarlet fever got in the school, but in such a light form that the children were not very sick, so at first they didn’t realize what it was. Ruth was one of its victims. She came home with a light fever, a little flushed and breaking out, etc., but not enough for us to realize anything serious or unusual. In a very few days, she had severe ear aches and her ears had gathered and began running pus. About that time, the school learned what the disease was and called me about Ruth and told me to contact a doctor and see what it was or they would have to send the health officers. I called a doctor who knew of our faith and had taken care of me when our babies were born, but he found no signs of scarlet fever on her. Esther was not feeling well and was lying around that morning. He looked at her and she was taking it. On inquiry about the case, it was the right time for her to take it from Ruth. On closer examination he found some scales and where she (Esther) had a light case of it. Before Ruth became sick, she had been running and got warm at school; had taken cold and the scarlet fever had settled in her head and mastoid glands. She was a very sick child.

Esther did not have it very severely, so we were only put under quarantine about two or three weeks. My husband was quarantined out and I in, but I had a bedroom off to itself and the doctor said that as sick as Ruth was and Esther down, for me to be left all alone with the three little children was not safe. He had found me trustworthy, so he instructed me to fix that room and let my husband sleep there. That way my husband could get out to continue work and also bring groceries and things that I would need. We did that, but I had the care of the children day and night, and all the washing and ironing by myself. Ruth’s head continued to get worse.

We wrote my oldest sister in Iowa asking if she could come and help awhile as Mama and Papa could not do their own work. I could not get out, nor could I leave the children to help them. She came and cared for our parents and cooked food, washed for Husband, and cooked food, washed for husband, and brought cooked food to me, which was a great help.

The men at the shop [where Bro. Gus worked] became very angry because we did not doctor. One evening when he went to work, the boys said, “We won’t work anymore with Gus. How do we know he can go home and come to work? He has to go home because they are not doctoring, or we will go home!” They were not afraid of him, but wanted to cause trouble because we were trusting the Lord. His foreman came to him and said, “Gus, I’m sorry to send you home, but there is nothing I can do about it. Tomorrow, you go to the doctor and get a permit for you to work, and if you bring me a work permit, they can go home if they want to; you can work.” He did, and the doctor wrote him a permit. It was his order for Gus to sleep at home, and there was no danger to anyone. In a few days, the quarantine was taken down, but Ruth was getting weaker and thinner. Her ears continued to run and had to be washed and dressed every twenty minutes. Her face and head had swelled until she could not open her mouth. We had to pour a little liquid between her teeth with a teaspoon to feed her. Pus was coming out all around her fingernails and toenails. She was a mere skeleton—her hands looked like toothpicks covered with skin. She had been naturally a very plump and pretty child.

The men continued to put heavy persecution on my husband and were extremely angry with him. They were trying to make him realize he had waited too long now and that nothing could be done for her. They decided if he would call a doctor and try to do something, all right; but if not, as soon as word was received that she was gone, officers would be sent and he would be taken for manslaughter and abuse, and he would not be able to see the child, nor attend her funeral. It looked like she might go anytime. He became so burdened he scarcely knew what to do. He could not work any longer.

My sister and I were watching over her frail form, washing away the pus that seemed to constantly flow from her ears, down over her face and beautiful hair, and washing those boney little hands and feet that were constantly losing blood and pus. I tell you it was a trying time! Husband came home. Mother and Father were sitting in the room with us. I looked up and asked Husband if he were sick, he looked so pale. He said, “No, but I just can’t work.” Then he told how the men had again informed him of what they were going to do. He thought of me, the children, Mama and Papa, and how hard it would be on us, and he just could not work. What should we do?

The right counsel in a crisis will many times save a soul. He wanted to trust God, but if he did, what were we willing to do?

Mama immediately and unfalteringly said, “Gus, trust God.”

But he asked, “If I do and she dies and they send me to the penitentiary, what will you folks and wife do?”

She replied, “If you do go, God will make a way for us. He always has and He won’t fail us now.”

I said, “If God permits you to go to the penitentiary, it would be for a purpose and maybe you could help some lost soul. But God is able to heal her and frustrate their plans. Commit her wholly into God’s hands and be willing to say from the bottom of our hearts, ‘Thy will be done.’ God will help us.”

