I have been amazed by the response I've received to the stay-at-home daughterhood poll I posted. I'm excited that there are so many of you out there who are taking an interest in this subject and who are willing to vote in the poll to let me know what's on your mind regarding this topic. The answers to the poll I've so far received have been very revealing and interesting, to say the least! I'm very encouraged by all of you who have voted letting me know that you find stay-at-home daughterhood to be a great Biblical blessing. However, my eyes have also been opened all the more, through this poll, to the fact that there are many out there who (as I was 3 years ago) have never heard of stay-at-home daughterhood nor have any idea what exactly it means. Others don't, themselves, see it taught in the Scriptures, while still others who have grown up with feminism and have bought into its carefully packaged lies have the belief that stay-at-home daughterhood somehow enslaves young women and deprives them of reaching their full potential and prohibits them from using their gifts and talents fully for the glory of God and good of others. Clearly, feminism has attempted to tarnish and obscure the shining, radiant truths of God's Word (the true liberator of women!) in the hopes of somehow giving females "a better life". It is high time that the dust and filth that feminism has showered on the beautiful picture of daughterhood that the Scriptures present, be brushed off and that these anctient truths be raised up once again!As you can probably detect, I am very passionate and excited about this series and the truths it will reveal. However, as I've prepared for this series and as my vision for it has grown, I have become increasingly aware that apart from Christ, I can do nothing. I could do all the research in the world and attempt to write eloquently of the joys of stay-at-home daughterhood, but if I did not first seek His face and His blessing and His vision, desire, and purpose for this series, then it wouldn't matter how nicely I wrote or how much work I put into the articles-the result would be the same-fruitlessness and a lot of wasted time. The Lord has been convicting me and opening my eyes to the fact that even though I'm the one striving to write this series, I am nothing. He is the One with all the power, glory and might. He alone has the ability to change people's hearts and to open their eyes up to the truth. I am merely an insignificant young woman with many faults and failures whom the Lord has graciously decided to use as an instrument in His hands to, Lord willing, bring about change in the lives of girls and young women who are in desperate need of the glorious truths He has to offer. It is for that reason that I am freshly and anew dedicating this work to the Lord, praying for His direction and for His hand to be upon it, to bless it, and to allow it to bring about much fruit, and to graciously give me the words to write and the lessons to share. For I am weak, but He is ever strong.
As I have dedicated increasingly more thought to this article series, I have found the Lord changing the meager ideas I had for this series in the beginning, and suppling me with more and more ideas and vision. In fact, just the other night, the Lord graciously gave me yet another article idea to be included in this series! :) I'm constantly amazed by the hand of God-how He takes our insignificant, little ideas and transforms them into tools for His hand-tools to carry out His plans and to bring Him glory. Just when I think that I've come up with all the article ideas to be included in this series, He intercedes and reminds me that His grace is sufficient and teaches me to not rely on my own finite strength or knowlege, but to rather seek His face, His truth and His plans!
- First and foremost (and by far most important!), please be in prayer for me! In preparing for and writing this series, I am in need of much wisdom, which only comes through Christ (Col. 2:3). Please be in prayer that I would be given much needed wisdom, humility and grace as I undertake this work that I pray would be a blessing to many young ladies who are in desperate need of direction and godly vision in their lives. As I said previously, unless the Lord's mighty hand is on this series and He blesses and directs it, it will be worthless. So, please do pray for me, that I would feel the Lord's presence and that His loving hand would guide me, that I would receive the wisdom needed to write exactly what needs to be written for edification and enlightenment and that the Lord would bless my efforts with an abundant harvest of fruit! Please also pray that I would constantly be reminded that I am merely God's servant, an instrument in His hands, and a worker for His kingdom that always needs His strength and blessing in order to accomplish wonderful things for His cause. Finally, please pray that the Lord would begin even now to prepare the hearts of those who will read this series, preparing them for what they will hear and discover, and that He would open the eyes of those who will find themselves reading this work. Please intercede before the throne of God above that if there are misconceptions that the readers have regarding stay-at-home daughterhood, that they would be addressed and refuted, that eyes that need to be opened will be, that problems and difficulties people have with this doctrine would be taken care of and cleared up. No matter what I write in this series, I, myself, will not be able to bring about any positive change in those who will read it. Only the Lord God has the ability to do that. So, please pray that He would do just that and that His will would be done.
