Letters From: Unfolded Hearts Dear Sisters, Thank you so much for all of your encouraging letters!..Talk about a BLESSING! We just wish so badly that we had the room both to print and respond to all of them, but, unfortunately, we don’t. =| As you will come to notice as you read, some of these letters are addressed to the subscribers of “YWSH” - not to us... We wish to encourage that as well! =) If any of you wish to respond to any of the letters printed here, please feel free to do so! Melody: After reading all our mail one Thursday, I came to the conclusion that Summer and I have been so very blessed! Do you realize what a blessing you all are to us? It is so encouraging when we get letters and articles from girls who are trying to uphold many of the same standards that we have! We receive so many letters from you thanking us for Y.W.S.H., but I would like to turn those statements around and thank YOU from the bottom of my heart! Sometimes I wonder what our lives would be like without all of you - VERY DIFFERENT, I imagine! =) Before we started YWSH, we didn't even know for sure that there were so many other girls out there seeking to do God's will! Summer: How true, Melody! Yes, we do thank the Lord so much for you all, as you have been such an encouragement to us through your letters and articles! It is with great regret that so often Melody and I feel compelled to lay your letters aside in a precious stack, as I'm sure many of you may be sitting at home, just hoping that somehow, maybe we will find the time to respond... I can't even find the right words to express our deep regret at not being able to respond to so many of you with whom, we feel such a deep kinship! I wish so often that we could be pen-pals together, as some of you have requested, but I just don't think it would be feasible at this point,seeing as we're hard pressed for time...Oh, but we do appreciate you all so much, and we still love to read your letters! Please don't stop sending them, even though we can't always reply. =) You all are such an encouragement to us! With much love, Summer and Melody Dear Summer and Melody, Greetings to the both of you. I just received the 3rd issue of “YWSH”, a reminder I must renew my subscription and also express my thankfulness over all the work you two and others put into these newsletters to make them so uplifting. I enjoyed this issue and last issue on Godly courtship and cried practically the whole way through “I Love My Sister!”. You see, I have no sisters, and I guess it hurt a little to hear how much fun a sister can be. Now, don’t get me wrong - I’m not upset about not having a sister. I’ve lived for 18 years without one, and I believe that’s the way the Lord wants it for now or forever. I have five wonderful younger brothers who I wouldn’t trade for the world. =) I just wanted to tell all you girls out there who have a sister how fortunate you are, and to never take your sister for granted. Even though I have no blood sister, I have many sisters in Christ. Praise the Lord! You wondered if anyone knows what it’s like to live in a small house. I do. My parents, and we six children live in a small 3 bedroom farmhouse, so my heart goes out to you. I have no idea if you moved to the house trailer ‘til the next issue =), but I pray everything worked out for you and your family. Could you please send me a booklet and tape of KJV Psalms put to music? Thank you. God bless you as you continue to serve Him. A sister in Christ, Margaret Martin Myerstown, PA Dear Summer and Melody, I know that this is probably too late (for the Jan/Feb. issue), but I thought I’d write anyway. =) Over the last week I have received three wonderful issues of “YWSH” - I don’t know if I’ve ever in my life been so delightfully overwhelmed with magazines to read! =) Now, I have to stifle the pages that my pencil longs to pan forth, =) but I have to tell you that already “YWSH” has been such an encouragement to me!! I love the feeling of getting a long letter from so many kindred-spirit young ladies out there! I have picked up “YWSH” probably 50 times now, =) and still it seems that I find something new each time! All the letters are great, and “A Day At Our Home” is just like having a long chat with you! =) All the photos make the articles SO much more interesting! The courtship stories are so neat! Like Jana Baldridge (Hi! Jana =) ) I sometimes wonder how in the world I’ll ever meet my future husband, if that’s God’s will for me — reading Jennifer’s story was so reassuring! =) We serve a great God! Part of “How Can I Be a True Friend” by you girls was exactly what I needed to hear yesterday - thank-you! Oh boy, there are about 2000 more things I could say, but I’d better introduce myself! =) So Christy Baum has been telling you all about me, has she? Well, in that case, I’d better make sure she’s got it right! =) My name is Becky Schmaltz, and I’m 16 years old. I live with my parents, Larry and Barb, and