Gus had not felt he could give her up. As we prayed that night and submitted all to Him, we sought Him to go before us and fight our battles. Again we asked Him to show His mighty power and heal our child. He knew we meant to trust Him. She seemed to get relief and went to sleep.

There was a little spot on the side of her face close to her ear that was swollen badly and seemed to stay the same for several days. The next morning I noticed it looked more like a boil coming to head. By Sunday morning, it looked as if it were getting ready to open. Her ear was still running. My sister, husband, and I were gone to the kitchen to try to eat a little around noon. We sat down and had started to eat when Ruth called, “Mama, my ear and face are running!” I jumped and started to her, and that place had opened. Pus was coming from a hole in the side of her face like water running through a straw. I grabbed a roll of cotton and tore off a piece and began to wipe the pus. Husband and Sister had followed me. She took the roll of cotton and began tearing it off and handing it to me while Husband held a wash pan for me to throw the waste cotton in. As the pus ran, the swelling in her face slowly began to go down like the air leaking from a balloon. I never saw so much pus come from one person. The three of us continued to work until we had used a little more than one and one-half large rolls of medicated cotton. After the swelling had gone down, it looked like the skin of her face was stuck to the bone. There were two holes right together just in front of the lower part of her ear and just below her temple where the pus had come from. The running in her ears was gone and she could open her mouth a little. In about half an hour more pus had gathered and it began to run again. We used about another one-half roll of cotton.

From that time on, we didn’t have any more trouble with her ears, fingers and toenails running. God had cleared her of it, and she began to amend and eat. The bone on the side of her face looked sunken and saucer shaped. It looked as if it would be a big scar and that side of her face disfigured. It was wonderful how the Lord took care of it all. It was not very long until her face began to come to shape, and in a very few years, only a small scar was left. You would scarcely notice that. Thus, God fought our battles and gave us the victory and manifested His mighty power! Praise the Lord!

---

He is the Just the Same Today

To begin, I would like to say that I’m not one that just doesn’t take medicine and never goes to doctors. Neither do I just believe that God can heal, but then suffer through sickness with no relief or answers. Instead, I believe that God will heal and does, for it is His perfect will to do so for all those that will so trust in Him. I also believe He has a purpose to perform whenever He allows us to suffer in our bodies: therefore, if we seek men to cure our ailments and diseases, we are avoiding the blessing and good He has designed for us in it, and missing an opportunity to increase our faith in God (which we vitally need). In these things, I also am learning to grow, and I praise the Lord for His faithfulness to me.

Therefore, I will now testify how the Lord has been my Healer in a recent affliction. I had hurt my back so that I couldn’t walk normally. We were working outside, and I had tried to shove a heavy cinder block with my foot, and in so doing had strained my lower back. After that, I could not rest my weight on my right leg without feeling much pain. This injury happened shortly before lunch.

My father made me a homemade crutch, which I could use to hop around on my left leg, and I soon discovered how much it means to lose the use of such a vital part of one’s body. Instead of being able to hurry from place to place and help out, I had to plan my moves carefully and try not to go anywhere unnecessarily. It surely helped me to be thankful for the other parts of me that were working well! I was also grateful that I wasn’t in much discomfort when I kept off my right leg. After a few hours, I could feel the extra strain in other places, but the Lord helped me through the day, and I was very grateful not to be too much of a burden.

Through the whole time, my first desire was that the Lord would be glorified through this affliction. I realized that He had allowed it, as with all afflictions and trials that come our way, so that He could work His perfect will in me. One of the reasons I believe He gave me a few hours of being lame was so that I might sympathize better with others. Another reason was this: that I could share His ways and workings with you. I believed in my heart that in His timing, the Lord would and could heal me. I wanted it to be in a way that He would get the glory and not myself.

Therefore, we had an agreement of prayer that night that we would receive the blessing that the Lord had planned for us out of this. I still felt the strain in my back as I lay in bed, yet I went to sleep with an amen in my heart to whatever the Lord willed—whether I would be thus for a day or lifetime. He has promised grace for each day and mercies new for every morning; it was my place to trust and not be afraid.

