ID074-Normal vs. Super-Normal

Dear Girls,

***Website Launch***

Exciting news! Issacharian Daughters now has its own website. It is located at www.issacharian.com. The new website is all thanks to Samalah Gray, an Issacharian Daughter and web-designer extraordinaire! With the blessing of her parents, Samalah has been quietly working on this website for some time as a ministry to all the readers of the Issacharian Daughters newsletter. I am deeply grateful for all the work she has done and for the beautifully and femininely styled look she has achieved.

Samalah and her family have blessed me in one other very special way. They run Dashwood Timber, which is a wood mill and wood treatment plant. It is a family business and Samalah works at the mill every day as her dad’s office manager. After my engagement to Pete de Deugd, who also runs his own wood mill, the Grays invited me to visit them to observe another mill in action, to get a female perspective (from Mrs Gray and Samalah) on working with wood and to get some work experience as a preparation for helping with Pete’s business. My week with them was a wonderful time of fellowship and very helpful to me in practical ways, big and small (such as in observing how they costed the wood and finding out from Samalah how she keeps her hands soft when working with wood!).

To learn more about Samalah and her business, Website Creation, click on “about” from the Issacharian homepage.

The new website has all the old Issacharian Daughters newsletters on it. It also has a place for readers of the newsletter to introduce themselves and people can sign up for the newsletter directly on the website! There are other parts to the website too such as a part called Issacharian Books which advertises the books for young women I sell.

Books for sale

Attached is my Issacharian Books brochure with all the books deeply discounted. This will be of particular interest to those in New Zealand and Australia although I do ship anywhere in the world. Anyone in the USA or UK who is interested in the books would be able to get most from www.visionforum.com.

In the brochure I’m advertising some new products that I’ve never carried before such as The Return of the Daughters DVD and Outside Hollywood by Isaac Botkin. And I have eight more copies of So Much More by Anna and Elizabeth Botkin so if you have never bought this book, now is the time to do so!

Every second page of the brochure is blank. Sorry about this. Scroll through all the pages to see all the books advertised.

I am still collecting blogs and websites and details of any ministries you are involved in!

Last week I mentioned that I had noticed that many of you who receive the Issacharian Daughters newsletter are also involved in ministering to or encouraging or exhorting other young women in other ways – such as through a newsletter or a magazine or a website or blog. If that includes you please feel free to send me an email giving me the name of your newsletter or book or website along with a quick paragraph with your name and location and a piece explaining the vision/purpose behind your blog. Lord willing I’ll compile a list and share it with all the other Issacharian Daughters.

Re ID073 – Testimony to a Changed Heart

Oh Genevieve! I have been meaning to comment on the latest Issacharian Daughters Newsletter that Katherine wrote. It was such a blessed testimony to a changed heart. She humbled herself before the Lord and He is the one who turned her heart towards her parents and theirs ultimately to her. Katharine desired God’s will more than her own and He gave her the desires of her heart. She is such an example to me and I am sure to the other Issacharian Daughters. May the Lord greatly bless Katharine and may she continue to have a teachable spirit. May we ALL have teachable spirits and humble ourselves before the Lord!

Love

Lindsay in the USA

The next newsletter is attached and the text follows this note.

Regards,

Genevieve

Monday, 21 January 2008

Dear Girls,

Normal vs. Super-Normal

I am very exited to share with you this testimony from a local friend of mine, Grace Jordan. Don’t we all find it exciting when there are others near us who embrace the same things we do? Grace has been a wonderful example and encouragement to me. This is a summary of her story:

Even though my parents home-schooled my brother and I, for many years since schooling days were over, I have managed to live a fairly normal life and apparently fit into the real world.

Normal was for many years getting dressed in my clothes that I bought for work and zooming off in a car that I was struggling to pay for in order to get to the job I needed to pay for the clothes and the car. When in 2001 my adventuring father moved our family to the mission field in Romania for four years, I still managed to volunteer six full and “productive” days each week doing Christian ministry; and although I exhausted myself to near physical breakdown, I strangely did not yet feel fulfilled in all my busyness.

Over the last three years God has gently weaned me – power suit by pay check by schedule from my “normal” lifestyle – and in exchange has given me true fulfilment in staying at home and super-human happiness in quietly helping my father and family. However, on the rare occasions when I do venture from my homely heaven into the city and meet people who knew the old me, I sometimes struggle to explain my new lifestyle. Early on in this change towards becoming a Godly woman according to the Scriptural model, I would offer proudly that I was “running my own business from home” and later “employed by my brother”. But still God has stripped me further of my proud occupations, and now I can only respond to their inquiries that I am keeping house and helping my family. And although I do not sense most people’s approval or understanding, I am heartily encouraged when they often comment on how well and happy I am looking these days. Perhaps to this world I am not normal, but for once in my life I actually feel SUPER-normal!

Bio

Grace Jordan is aged 26 and lives in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with her dear parents and brother (aged 28). Her interests include cookery, the arts and children. She is currently preparing for a mission trip to Romania with her mother and a friend (which will include a detour to Israel and Europe) later in 2008.

For the Greater Glory of God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,

Genevieve Smith

Issacharian Daughter

Notes:

I have sent this email to girls who have embraced a vision of victorious daughterhood as well as those who may be thinking about doing so (and even to some girls who may just like some encouragement regarding different areas of home life). Some of the girls are in the USA, UK, Australia and other parts of the world. Most are in New Zealand. You are welcome to forward this email on to others so long as you do so in its entirety. If you do not want to receive these emails please just send a return email to me stating that fact. If you know of other girls who would be encouraged by receiving these emails, feel free to forward the email to them or send me their email address.

The name Issacharian in Issacharian Daughters derives from Issachar, the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the Old Testament the men of Issachar were commended for understanding the times. Because they understood the times, they knew what they should do. One of my aims with the Issacharian Daughters newsletter is to equip girls to understand the times we live in so that they will know what to do.