(Some newsletters do notwork in the previouspost.So they are now being individually posted along with all future newsletters.)
pdf of Issacharian Daughters – ID053 – click on link below for correct layout and photos
Dear Girls,
Here is another introduction! ??My name is Coral Johanna and I’m nearly 16. I live with my family in Nelson, New Zealand. Up until 3 1/2 years ago anyone looking at our family would have said we were just an ordinary Christian family, my brother Nathan and I went to a Christian school. At school there was bullying which is one of the reasons we started homeschooling. Since starting we as a familyhave been challenged to rethink our ideas on parents responsibility to educate their children, dating vs courtship etc. At the moment I am starting up a home business, sewing myself clothes, helping Mum around the house and trying to get all my schoolwork done. Genevieve’s emails are so welcome in our house, both my Mum and Ilove them. The ones on the Steele’s courtship were especially good and they really showed how God can work. Thank you so much Genevieve for the time and effort that you put in.Yours in Christ,Coral Johanna Borger ??Welcome to all of you joining us for the first time. We love to receiving introductions from the girls who receive the Issacharian Daughters newsletter. Feel free to email me with an introduction. You could tell me your name, location, a little about your family, what your aspirations for the future are and what the Lord has been teaching you. And here is a note from an Issacharian Daughter here in New Zealand that she kindly said I could share with you all: ??Dearest Genevieve,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you immensely for the great encouragement the Issacharian Daughters newsletters are to me. I anticipate their arrival each week. I am practically the only young lady in my circle of relationships who has no ambitions for a “career” beyond being a wife and mother, and in this stage of my life, a daughter of vision and virtue. I am constantly feeling the pressure that the world places on us daughters to become successful, accomplished, and rich in the world’s eyes. This mindset has crept into the church too. I just can’t get away from it! The words that I read in your newsletter are like a breath of fresh air to me. I am inspired by them. So, Genevieve, thank you for the time you take to compile them. Thank you for your careful preparation. Thank you to your parents, Craig and Barbara, for their input and godly oversight.
May God bless you richly in your service for Him.Your sister in Christ, Kedesh Simmons xox ??Until next week,
Genevieve Smith
(pdf link at top of page)
Monday, 2 April 2007Dear Girls,Girls of Grace and GloryTwo friends of mine, Krissy and Mandy Pucek, were invited by the mothers at their Church to give a series of talks to their daughters on beautiful and Biblical womanhood. The sisters entitled their talks Girls of Grace and Glory. There are many aspects of this invitation which I find absolutely remarkable. Let me share them with you. How many mothers do you know who would actively seek out Godly young women to be examples to their daughters? How many women would be so purposeful about raising their daughters to virtuous womanhood as to design life-impacting opportunities for older girls to share their testimonies with their daughters? And then, if you have a woman who is actively seeking Godly young women and who is purposeful about raising her daughters, how easy is it for her to find young women who are excellent witnesses to purity, femininity and Godly womanhood?Well, these mothers knew what they were doing when they invited the Pucek sisters to talk to their daughters! They recognised in these girls, young women who are sold out for the Lord, who are striving to glorify God in all they do and who are wonderful examples of beautiful, joyful and modest daughterhood.I have known Krissy and Mandy and their sister Jennifer Pucek for six years. Every time we get together we have rip-roaring conversations about what the Lord is doing in our lives, how He is answering prayer and we bear testimony to one another of how He delights in fulfilling the desires of our hearts. They encourage me in the way they serve their family and help their mother home educate their younger siblings. I wish all girls had access to girls like the Pucek sisters?? friends who are edifying and uplifting. It wasn’t an accident that Krissy, Mandy and Jennifer are the way they are. They are the products of faithful parents who home educated them since day one. They are standing on that legacy and walking further down the paths their parents began for them.Here is one other remarkable aspect of this invitation: After the Puceks were asked to speak to the group of girls they prayed and they sought out the advice of others. The Bible