At about 2:45 the next morning, I woke up with a realization that I felt perfectly comfortable. I felt that the Lord must have healed me, but I decided to test my back by turning over into a position that I remembered had caused it pain the night before. Though I felt a slight tiredness, I could easily support my weight on the right side. With great joyfulness, I thanked the Lord for His goodness to me, for I indeed wanted to be a blessing and not a lame burden upon my family. (Though I know the Lord can help us to be a blessing in any physical condition we might be in.) I awoke later that morning with a delightful feeling at being able to walk normally, with only a slight tiredness where the strain used to be. I had been lame for only about 15 hours, but it was enough time for me to be very thankful for two legs!

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits… Who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.”* (Psalm 103:2-4) Yes, it is the Lord who is our Healer, purposing greater things than physical comfort through His workings with us. Praise the Lord, for He has been faithful and true to me, and “He will show like mercies to all that will put their faith steadfast in Him!”* (Hebrews 3:14)

Laura Erickson
Turner, OR

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Free from Sin, Happy in Jesus’ Love

Dear Girls:

I want to give my testimony for Jesus; for I am thankful for His goodness to me. When a vile sinner, He showed me my need of Him, and when I sought Him with my whole heart, calling on Him for mercy, and was so in earnest that I could not arise from my knees without forgiveness, He laid His loving hand on my head and said, “Your sins are all forgiven.” Oh, how my heart did rejoice at these words, and such a sweet peace came into soul!

So many people tell us that salvation is all excitement; but do not believe it, for it is real. I was all alone when God, for Jesus’ sake, forgave me all my sins, and oh, how precious is the place where I first knew His love and mercy! If I had known how much pleasure there is in serving God, being His own dear child, I would have started years before I did; for I was seeking pleasure in every way and had many opportunities for worldly amusement. But you know, dear girls, that as soon as these are over, you are tired, and your heart aches; for it is not satisfied with these things. But, praise the Lord, when we are free from sin, we are happy all the time; for when trials and troubles come, we can take them to Jesus, and He bears them for us by giving us grace and comfort and taking our care, for we know He doth intercede for us continually, and all things work for our good.

Dear girls, do not try to live better lives in your own strength, but ask God for conviction and study your Bibles. Humble yourselves to God, and He will raise you up and give you such a blessing you can scarcely contain it. Then do not look at other professing Christians and let their failures keep you from enjoying what God has for you. Look to Jesus; for there is a narrow, straight way, and you may find it if you desire to. Let not the devil make you think that you are too great a sinner for God to notice or to save. He is able to save the uttermost all who come to Him. No matter what their sins have been, He is willing to make the heart pure, thus honoring Himself by His mighty works of love and mercy.

Two days after the Lord forgave my sins, He purified my heart, and filled me with His Spirit and love, so I could love Him with my whole heart, and live to His honor and glory.

So, dear girls, give Him the whole of your lives, and you will not regret it in the vast eternity. Then you will be ready, without a moment’s notice, to exchange worlds, and be ushered into divine presence; for that is the chief joy of the Christian—sweet fellowship with our Father and our Redeemer.

May God bless each reader with deep conviction and a desire for all that is good, that you may be happy in every circumstance in life and endless ages of the great eternity.

Yours, ever happy in the Lord,
Bertha Elwood

In the Passage of Your Heart…

…Is His Love Free to Follow?

Ruth A. Scott

“And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”* (Colossians 3:14)

God has been showing me the importance of letting His love flow through me, and I thought I would share with you what He has shown me. The Lord has been so patient with me as He is teaching me, and I pray that this will be of help not only to you, but also to me.

Love is important in every way. If we don’t have love, then what we do will profit us nothing in the end. Everything may fail, but the love of God will never fail, so why not let the unfailing love of Christ flow through your life? (1 Corinthians 13:8). I would like to look at what God wants us, as His dear princesses, to do for Him with His love flowing through our lives, helping, comforting, and most of all loving those around us.

Endurance

Endurance is “the inward strength to withstand stress to accomplish God’s best.” See Galatians 6:9.

