Dear Sisters, by Summer and Melody Chapin "Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love"! It is with a rather horrified ammusement that we now print our quote from the last Dear Sisters letter: "It is our great desire to get back on track with this magazine! We sure would hate to have to send the next issue (Jan/Feb '97) out at the end of March..." As you can see, it is the end of March already, yea even the begining of April!.. and well.. We are just now getting this long overdue issue sent out! =| =) We have had some very busy last few months. As you may have already noticed, we have decided to make this issue a Jan-Mar issue (instead of Jan/Feb'97) and make it a bit larger than planned- to make up for the lost month. We are hoping that last issue's 44 pages and this issue's 44 pages combined, will quite make up for it all. =) I'm sure that you are all by now quite curious as to how our move turned out... It turned out that the Lord mercifully opened the doors for us to get the trailer after all!! And we have learned that it isn't so hard to get used to living in a "small" house...The trailer is 14' x 80' and it has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Actually, though, one of the "bedrooms" isn't really a bedroom - it's our "computer room". =) We decided to rent a P.O. box for more reasons than one, but one of them is so that we can keep track of the mail better. Most of the time Dad picks up the mail once a week (usually on Thursdays). "YIPPIE!"- when Thursday rolls around!! =) Before we tell you what the themes for the next issue will be, we just have to thank all of you so much for sending in submissions for this issue! We just can't say how much you girls have been a blessing to us through your writings! As we hope to center the next issue of "YWSH" around the two themes of "Forgiveness" and "Mothers and Motherhood", we would be delighted if you, our dear sisters in Christ, would write and send in uplifting articles, testimonies, and poems on these two subjects (BY THE END OF APRIL, PLEASE.J) Some writing suggestions on forgiveness... Has there ever been a time in your life when someone wronged you? - Perhaps a "friend" slighted, snubbed, or gossiped about you behind your back. - Perhaps someone made a promise to you, and then broke it, and then you, in return, proceeded to hold a grudge... Or maybe someone repeatedly hurt your feelings, etc. Please write and share with us how the Lord helped you to overcome bitterness in this area of your life, and to forgive! To see a perfect example of a testimony like this, see page 42 of this issue and read testimony titled "A Will to Love" (God bless you, dear sister, for sharing!) Forgiving others is sometimes a very difficult thing to do, but just think of how the Lord forgives us so freely for the many sins we commit! oh, how undeserving we are! ...Perhaps you would rather share with us all an experience you had where you felt the need to ask the Lord, or someone else for forgiveness for something you did or said. How hard it is at times to do this! How often our proud, sinful natures rebel against even the thought of asking for forgiveness! But once the Lord actually brings us to the point where we humble ourselves in the dust and ask for forgivness, the peace that follows is certainly worth it, isn't it? Please do write and share your experience with all of us, so that we might be benefited spiritually as well. The Lord will bless you for it! And now for... some writing suggestions on the topic of "Mothers and Motherhood"...=) (And you know, this topic should be exciting to most of you, as you will probably be a mother yourself someday!(if the Lord so wills =)) Just what is your conception of motherhood? Do you think that spending you life "babysitting" will be a drudge and a bore, or will it be a joy and a delight? What do you think that a mother should have as a main focus (or priority), at least as far as her children are concerned? What should a mother have as a main concern about her children? How is a mother fullfilling God's purpose for a woman? What are the great rewards that only a godly mother seeking to raise her children for the Lord can receive? What are some of the things that we as young, unmarried girls should seek to learn, and develop in our characters before we get married and become mothers? Perhaps some of you have never really given this subject much serious thought before... Maybe you've just never pictured yourself as actually being a mother someday! =) Well, we'd encourage you to think about it now, and then to write down, and send in your thoughts if you think they might be benefecial to some of us!=) We need all the input we can get from you on this subject! (And here we want to remind all of the mothers and grandmothers that they also are more than welcome to write something on this subject!) And/Or why don't you write up a little article describing your mother, and telling why you love an appreciate her? If we receive enough similar submissions, we will create a special section in the next issue, titled, "I Love My Mother"! Oh, please do write in, girls! We're waiting at the mailbox...quite eagerly. =) Other things we are looking forward to receiving from you are: other testimonies, articles, poems, stories with a spiritual plot, recipes, herb articles, crafts, penpal requests (and other ads), cute things that your little siblings have said or done, sewing, canning, and gardening tips, book reports, and suggestions for this magazine! I hope this isn't getting repetitious to those of you who have read former issues of "YWSH", but we just feel that we need to make it clear that any of you dear sisters are quite welcome to submit things to "YWSH". It doesn't even matter whether or not you are a subscriber (just so long as you're a reader, of course =) ). And to those of you who hove already gained wisdom from married experience, please don't forget these verses!: "The aged women...That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their husbands, that the word of God might not be blasphemed."!!! -Titus 2:3-5 And now, dear sisters, we must say that it is rather distressing to find ourselves running out of space here, as we certainly haven't run out of words to write! =) Due to the following six pages of wonderful letters we received from so many of you, and added to that, our extra long article of "Days At Our Home", we find ourselves now compelled to leave this page for the time being, at least. Before we go, however, we must wish God's greatest blessing upon all of you! -We pray that you will find strength in Him Who is the source of all true strength, and that all of you dear sisters will grow in your daily walk to be more like Him, and that you will learn to rest complete in His wonderful sovereignty, for indeed, He holds the whole world in His hands...(you and me, sister!) Please pray the same for us, dear ones. And now we take our leave... Only Because of Him, Summer Joy and Melody Hope P.S. Just thought you might find this bit of information interesting.. =) We love to receive pictures of our readers and/or their families! We try to post most pictures that we receive up on our bedroom wall. If you haven't sent a picture yet, we'd love to see your picture up there, too! =) (Everyone please note: Any work you send in, might be subject to editing and revising as we see fit.) YWSH Main Page