my 4 siblings on an acreage by North Battleford. I love writing stories and letters, reading, and history; I also enjoy sewing, drawing, and learning about different places all over the world. I also love making friends! =) My siblings are Heidi (14), Sarah (11), Zachary (9), and Hannah (4), also a treasure in heaven. Daddy is a therapist; Mommy is a full-time homemaker and homeschools us. God bless you! I feel like I know so many of you already. Love in Jesus, Becky Schmaltz Sackachewan, Canada P.S. You would laugh to see my copies of “YWSH”... The pages are dog-eared and water-warped. The pictures are colored! The articles and stories have been read and re-read! Reading about other girls who are striving to serve Jesus has blessed me so! Dear Summer and Melody, Greetings of Love from our house to yours! Thank you so much for sending “YWSH”! What a blessing the articles were to me. I read aloud to my mother your “house hunting hassles.” My mother said, “Why don’t they just move up here?!” Of course, you know (don’t you?) that we would be thrilled to have you live near us. Or, to live near y’all — [Umm... do you think that sounds “Texanish” enough?!] =) The articles that you have printed by Dr. S.M. Davis have been very interesting and informative. I also really appreciated Summer’s letter to the young lady who signed herself “A sister.” And guess what.... we’ve figured out who the Molines are! I believe my parents met Mrs. Nancy Moline at an A.T.I.A. Seminar. (We are no longer in this program.) We’d also read an article by Mrs. Moline in the former “Gentle Spirit” about a moving experience! So it was interesting to read their testimony in that (new) light. I hope that you are able to meet your deadlines, but please don’t despair if you fail! We can be patient! =) I was often impatient when magazines were overdue — until I began editing my own small newsletter. Ah! The wisdom of EXPERIENCE! =) I understand totally if you are late — but really I’m amazed how much you’ve already done in the midst of moving! =) God bless and Keep you— His Face shine Upon you! Blessings to All, Hayley Weikert Waterloo, Iowa Dear Melody and Summer, Hello! I just wanted to send a little note to see how you two are doing and to tell you how much I appreciate you! =) I recently received the Nov./Dec.’96 issue of “YWSH” and was absolutely delighted! Each issue is so wonderful. It’s very encouraging to know that there’s actually another family “out there” that believes and lives the same way (or similar way) as my family and I! =) As often the case with many, many families, we don’t have any families to fellowship with here that are really like-minded (i.e. use the KJV Bible, believe in courtship, believe that children are a gift and blessing from God, homeschool, believe that women AND girls should be in the home and not in the world, etc.), so it’s refreshing and just like getting together with another like-minded family when an issue of “Young Women Stepping Heavenward” arrives at our house! =) My parents like your magazine immensely. . . I’ve seen them stay up late at night reading and discussing articles from “YWSH”! =) Have you received my letter with my renewal? I hope so! I’m sorry that I didn’t send my renewal in sooner — I just couldn’t get 9 stamps until now. And I hope my two reviews will be helpful. . . is there any other way I can help you with the Jan./Feb. issue or future issues (like certain things needed for issues)? If so, please let me know — since I have e-mail, I can send “stuff” fast — and I love to write and would love to help you in any way that I can! Can you use another submission for the theme “Surrender to God”? Right away I felt drawn to that theme when I read that you were doing a theme on surrender, and now I am praying that God will show me what I should write, as ideas of all sorts of ways to write about surrender are crazily floating around in my head! =) If there isn’t a lot of time for me to send a submission for this, than I will still send it (if I write it) but make it more of a “full-scale” article for a later issue of “YWSH”. I do appreciate all the hard work that you and your family put into each issue of “Young Women Stepping Heavenward” and would like to be an encouragement & help to all of you. Are you settled now in your new place? I know how it is to move - I’ve moved all my life - and know the fun, accidents and problems (! =| ), hard work, and such of packing, moving and unpacking! Hope things are going well for y’all (I picked that “y’all” up in Georgia, the last place we lived before Kentucky, and my brothers love to tease me when the word y’all slips out of my mouth when I talk! =) When you move all the time you’re bound to pick up accents and little “tricks of speech”! When I go North people say, “you’re a southern girl, aren’t you?!” While in the south they say, “you’re a Yankee girl, right?!” I guess you could say I have a “mixed accent”! =) ). Well, I