When we allow God’s love to flow through us, He also gives us the strength to endure stress, so that His will can be accomplished through us. When we are completely yielded to Christ and His will, we are letting Him rule our lives. When we don’t let Christ’s love flow through us and try to show His love in our own strength, by ourselves, without His help, we will not have the inward strength to withstand stress (or other trials the Lord allows to come along to test us). God wants to let His love flow through us, yet when we resist God’s will and don’t yield ourselves completely to Him, we cut off that flow of love and grace from heaven [thus finding ourselves unable to love others as we should]. We never will know how much we need His love flowing through us until we realize our helplessness and stop trying to do things in our own strength.

Gentleness

Gentleness is “showing personal care and concern in meeting the needs of others.” See 1 Thessalonians 2:7.

Gentleness is one of the most essential qualities needed in showing God’s love to those around us.

God has certainly been working in my life in this area of gentleness! Gentleness is surely a very important quality which God uses in great ways to show His love to others!

Contentment

Contentment is “realizing that God has provided everything I need for my present happiness.” See 1 Timothy 6:8.

The Lord tells us in His Word that if we have godliness with contentment, we have gained so much! “But godliness with contentment is great gain.”* (1 Timothy 6:6) When I become discontented, I become disagreeable, and people don’t like being around me. Isn’t that the very opposite of God’s love?

People are drawn to God’s love, but they do not want to be around the proud. When we think we can show God’s love in our own strength we become proud, and until we humble ourselves and realize that we can’t show God’s love unless He pours it into us, so that it can flow through our lives, we will be discontent. God is very pleased when His children are yielded to Him, and when we are content with what He does.

Humility

Humility is “recognizing that it is actually God and others who are responsible for the achievements in my life.”

If I become proud, it is always because “I” was able to do something. When we allow God’s love to flow through us, we are humbling ourselves, and being yielded to God, so that He can love others through us. When we are proud, we aren’t yielded to Him, because, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.”* (James 4:6) The temptation to be proud will come, but we do not have to yield to the temptation. “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”* (James 4:7)

God promises that we will always be able to get away from the temptations. He will not allow any temptation to come that we can’t overcome. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make a way to escape, that ye maybe able to bear it.”* (1 Corinthians 10:13)

Discretion

Discretion is “the ability to avoid words, actions, and attitudes which could result in undesirable consequences.” See Proverbs 22:3. Many times, we don’t think before we act. So very many times we wish we could go back and undo something we said or did. It is very important to think before we do something. God is very merciful and ready to forgive. We need to be sensitive to what He wants us to do. We need to think before we act, and if what we’re going to say or do is not what God would want, than we shouldn’t do it. I find myself sometimes doing that which does not show God’s love. I must stop, and instead allow God’s love to flow to those around me.

God has grace to overcome all these temptations!

Love

Love is “giving to others basic needs without having as my motive a personal reward.” See 1 Corinthians 13:3.

One who is yielded to God, allowing His love to flow through us, must be showing His love to others and what it is. If we claim to be yielded to God, letting His love flow freely, yet didn’t show His love, we’d be hers, dishonoring God’s holy name. Praise the Lord we can and must have His love and show His love!

Meekness

Meekness is “yielding my personal rights and expectations to God.” See Psalms 62:5.

God is teaching me to have a meek and quiet spirit, as He is also teaching me to always be yielded to Him, letting Him love others through me. Sometimes when something happens that I don’t like, I feel angry. Anger is the opposite of meekness, which comes from not yielding my rights and expectations to God. When I yield my all to God, I am content with what He does and do not get angry [for I am expecting nothing]. God says, “But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”* (1 Peter 3:4)

Wisdom

Wisdom is “seeing and responding to life’s situations from God’s frame of reference.” See Proverbs 9:10.

When we respond to different situations, we should always handle them only after praying and/or looking in God’s Word for what He would have us do. Many times [we may be tempted] to gossip or say something about someone that is not nice. Whether it’s true or false, it’s not right to even think evil of that person. God wants us to pray for them, not judge or criticize. At one time, I would criticize and judge without taking any thought if what I was saying was pleasing to God. Praise the Lord I am not like that any more! He is still working in my life and molding me into what He wants me to be.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is “clearing the record of those who have wronged me and allowing God to love them through me.” See Ephesians 4:32.