says that in a multitude of counsellors there is safety (Proverbs 11v14; 24v6). The Puceks took that to heart as they sought out young ladies who had done this sort of thing before and asked advice of many women as to how they could structure their talks. The most remarkable thing of all was their attitude: completely humble.??We feel ill-equipped to talk to these young women on these subjects, ?? was their comment.Their situation reminds me of 2 Timothy 2v20-21: But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. The Puceks have worked at cleansing themselves. They have sought after purity. The Lord is rewarding them by giving them good works to do.Krissy shared with me some of the things she said in her talk. I want to share parts with you. Krissy gave the girls a question to ask themselves: ??Are the ways that I am thinking, acting and dressing, the things that I am participating in and the plans I am making for the future bringing glory to God and preparing me to be the woman God wants me to be? ?? And she shared with them this quote from George MacDonald: ??I want to help you grow as beautiful as God meant you to be when He thought of you first. ?? Our calling as woman is a beautifully high calling. If we can but catch a vision for it! Krissy helped the girls to do that. She continued: ??It starts with the heart, because sooner or later what is on the inside will come out in many different ways for all to see. ?? She gave some illustrations of girls who looked good on the outside but who ran away or rebelled. Their hearts weren’t right. ??They were not careful to pull the weeds and make sure their hearts were growing in the right direction. ?? Krissy asked the girls a number of questions for them to think about in order to evaluate where their hearts are: ??When you are twenty years old will you be proud of who you are today? Or ashamed or embarrassed? ?? ??How about when you meet that special guy that God has picked for you. You get to know each other. You’re getting serious. You sit down to talk. What are you going to have to tell him about your past? Are you going to want to skip some parts, like how much time you spent thinking about this really cute guy, or how you spent every cent you had on trendy clothes that you can’t even stand looking at in pictures now anyway? Or even worse, maybe how much time you spent with a guy, doing things and saying things that you don’t want to repeat now. ?? ??How about when you have children, and they ask you about when you were their age? What kind of things did you do? Do you want them to be able to emulate you, or is everything you say going to have to be.??Don’t make the same mistakes I did.’ ?? Krissy reminded the girls of something from page 2 of So Much More: ??We need to be as different as we need to be in order to be obedient to God’s design. ?? Then she quoted again from So Much More, from page 97: ??Amidst a generation of giddy, silly, loud, boisterous undignified, clumsy teenaged girls, picture a girl who radiates dignity, regal serenity, respectfulness, grace, a gentle and quiet spirit, poise, discretion, self-command, sincerity, peace, compassion, cheerfulness, and humility. ?? She finished by challenging the girls: ??When people see you, what do they see? Do they see the power of a God Who was able to make a sinful, dirty creature become a person who lives and breathes the fruits of the Spirit? Or do they see someone who is just like everyone else, only maybe not quite as bad? ?? She read again from page 97 of So Much More where it said: ??The heroines of the Bible were praised for having such feminine qualities as graciousness, discretion, strength, dignity, kindness, purity, faith, generosity, diligence, courage, wisdom, and servant’s hearts. ?? She asked the girls to do some homework, which readers of this Issacharian Daughters newsletter might like to do too: ??Read the book of Esther. Describe Esther. What was she like? Give specific instances when she demonstrated the attributes listed above. When was she courageous? When was she wise? When did she show a servant’s heart? ?? Let me end by saying this: The Pucek sisters aren’t perfect. They are sinners like you and like me. But they have been sanctified by the Lord Jesus Christ and set apart for His service like you and like me as well! My prayer is this, from Hebrews chapter 12: ??Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ?? May the Lord be with us and strengthen us and keep us from the snares of the enemy so that we can run the race right to the finish and so that here and now we can be witnesses of beautiful, Biblical womanhood and be examples to those around us.For the Greater Glory of God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,Genevieve SmithIssacharian DaughterP.S. Those interested in purchasing the book So Much More can email me for details.