must go, as it’s getting extremely late. This “little note” has turned out to be a big note! I should have known better — I can’t keep ANY letter short! =) Your friend and fellow pilgrim on the “Narrow Road”, Amy Zander Bardwell, KY P.S. Yesterday, the 31st, I turned 16; I had a wonderful birthday! =) Boy, it’s hard to believe I’m 16 already. . . it seems that as you get older the years slip by faster, while when younger the years seem to drag on and on. I used to be so eager to be a grown-up when I was little, but now I am content to slow down & enjoy being a girl and am sad to realize that my girlhood is swiftly passing by. You know, it’s kind of silly (and sad) when girls race through their young years to reach adulthood, when we could enjoy our youth and spend them wisely, instead of being discontented and unhappy with our current age. =( I’m glad I learned to be content and enjoy being me at this age! =) I just can’t stop writing here, can I?! =) I just go on and on — well, I really should close as it’s getting so late. Goodbye, dear friends! =) Dear Girls, Recently I went through what seemed at the time (and still does, to a degree) a very hard experience. In the broad scheme of eternity, I see now that my response to it was so much more important than the actual situation. Now I wish I had responded differently - and yet through it all, I think I learned something. I don’t feel like I can be specific as to it’s nature right now, but I was dealt a severe disappointment. Something I had dreamed about for a long time seemed to be within my grasp at last, but Daddy and Mommy didn’t feel it was the best at the time. Oohh, sisters, it was tough. I was utterly wretched. And yet the reality of my disappointment drove me to my knees - literally. Recently I heard Joni Erickson Toda say that she thought God’s favorite kind of prayer was that of sheer honesty. Well, I was honest. That day I wrote in my prayer journal, “Why God Let This Happen.: 1. To teach me to obey and honor my parents. 2. To teach me to wait on Him. 3. To teach me to trust Him. 4. God works in mysterious ways. I can glimpse only a hint of a fragment of His plan. Perhaps He has a thousand important things, purposes in allowing this to happen. "...we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope." I know, girls, that it was a very small tribulation - microscopic, really. Yet, looking back, I dimly see that the principles I was forced to learn then are the ones that are seen in the Christian heroes I most admire - people like Amy Carmicheal, Elisabeth Elliot, Martin Luther, Betty and John Stam, the apostle Paul. They’re the principles of sheer trust that God knows what He’s doing- of simple submission to His will- of bearing up - no, joyfully accepting those circumstances and trials He brings into our lives- surrender to His purposes - a close relationship with Him, sharing our problems, bringing them unreservedly to Him in prayer. Oh, how much I still have to learn! =) Trusting Him, A Sister in Jesus Dear Summer and Melody, I would like to re-subscribe to “Young Women Stepping Heavenward”. Enclosed are nine stamps for my next three issues. Your magazine is very encouraging and helpful. I have enjoyed reading all of my first three issues. It is great to find out about other Christian girls who want to live for Christ like I do. I especially enjoy the articles on courtship and “Days At Our Home”. It’s neat to read about what other Christian homeschooled families do during the day. Thank you for all your hard work and time spent putting together and sending off “YWSH” to all of us subscribers. Your Sister in Christ, Grace Pittman Fairview, TX Dear “A Sister”, I address you as “A Sister” because that is the name you signed at the end of your letter. I realize your letter was addressed to Summer and Melody, but ever since I read it you have been on my heart and I felt the Lord impressing me to write you back. Let me introduce myself. My name is Racheal Marie Eaton. I also am 17 years of age and have felt the same way you do for many years. As a matter of fact, while I was reading your letter, I had to keep checking who the author was because it sounded like I had written the letter instead of you. =) I have only been homeschooled for 2 years now, (this being my second year), and am now also a senior. All my life I was taught that once I turned 16 yrs. old I would be allowed to date, but I had been dating since I was around 13 or 14 years old. Then all of a sudden my parents and I started hearing about this courtship and betrothal stuff, and I thought “No Way! They just don’t want me to grow up!” You see, unlike you, I became rebellious against my parents in this matter and rejected anything they wanted to try and teach me about this matter. I asked the very same questions you did and gave every excuse in the world to justify my “rights”. I even went as far as telling my youth pastor to talk to them and try and