Many times, I am tempted to be unwilling to forgive, and in turn [start to] get bitter toward those who have wronged me. Yet, God, in His mercy, has convicted me every time and has kept me from that disastrous attitude. Bitterness so effects those who have it. Those who are bitter, ruin their lives. One effect that comes by bitterness is that the (spiritual) bones rot (Proverbs 14:30). Another effect that comes from being bitter is that one becomes like the one they are bitter against. God is very gracious and always ready to forgive—we ought to be likewise. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”* (Ephesians 4:31-32)

I pray that we will all be yielded fully to Christ, letting His love flow through our lives. God bless each and all of you as you strive to be what He wants!

Emptying the Vessel

“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”* (Matthew 16:24)

I have been pondering the meaning of this verse this past week. Last night, the Lord burdened my heart to share with you what He’s been teaching me through it.

So many of us profess that we are Christians, but do we mean it? A “Christian” is one who is a follower of Christ. Do you realize that this three-fold command is given to those who truly desire to follow Christ? We are to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him. Do you see it, sisters? The way to heaven is by way of the cross. Yes, that’s it. We weren’t promised a carefree life of ease and prosperity.

The prerequisite to following Christ is denying ourselves! That is a hard one to swallow and harder yet to follow! Me? Deny myself? That is the word. That is what we are called to. Anything else is disobedience. The Greek word for “deny” is translated, “To affirm that one has no acquaintance or connection with someone. To forget one’s self. To lose sight of one’s self and one’s own interests.” What then is self-denial? It is when we are so consumed with Jesus that self is disregarded.

We must say “no” to many of the strongest cravings of our natures. We must say no to earthly comforts, ease, dignity, honor, respect, and position. Self must die or Christ cannot be manifest in our life. We must relinquish every trace of me, myself, and I. That is the Scriptural mandate—“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but lit die, it bringeth forth much fruit.”* (John 12:24) Life can only come through death. Let us ask God to bring us to the place where we can say with John the Baptist of old, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”* (John 3:30) The more room we give to God in our lives, the less room there will be left for ourselves. We want the results, but are we willing to pay the price? The price is an all-out laying down of our lives on God’s altar, allowing Him to do with us as He will. Are we willing to let go of every hold on self and on this life? Are we willing to not just loosen our grip, but totally take our hands off and hold them behind our backs?

It is the poured-out life that God blesses. The life that heeds not itself… that is what God desires. Shall we not free it all gladly? It is only as we are an empty vessel that we can be filled with Christ’s power and glory. “Empty buckets are fittest for the well of grace.”

I want to share with you from a letter that I received from a young lady recently:

When you are forgotten, or neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don’t sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ—that is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take all in patient, loving silence—that is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any impunctuality, or any annoyance; when you stand face-to-face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility and endure it as Jesus endured—that is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, any offering, any climate, any society, any raiment, any interruption by the will of God—that is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or to record your own good works, or itch after commendations, when you can truly love to be unknown—that is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances—that is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart—that is dying to self.

Dear sisters, may the Lord give you His grace to be empty vessels fitted and meet for the Master’s use!

—A Sister in Christ

By the Fruit of Her Hands…

She Maketh a Godly Home!

We trust you are encouraged to follow the Lord and the path He has designed for you. A song that has been a blessing to me recently says,

My soul is satisfied,
My soul is satisfied;
I am complete in Jesus love,
And my soul is satisfied.*

The devil will tempt you with the wealth and honor of this world and cause you to be discontented, but fine houses and furnishings do not satisfy the soul. In fact, if we only knew what was behind many of the fine home walls, we would find many very sad, lonely, miserable hearts. The devil hides all that from our view and shows us only the bright-looking side. Some of the most happy, satisfied hearts come from within humble dwellings.

What young lady doesn’t have a desire to make her surroundings beautiful?! In some cases, this God-given attribute may seem buried for a time, and in others, it may be too pronounced. How we need to look to God for balance in this area as well as all aspects of our lives!