- Please spread the word! Be sure to tell others about the approaching release of the stay-at-home daughterhood series. I want as many as possible to be able to read this series, and each of you can take a special part in helping to make that happen! Please tell all the people you can about the upcoming articles. Make mention of it on your blog our website by linking to By His Grace and For His Glory, e-mail young ladies you know who would benefit from this series, and be sure to tell your friends and family about it! I so appreciate all of your efforts to make the coming series known!
- Please submit questions and comments you may have regarding stay-at-home daughterhood! There will be a special Q & A session towards the end of this series, so please begin submitting your questions now. You can do so by leaving them in a comment at the end of this post or by e-mailing me at living_for_my_Lords_glory@hotmail.com (please note: there is no appostrophe in the word "Lords", as hotmail does not allow this sort of punctuation in e-mail addresses). I look forward to hearing from you!
- Submit your testimony! I would love to hear from you stay-at-home daughters out there! What are you doing with your time as a stay-at-home daughter? Share a testimony about your change to stay-at-home daughterhood, or perhaps tell of how you've always been taught about stay-at-home daughterhood since you were a young girl. Share with us how stay-at-home daughterhood has been a blessing to you and your family and what you have learned through it. I would also love to hear from women who are married and perhaps mothers now, but who were stay-at-home daughters prior to marriage. Please share your wisdom with us and tell us how stay-at-home daughterhood helped to prepare you for your current life as a wife and mother. You can submit these testimonies the same way you would a question or comment, and I look forward to sharing these with the rest of my readers near the end of the series!
- Please vote and share your thoughts! As many of you know, there is a poll on the right side of your screen asking you to share your thoughts on stay-at-home daughterhood. If you have already voted in this poll, thank you so much! I appreciate your input! If you have not voted yet, I highly encourage you to please do so! As you may have noticed, I have increased the number of voting days available for this poll. This is because I want as many people as possible to vote in it before the release of the article series, and because the release date has been pushed back a bit due to increased writing and preparation, I wanted to make sure you had ample opportunity to vote as you anticipate the release of the first article in the series. Please feel free to comment in the comment section or send me an e-mail and elaborate on your vote. Explain why you voted the way you did and what your thoughts are. I would love to hear from you!
- Submit suggestions for consideration! Do you have an idea for the article series that you think should be included? Perhaps you have written an article on this very subject and would like to see it included in the series. Please submit your articles and ideas! I would be happy to consider them for involvement in the series!
Why Friday, September 17th, 2009?
As of now, unless the Lord surprises me with different plans, the date set for the release of the first article in the series is Friday, September 17th, 2009, which is my Daddy's birthday! Why the 17th? I am planning for this to be the release date for several reasons:
- First of all, due to increased writing for this series, more time is needed before it can be publised here.
- Secondly, I will be out of town from September 4th through September 13th and did not want this trip to interfere with the series. A controversial subject like this tends to generate a lot of conversation, which is good. However, if I were to begin posting articles in this series prior to my absence, that absence would interfere with me being able to be a part of the conversation and would thus prohibit me from being able to answer questions or concerns you may have while I'm gone. Therefore, I felt that the wisest thing to do would be to delay posting of the articles until after I return, which will also allow me more time to work on and polish them, and more time for you to be able to vote, spread the word, send in questions, pray for the series and all it involves, etc.
- I also think it's only fitting that the first installment in this series be published on the birthday of the man whose home I will happily remain in until I am given in marriage by him. :) This series will be dedicated to my dear father, George.
Once the first article is released, a subsequent article will be posted here each Friday until the complete series has been released.
I'm so excited about this project and pray that you are, as well! Thank you very, very much for all your prayers and support! May the Lord richly bless each of you!
Semper Reformanda (always reforming),
Rebekah
*photo courtesy of art.com