straighten them out. It took me over a year before I even listened to one teaching on courtship or betrothal. If only I would have listened and obeyed my parents. =( Once I did listen to the teachings, I realized how much better things were through courtship and betrothal. Why do you think there were no divorces (amongst Godly people) in the Bible? Because they waited for the one God had for them. (Unlike us.) Now days we think we have to date others of the opposite sex in order to find the one God has for us. But it is my belief that my God knows who I am and knows the perfect match for me. I think about my future husband and how I want him to be a virgin for me. Can I give him less? Not only do I think about him being a virgin, but I think about him taking other girls out on dates “just for fun”. Lets say they don’t touch each other or anything and are strictly only friends. Me, personally, I still would not want him with any other girl except me. I want to be the first one he gives his emotions to or even becomes close friends with. Summer gave you the best advice I have heard. I pray the Lord helps you through all the struggles you may be going through . The Lord can help change anything. God bless you as you endeavor to go about changing. Your Sister and Friend through Christ, Racheal Marie Eaton Dandridge, TN Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. - Philippians 4:8 Dear Summer and Melody, I want to let you know what a wonderful ministry you have. I am the mother of four young children ages 7, 5, 3, 15 mos., and it is so encouraging to read letters and testimonies by so many young women striving to live in God's will. Thank you, and I pray God will continue to bless you both. A sister in Christ, Rachel White Redmond, OR Dear Summer and Melody, Greetings in the name of our dear Lord. Thank you for sending my issue! I was very blessed by it! I think that my favorite part of the entire magazine is ‘Letters From Unfolded Hearts’. When you talked about how you needed more typers, my heart went out for you. I am a quick typer and would love to do this for you, but I am giving it to the Lord and committing it to Him to see what His will is in this. Please let me know when you don’t need anyone anymore. I am so thankful in my heart and so blessed for all the effort you two put out in the magazine that I want to give something back to you! =) I will let you know, when I know from the Lord! ‘In Everything Give Thanks’ was an encouragement to me!- especially the part on how to be content. I thank the Lord for how He has helped me to be content in a couple areas of my life. Maybe I have already shared this experience with you, but I will tell you again. I reached my full height when I was about 14, which is 5 ft. Until recently, I have always complained of how short I was and how I wished that I was taller. Now the Lord has taught me that this was how He made me and just to be content. With growing up in the public schools, my heart’s aim was to be the prettiest, the most popular, etc. I was considerably popular and within the ‘cool’ group, but I was not considered pretty. I used to use makeup and try to get the most fashionable clothes to try to look pretty. When I started to live with my Aunt and Uncle, I stopped wearing makeup. And, since I got saved, I have such a thankfulness within my heart that the Lord made me not as beautiful. A lot of my friends and their boyfriends were being immoral, and I am so thankful that the Lord saved me from all that! He knew that I would soon be one of His children, and He protected me from a lot of hurt that I would have gone through! I love God so much and am very thankful for how much evil He has saved me from! He is so good to us, isn’t He? Last week, I had a pretty big trial that the Lord helped me in. I was talking to my brother on the phone, and we were making arrangements for my Dad’s birthday. The thought slipped my mind to ask Uncle if it was all right; I just assumed that it would be O.K.. Well, he happened to overhear the conversation that we were planning on going out to eat. (At first I had already gotten permission to take just my Dad out.) He immediately started asking why I hadn’t asked him if it was alright. He told me that it was O.K. to take my Dad out myself, but he didn’t feel comfortable with my brothers. I explained what had happened and went to my bedroom and started to cry. I felt so hurt that I wasn’t permitted to go places with my worldly brothers. I wanted to submit and to do what was right, but my flesh was strong, and it took a lot of giving in to the Lord. After some time of praying and committing it, I told my Uncle that I was willing to submit and cancel it. When I did that, I was full of joy. I am thankful for how the Lord helped me to give up my way and trust in God to work it all out. In the end, it worked out that my Uncle is going to let me go and is also going to do a lot of praying for our time! The