pdf of Issacharian Daughters – ID043 – click on link below for correct layout and photos:
Dear Girls,
I have received a lot of comments regarding the most recent newsletter. Here are some of them:
??Thank you so much for this latest Issacharian Daughters newsletter. I am so glad you’ve addressed this topic and hope you talk more about it. I’ve been really convicted lately about modesty-even more than I have before- and have also been really encouraged to dress in a way that is pleasing to the Lord and not just how I want to dress. This is resulting in getting rid of a lot of stuff and I’m discussing modesty with Mum and Dad. I hope Dad especially might read this latest I.D. It’s such a ‘foreign’ issue to many, it seems. It’s really sad, especially in church. This last Sunday (again) I was really quite disappointed in how quite a few ladies are dressing. I wish I could talk to them. It’s just not that easy to walk up to someone and say,??…hmm, do you realise your dress is not very honoring to God…” I wonder if many women simply don’t know how the way they dress affects men. And I guess, sadly, some do it on purpose. ?? ~ An Issacharian Daughter in New Zealand
??Wow, that newsletter had a lot of really good thoughts in it! I’ll be remembering them! ?? ~ Ruth from the South Island of New Zealand
??In every one of your newsletters I always find something that I need to work on. In this issue emotional purity is a big one for me. I usually don’t have ANY problems with this because I have never met a boy that I would ever consider marrying but now I have ?? I find it very hard to treat someone like that like a brother. So, in conclusion several things in this hit me like a ton of bricks. ?? ~ An Issacharian Daughter in the USA
??I am an “older woman” with 4 daughters – ages 23, 20, 18, 12. I so appreciate your newsletter as I am trying desperately to swim against the tide of our culture in the raising of our daughters, having no mentors of my own (except internet) and not coming from a Christian background. Thankfully, they are all trying to embrace God’s ways as well. Your newsletter is such a blessing! Please continue! ?? ~ Mrs Smith from the USA
“Regarding the husband issue, it’s a doozy isn’t it? At least as Christians we are blessed to have a very specific framework to work from and I believe, tho’ they’re rarer, those Christian young men, like gold, are worth waiting for and trusting God to provide. I wasn’t a Christian, but at 30 I cried out to the Lord and asked Him to teach me to love Him through a Christian husband, and (in a round about way) He did. My husband and I weren’t Christians when we married (I was 32) but within two years both of us were … so for all of you single lassies, keep praying, keep trusting and know that you’ve got an older woman out there who has been through it all, praying for you and agreeing in prayer with you and your parents. I’m excited! I so vividly recall the feeling of being only half and wondering where the other half of me was. (Paints an amusing picture doesn’t it…a sort of half heart wandering around with jagged edges looking for a match somewhere – one that says Genevieve or my daughter’s name on it perhaps?) ?? ~ Love Mrs Gray from New Zealand”
It is really neat to read your feedback and to receive requests to deal with particular topics.
The next newsletter is attached as a pdf and the text follows this note.
Regards,GenevieveMonday, 18 June 2007Dear Girls,
A Purity Challenge
I received a lot of great feedback from the last newsletter ??quite understandably! From the time I was 12 years old (and more earnestly from the age of 16), I sought to understand a whole range of interconnecting matters: emotional purity, physical purity, courtship, appropriate platonic male/female interaction, my father’s authority in my life, how to live under this authority in my actions and interactions with others, preparing for marriage, the call of God on my life, modesty, holiness and beauty. I found all these to be fascinating and exciting areas of study. One book which was full of practical help and gave me a lot of good understanding was Emotional Purity: An Affair of the Heart by Heather Arnel Paulsen. This book brought clarity to an area that is often full of confusion ??I loved it!
The Bible also has a lot to say about purity. In fact purity is not simply a matter mentioned here and there in the Bible, it is a major theme running from the beginning right to the end. My dad discovered this truth when he was preparing to give some talks on purity to a group of young people. In preparation for this, he sat down with his Bible and read through from Romans to Jude in the New Testament in one hit. As he read, he was looking for verses which answered these questions: What does the Lord require of us in the way of purity, holiness and righteousness? What does Scripture imply regarding how we ought to live? What he discovered was amazing.
So my challenge to you is this: set aside a period of time, or ask your parents to block out a number of hours for you. If you are here in the Southern Hemisphere find a roaring fire, don your ugboots, fix yourself a cup of milo and get a chocolate afghan from the biscuit container. If you are in the Northern Hemisphere perhaps a sun chair, shady tree, sunglasses and iced tea would be more appropriate! In any event, sit down with your Bible, a notebook and a pen and read, read, read from Romans to Jude1 and mark in your notebook all the verses which require or imply that you ought to live a certain way. As you read, some verses will really stick out to you. Meditate on them. Ask yourself,??how am I living or not living in this way? What do I need to change in order to obey this verse? ?? When thinking about how to apply a particular verse it can be very helpful to read the verse through several times emphasizing a different word each time. For example:
Friendship with the world is enmity with God. James 4v4
Friendship with the world is enmity with God. James 4v4
Friendship with the world is enmity with God. James 4v4
Friendship with the world is enmity with God. James 4v4
Friendship with the world is enmity with God. James 4v4
When you have finished reading through the New Testament from Romans to Jude, write some aims/goals/resolutions you have regarding living a life marked by purity. Write these in your diary six months from now to read then and check how faithful you have been to putting practices of purity in place in your life.
You can get the book, Emotional Purity, from me or from www.visionforum.com. Just send me an email to enquire about price and postage.
For the Greater Glory of God through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
Genevieve SmithIssacharian Daughter
Notes:
1. You could read anywhere in the Bible and do this challenge. When Dad first did it he read from Romans to Jude because it is a concentrated section full of more application and less narrative. That is the only reason I suggest Romans to Jude in this challenge rather than other portions of Scripture.
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.