“Jesus is enough to bind a variety of girls together like sisters”

I’m so excited to introduce you to one of our newest — and now our youngest! — team members.   Everly Pleasant (who has the most charming pen name, don’t you think?!) has graciously agreed to share her gift of writing with us here on YLCF.  I know you’ll love the posts she’s already working on.  Meanwhile, the interview series provides the perfect way to get to know her.  Won’t you please give her a warm YLCF welcome?  -Gretchen

Interview with Everly

How did you first hear about YLCF? How did you “meet” the other YLCF team members and become one yourself?  I think it was my mother who first pointed me to Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. I was probably fourteen. It was then the first blog I ever started reading and it encouraged me to start my own blog at age fifteen. I wrote a couple of posts for YLCF over the years and in November of 2011, I was asked to be on the team. It was such a surprise, honor and blessing!

When and how did you come to know Jesus?  Two wonderful, believing parents raised me in a Christian home and I attended church regularly all my life, but I believe that I made my own decision when God’s spirit prompted my heart at the age of nine or ten. I remember the moment very well, but I have no idea of the date. I had been asking my mom some questions about Jesus and faith, and that night, as I lay in bed, I prayed that God would be Lord of my life. I rededicated my life to Him while I was going through a difficult time at age twelve.

What is your family (faith) background? If they are believers, how do you encourage each other?  My immediate family is made up of believers and my parents and siblings have played a huge part in encouraging and leading me in my faith. I am blessed to have a mom and dad that I can come to for Godly wisdom and older siblings who are willing to stay up all hours of the night to debate theology with me.

What is your approach to sharing your faith with nonbelievers?  Something I’ve had to learn the hard way is that arguing rarely convinces anyone to convert to Christianity. As a matter of fact, nothing we do can convince someone to come to Christ. It has to be the Holy Spirit’s job and the best way to open a door to that is by reflecting Christ’s love to them in a humble and sincere way.

What are your favorite recipes? Do you have a signature dish that you love to make?  I am not as talented in the kitchen as my sisters, but when I do get the hankering to tinker in with the tools of the trade, I love to make Chicken Scampi or, if it’s time for dessert, Blonde Brownies.

Do you have any cross-cultural experience? If so, how has it changed your life?  When I was eleven, my family took a trip to Haiti to meet a little boy we were hoping to adopt. That one little boy led to another little boy and two girls being added to my family through a three-year adoption process. During this time, I went back and forth to Haiti with my family many times and then my mother and sisters eventually moved there for a time to stay with the children while we finished the adoptions. You can read that story here.

What’s your favorite book you’re reading right now (or read this year)? What books remain your favorite over the years? What is your most-remembered, favorite childhood story/book?  My favorite book that I’ve read this year is One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I’ve looked up to her for so long and then finally met her in July at a conference. It was such a sweet time and that book will always be a favorite of mine.

The books that remain my favorites over the years are Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and Passion and Purity by Elisabeth Elliot.

My favorite childhood books are too many to list here! To name a few, I’d say The Moffats by Eleanor Estes, Half Magic by Edward Eager, King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub by Don and Audry Woods and Andrew Henry’s Meadow by Doris Burns.

How many siblings do you have, and where do you fall in the birth order?  I am the third of eight children. My siblings range from ages eight to twenty-five. I have four sisters and three brothers. Four of my siblings were adopted from Haiti.

What’s your preferred form of exercise?  I wish that I could say “daily” or “intense”, but that just wouldn’t be true. I enjoy swimming and taking walks, but I’m not a very dedicated athlete of any variety.

If someone met you in person, what’s one thing they’d learn about you that your online friends might not know?  Probably that I look like I’m about twelve!

If you could vacation anywhere, where would it be?  I would love to see any part of Europe, but I wouldn’t turn down a vacation to anywhere!

What is your favorite pair of shoes?  A pair of sleek, red pumps with black heels…they make me feel classy!

Are you a morning person or a night owl or neither?  I am definitely a night owl! I wish I were a better morning person.

Outside of immediate family, who made the most impact on your life?  Extended family, a group of friends I fondly call “The Quill Club” and a great many writers and bloggers.

Your favorite spot in nature?  Our meadow, wherein hangs my own beloved tree swing, Flutterby.

Where you hear or feel God’s presence the most?  I often go on walks through our rural neighborhood to pray and hear from the Lord, and yet I feel His presence in unlikely places.

If you could travel to any one place, what would it be?  I would really love to get back to Haiti sometime.

If you could describe yourself using a book character, which one would it be?  I don’t think I’m just like any one character, but I’d say that I’m a hybrid of Meg and Jo March with some Anne Shirley and Janey Moffat thrown in the mix.

Where are you reading in the Scriptures just now? What is your favorite book of the Bible?  Right now I am finishing up a reading plan that has landed me in Joel and Revelation. My current favorite book of the Bible is Hebrews.

What did you like about your education and what do you wish you and/or your parents had done differently?  I love-love-love my educational background. I was homeschooled from first through twelfth grade. My parents had/have a very relaxed style more likely fitting into the unschooled category. The most important things they taught me were how to learn and how to understand. This education was just the recipe for a life of learning. I graduated in 2010 and have chosen not to go to college at this point.

How have “real life women” influenced and encouraged you over the years?  When I was seventeen, I joined a Bible study for Christian college women. I was extremely nervous the first night and felt like I would never have anything in common with the older, independent, university-attending girls I met there. I stayed in that same Bible study until this year when we sadly had to split up, and that group of girls taught me so much. It turns out that Jesus is enough to bind a variety of girls together like sisters.

Where do you see yourself in ten years time compared to where you are today? In ten years (I’ll be 29,) I’d like to be married and have some children. I’d like to have some books published and live somewhere quaint with a garden. I’d like to do foreign mission work and have a strong community at home.