Lord took care of it. I gave it to God, and He worked it all out! "And we know that all things work together for good to then that love God...” The Lord gave me this trial for my good. I learned how to give it to God and know that He will work it out. I also learned to always check with my Uncle before I say something! =) Well, I guess I better go for now! May the Lord richly bless you! By His grace, Skye Erickson Turner, OR Greetings Summer and Melody, Hi! My name is Claire Meyer; I was introduced to “Young Women Stepping Heavenward” by Jana Baldridge when she had you send me the November/December issue. Recently I ordered a short subscription and back issue, which I got a couple of days ago and really enjoyed! I especially liked part two of “Two Shall Become One”; it was very encouraging to hear how God brought a husband and wife together long-distance. I’m 14 years old and have six siblings: Phil (25), Eli (20), Fairlight (18), Daniel (16), Samuel (23 mos.) and Hannah (11 mos.). Samuel and Hannah are adopted. Recently Samuel, whose vocabulary is very limited, has gotten into the habit of screeching “Mommmm-eee!” whenever he needs or wants something, no matter who he wants it from. This is a little bit annoying, of course, but Mommy had really begun to wonder whether he and Hannah were confused about who was Mommy since they're adopted and the rest of us kids are so old. When we got the back issue that had the little story about Harmony listing off “Summer Mom, Melody Mom, and Plain Mom”, Fairlight read it to Mommy, and she was very encouraged! They may be confused about who’s Mommy, but at least now we know that it’s not because of adoption . . . =) I also enjoyed “I Love My Sister”. When my family moved from near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to near Roanoke, Virginia, in the summer of 1995 and I had to leave good friends behind, I began to discover my family as friends in a new way, since living here we tend to spend more time around one another and have fewer other people to interact with. Anyway, my sister Fairlight has become my best friend . . . and I’m glad to know I’m not “wierd”! =) Anyway, keep up the good work on YWSH (we pronounce that “whywash” =) )! I look forward to future issues. Your Sister in Christ, Claire Elizabeth Meyer Catawba, VA Dear Summer and Melody, Hi. =) I received the latest issue of “YWSH” a few days ago. Thanks. As always, it was wonderful! I hope that you’ll find a nice house, and that it will quickly become a “home”. I’ve moved MANY times, and I know that moving is tiring but exciting! When we moved here from New England, my family and I lived in a small camper for almost a year! It was definitely an experience. In “Days at our home” (by the way, I really enjoy that), you (Summer) asked if we remembered using oil lamps & all... Well, I do! You see, we are “off the grid”, and have no city electric, water, etc. We generate enough electric to use our computers (who could go without those?!), stereo system, etc. But, for light, we use oil lamps. Really, they produce more light than you’d think. Living this way sort of makes the saying “burning the midnight oil” quite clear! Well, I guess I should go. Enclosed is the 9 stamps to continue my subscription for “YWSH”. Take care. Your sister -n- Christ, Lauren Mong Kingwood,WV Dear Summer and Melody I just received your third issue of “YWSH” in the mail. What a treasure it is! My favorite parts were: “Days At Our Home”, “God’s Plan for Finding a Mate”, “The Watching World”, and “Oh, To Be Content” on pg. 23. I’m enclosing 9 stamps for my next 3 issues & hopefully a little money to cover printing costs. I’m sorry I can’t send more. Could you send me your free tape of Psalms? Thank you sooo much! Also, I thought I’d let you know that I don’t mind “YWSH” being so late, because I know what it’s like to get behind. =) (Of course, I would like it to come about twice a week, but that’s impossible!!) Thanks, Summer, for writing on all those “N”’s in the Sept./Oct. issue! =) I wish I could have helped you! (I often have to do something like that in my newsletter, and I know it isn’t much fun.) I am enclosing some things. Just use what you like. In fact, I won’t feel bad if you don’t use anything! I love you both, and wish I could meet you! Because of Him, Mary Ueland Mansfield, MO P.S. I don’t care if you want to use anything from "Ribbons ‘n Lace" - art, articles, whatever. May God richly bless you, as you seek to do His will! Thanks so much for saying we can use anything from “Ribbons ‘n Lace, Mary! We really enjoyed the poem we read in your last newsletter titled, ‘If Jesus Came To Your House’, and we may print it in a future issue of “YWSH”, although I’m sure many people have seen it already! It was just so good. =) - Summer and Melody To Summer and Melody, I wrote this poem some years ago and thought it would be a great submission for the January/February issue of “YWSH” under the theme