In my youth, I was interested in taking a course in interior decoration. My mother, however, had some deeper insights which she shared with me. She had observed in others who were so focused in decorating their homes that it left little time for the more needful spiritual needs of their souls. I dropped the idea about the course and have appreciated that advice more with the passing years. However, this doesn’t mean we have to have drab, dreary-looking homes, but rather that we should make it as attractive and comfortable as we can. But with all the things available to us today, we must be careful to not to do more than Jesus would be pleased with. God has placed the woman in charge of the home to make it a warm, cheerful, happy place to be. Daughters, now is the time to learn these skills and the balance pleasing to our Creator. If God is not pleased with the things in our hearts and homes, He will not dwell there. I want to share a quote from an old article entitled, “The Hallowed Home” by Brother C. E. Orr:

Let your home be simple and free from all extravagances. Let there be not those decorations and ornamentations and richness that speaks of a love of earthly things. These earthly things when beyond the line of simplicity and modesty profane the home, and relieves it of all sacredness.

The difficulty will lie in “what is extravagant?” One thing that may seem extravagant to one may not appear to be extravagant to another. We all come from different families and backgrounds and the Lord knows how to work with us each as individuals and will teach us His will for our lives as we yield to Him.

A good place to start learning how to make a home pleasant and inviting is in your own bedroom. Form good habits of keeping your clothes hung up and having a place for everything and everything in its place. Make a habit of making the bed immediately upon arising. It only takes two or three minutes, and the job is done!

Your home can be made attractive with simple things from your sewing room and garden, without spending a lot of money on extravagant decorations. A simple thing we have found useful and charming in the home this fall has been braided shallots. The Lord blessed us with an abundant supply, so Coquetta learned how to braid them. When tied with a colorful ribbon at the top and hung in the kitchen, they are ready to use or give as a gift. Indian corn can also be hung up to dry in an attractive manner, and then later be used to grind for meal.

We are going through a time of remodeling our kitchen. It has been at a standstill for awhile and has been a trial at times, but the Lord has helped us when we have gone to Him with problems which seemed insurmountable. How great was the blessing when the Lord revealed how we could overcome each difficulty. We have used a large lazy susan with several baskets to hold kitchen items while drawers are being made. A small crock for the heavier knives and a shallow basket to hold measuring cups and spoons. How ugly the under part of the sink looked with no doors to hide them from view, but with a red-checked curtain, it looked very cheerful. The place for pots and pans were a problem until the realization came that the heavy plastic crates that the milk companies tote four gallons of milk with would fit perfectly on their sides in the spaces where the drawers were to be. Two were used in each space with pints of canned food dividing them to make even more space for small corningware dishes. We thank the Lord for the insights He can give to our daily needs. He has designed that we draw closer to Him through all the little details of our lives. We trust these thoughts will be a blessing to you. If not now, maybe in the years to come. Be like Mary and ponder all these things in your Heart.

With love,
Elois Spinks

From Princess in Calico

[story excluded due to copyright issues]

That He May be Glorified

G. R. H. W.

She was only a simple serving maid
In a home of idolatry;
What could she do to serve the Lord
In her lonely captivity?
“If my master would go to the prophet,” she said,
In all humility,
“He would learn of Jehovah of Israel,
And be healed of his leprosy.”
She was only a simple serving maid,
Whose faith had been sorely tried,
But God has chosen the things that are naught,
That He might be glorified.

He was only a lad from Jerusalem,
Not specially bad, or good,
But straight to the Master he went and said,
“Here’s my little parcel of food;
It isn’t much, but it’s all I have,
My mother gave it to me;
The loaves are few and the fishes but two;
I gladly give them to Thee.”
It was only a parcel of food for one,
But that day it was multiplied;
God has chosen the things that are naught,
That He may be glorified.

She was only a humble village maid
To whom Gabriel came that night,
“Thou art highly favored of God,” he said,
But she trembled at the sight.
“Fear not,” he added, “I bring thee good news,
A Son shall be born of thee;
The Kingdom of David shall be His right,
And Jesus His name shall be.
She was only a humble village maid,
In whom God had come to abide;
But He has chosen the things that are naught,
That He may be glorified.