of “Surrender to God”. I wrote this poem when I was in fact surrendering my life to Him, and I find myself having to read it a lot more than I ought to. I, being human and saved only by the grace of God, many times try to take over my own life instead of completely surrendering it to God and having Him take control of all things. That is when I take out this poem and read it as a repentant prayer. May the Lord use this poem as He sees fit, and may all who read it benefit form it in some way. Everything In Me I’m not very special Lord, without You deep inside. And I’ve got feelings, and I’ve got pride. And Lord, what you have to offer me is more than I could give. But I know that I will love You for as long as I shall live. People never look beneath the surface of the skin, At my mind, my heart, my soul, and the love deep within. When Your Spirit touches me, there’s something I can’t explain. Time subdues those wretched memories, and eases away the pain. I stand here waiting Lord, vuluerably for You; Your spirit has revealed to me that I can be like You. So I’m giving You my secret, something others don’t see; I’m opening up and giving You “Everything In Me”. Your Sister through Christ, Racheal Marie Eaton Dandridge, TN Blessings to you! "O Lord, open thou my lips: and my mouth shall show forth thy praise." - Psalm 51:15 Blessings to you, all you dear, precious and dedicated young women with whom I feel so strongly the bond of love in Christ! I have heard from many of you over the past weeks and months since I first began writing letters to YWSH, mostly in regard to mine and Jared's courtship story. I closed my last letter by saying that I felt that God would be teaching me much about how to be a strong woman and a godly wife, and also, that I felt an ecstatic expectation that God was already desiring me to share and give testimony to His abundant love and goodness to us. As I sat at my desk early last week, hoping to plan and outline this letter, my little mind was entirely overwhelmed with consideration of all the ways God has shown us His blessing. My heart was overflowing with story after story of love God has planted, strife He has quieted, problems He has solved for us, or situations that neither Jared or I could have handled ourselves, but by the Lord's grace and mercy. I can think of at least six major "lessons" that God has been teaching me and drilling me on: everything from exactly what it means to support the one God has called me to serve, to the wonderful and beautiful benefits of building this relationship with an open and humble heart. To be perfectly honest with you, I almost gave up even TRYING to write this letter. I just couldn't pinpoint the one thing that was most important for me to write. I had a few ideas, but I wasn't very confident that they were what God was really trying to tell me. It wasn't until two days ago, as I was writing a letter to some of my sisters, that I heard the Lord's voice and KNEW that I had found the ONE thing that God wanted most for me to write. This one thing is the core and foundation for all the other lessons I've learned, all the other stories I could tell; the one very simple, subtle and underlying exigency that has been occurring, oh so very quietly, between my Jared and I. I would call it a miracle, for that is how I see it, a beautiful miracle that God is creating within us and between us right before our very eyes. Above and beyond all the rest, this is the thing I want most to share with you, as a testimony of God's love and goodness to us. And now, you ask, what is this miracle? It is oneness, my sisters. It is wholeness and it is unity. I am only now, through a process of several many months, beginning see it, beginning to experience it, to know it in it's very smallest sense. I am beginning to feel as one with the man for whom God created me. Very suddenly, in one quick moment, I knew and realized just how closely a part of each other Jared and I are surely becoming, and greater than that, how tightly THE LORD, and HE more than ANYTHING or ANYONE else, is binding us to one another! I cherish my relationship with Jared as a treasure like none I could ever have asked for, for I could never have imagined the joy of our communion with the Lord, never anticipated that we would grow so deeply together in our lives with Christ! I've increasingly found myself coming to a higher and greater level of communication with Jared and the Lord SIMULTANEOUSLY, to the point where, as my mind pauses to dwell on Jared throughout the day, how much I love him and he loves me, thoughts and remembrances of the Lord's love for me are intertwined in the very same, and the two that I love more than anything (my Savior and my sweetheart!) are as one thought in my mind, one song in my heart. As I said many times at the beginning of our courtship, I was excitedly anticipating coming to know and love the Lord together with Jared, no longer as separate people with separate lives and individual relationships, but instead as one heart, and someday, as one flesh. And oh, my dear sisters, how beautiful it is to see it happening, REALLY happening, and to know that it is pleasing in God's sight, bringing joy and ecstasy to His heart! Jared and I, in our relationships with each other and with the Lord, are becoming each a part of a three-strand cord. Those three strands are Jared, myself, and our best friend - the Lord. As I become more intimately intertwined with Jared, my heart is more open to bless and praise the Lord. The more I bless and praise the Lord, the more my self is humbled, and I am more and more willing to hear the things He has always wanted to teach me. As I learn these things, my communication with Jared is more and more open, and Christ-centered, which leads me again to bless the Lord more than I had before! It is a beautiful, glorious bond of interrelationship, and with Christ at its center and as its substance, I am finding our unity to be deeper and more precious than I ever would have dreamed it could be. What I find even more exhilarating than the experience of our relationship now, is the thought of what it WILL BE, when God has completed us (Perfected us, really, for what is perfection, but completion?) physically and spiritually within Himself and in each other! I wish you all could have seen the look in my Jared's eyes last night when I told him, "When I think of you, I think of Christ. What I see in you is the personification of what Christ is to me. " He was totally overwhelmed by the enormity of my statement. His eyes became quite flooded with tears, and the immediate cry from his lips, as from the prophets of old, was "Who is this God whom we serve?!" Just think about it for a minute: Who is this God that can take two hearts, meld them with His own, and make them into one? Surely The Preacher knew, in the days of his soul-searching, the power of unity and oneness among men. It is he who exalted the strength and solidity of a three-stranded cord. Yes, he proclaimed, TWO were stronger than one; their reward for their labor was good and strong. When one was fallen, his companion could extend his own strength to lift him from the hardness of the ground. Where either one might lie alone, and be cold, together they were surrounded by warmth. And should an enemy assault one man by himself, together with his friend, he would prevail over the enemy. All of these truths are good and solid. But only when a THIRD spirit and body of strength was united with two, could any one of them be established beyond the vulnerability of brokenness. I'm sure that all of you, as young women living in this generation, have been presented with an onslaught of voices promoting your individuality, your independence, your own personality, your own inner strength. These are the voices of an age of deception. God's will for women has ALWAYS been for their identity to be their husband's, for even their relationship with His own heart to cease being an individual relationship, and become an INTERRELATIONSHIP with Him! How many divorced Christian women could have saved their marriages, and their intimacy with God, if only they had accepted the oneness with their husbands that God had planned and purposed for them, as He yearned to work their union to its greatest eternal fulfillment! Please don't give a moment's heed to the voices of this secular generation! Reject the invitation of your own individuality, and let the Lord keep your heart open to receive this miracle of unity with the man God has created just for you. Recognize that since before time began, God has been planning to create a strong relationship, a three stranded-cord between you, your husband and Himself that CANNOT be broken by the harsh pressures and hurts of the world! Now that I have seen how wonderful and beautiful God has intended for mine and Jared's INTERrelationship with Him to be, I realize how easily I could have damaged my ripeness to receive the most valuable gift I have ever been given. Along with this realization, I feel an intensely personal love and yearning for each and every one of you to prepare yourselves for this miracle, so that you are ready to cleave to and become a part of your husband, when God shows you who he is, and when the time is right. I would ask you, also, to pray for my Jared and I, as we continue to grow together in the Lord. I feel that we have only seen "the tip of the iceberg," as they say, and there is so much more God wants to show us, so much more REALITY to our interrelationship than we can yet see or comprehend. I love you all, my dear and precious sisters in Jesus Christ. Awaiting his return, Crystal Rae Nelson Faribault, MN Would you care to write us a letter, too? We would love to hear from you at any time, and who knows? Maybe we will even print your letter in Young Women Stepping Heavenward! Just click here! :-) YWSH Main Page