My mother always told me that her mother always told her: it is selfish to be self-conscious. I have always struggled with being self-conscious.  Maybe everyone else does, too.  But I’m always slightly jealous of those who appear so self-confident.  Because I myself am feeling self-conscious about not being self-confident!  It’s all about self.

Whenever I actually make the conscious effort to be others-conscious, I feel at ease making them feel at ease.  And I’ve found that the easiest way to start is with a simple smile.  The Bible says, “A joyful heart is good medicine” (Proverbs 17:22).  And after all, “Never frown: you don’t know who’s falling in love with your smile.”

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

My little family is pulling up our roots (my roots anyway) in California, loading up a moving van and driving a bit north and a bit east, eventually landing in a tiny Rocky Mountain town (my husband’s roots).

You may remember that my husband is a Marine–a job that requires extended periods of time in a combat zone. We’ve done the deployment thing before… and it’s time to start over. In about six weeks, my beloved will be heading to Afghanistan for 13 months. It will be long, and it will be hard, but we’ve experienced enough of God’s sufficient grace to know that we’ll get through it.

Which brings us to this move. We have about a week until we haul ourselves and all of our belongings into the mountains, where the boys and I will have the opportunity to be near John’s family for the next year and a half. I love the mountains, I love the snow (which we’ll have more often than not, living at over 10,000 ft. elevation!) and I love my parents-in-love. While I’m not at all looking forward to leaving the people and places we love here in California, when it comes to living in Colorado, I’m basically, in a word, thrilled.

But the moving part? The sea of cardboard boxes? The Everest of packing paper? Not so much.

Combined with John’s extremely long pre-deployment training hours and me still just as busy as ever caring for our little people, I was beginning to freak out get a bit overwhelmed.

Until the knock at my door last week that brought me a blessing. Two of them, actually. A pair of sweet fifteen year old girls with smiles on their faces and hearts eager to just… help.

They fed the boys lunch. They read books. They played with toys. They made cupcakes and let my three year old crack the eggs. They cleaned up messes and wiped hands and faces. They raced up and down the stairs, running for tape and permanent markers, blankies and stuffed Pooh Bears.

I packed boxes. I checked off a long list of phone calls. I wrote about ten urgent emails. I packed more boxes. I sorted through paperwork. I organized and threw out old craft supplies. I folded laundry. I packed MORE boxes.

We had long conversations about life and struggles during nap time. We packed up all the books from our last two bookshelves.  We stacked boxes and labeled them. They helped me figure out what to keep and what to toss. We did a lot of laughing.

I could have kept them for days.

These girls aren’t perfect. They didn’t step straight from a nineteenth century story book. They’re normal fifteen year old girls living in 2010, complete with texts messages ringing in every few minutes. They like to laugh and they deal with the same everyday issues every other young lady faces. I’d even guess they might not always be quite as eager to wipe faces and play with Legos in their own homes.

But they both have hearts that love Jesus and are quick to do whatever needed to be a blessing. They shared their hearts with me that day and I saw beauty and maturity in that glimpse. God is at work in these girls’ lives. They put themselves aside for a day in January and sweetly gave their time and energy to a busy mom of two little boys.

When I was a teenager, I made a trip to visit some friends in Texas, splitting my time between two sisters who were each married with active little ones and only lived a short distance apart. In preparing to head out there, my young self was anticipating being busy making meals and cleaning the house so these young moms would have some free time to spend with their children.

What I didn’t expect was the reality of mothers needing time to catch up with all the million and ten other things that never get done because they do spend most of their time playing and cuddling and feeding and changing and training their busy tiny people. While I did make a few meals and bake a couple desserts and do a bit of shopping and mop some floors and change several diapers, I spent the majority of my time playing and cuddling and feeding and changing the children. It freed the mothers to get caught up on other important things and feel a little more rested.

I consider myself very blessed to be surrounded by willing mother’s helpers. I’ve had several here in San Diego. When I get to Colorado, I know of two other young ladies who are just as sweet and just as eager to help (also YLCF readers, incidentally!).

But I know not every mother of little ones is in the same situation. Perhaps you know of one such mother. Maybe she’s busy and weary, waiting for a single young lady to step forward and offer a few hours of time so she can catch up. Perhaps she’s overwhelmed with a move or a new baby or a husband’s busy schedule–or maybe she would just like to take a nap or make dinner with two hands! She could be wishing, right now, that there was someone who could spend a few hours playing with her little ones and maybe vacuum the living room carpet.

And maybe you are just the girl for the job!

I’ve been given a gift with these various young women. Mothers, don’t afraid to accept help, and young women, don’t be afraid to offer it! Get out there and get helping!

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

Sometimes it is easier to act like a Christian than to be a follower of Christ.  But in his new book Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters, Joshua Harris sounds a compelling call to dig down deep into the truths of why we believe what we believe so we will know how to live.

Every person reaches the point where they have to make their beliefs their own.  I remember that point in my life: I was on my own for the very first time, at Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs, Colorado.  I could have been whoever I wanted to be.  But what my parents taught stuck.  In two weeks away from home, I not only determined that my faith was truly my own, but I learned a whole lot about having a biblical worldview.

Now, seven years later, I am a parent myself.  It is an awesome and humbling thought to realize that I have that same responsibility with my children.  The question continually plagues me, how did my parents do it? How do I teach my daughter to love the Lord and His Word?  How do I get her to build her life on that firm foundation?  If she doesn’t see it in me, how will she make it her own?  Only if my faith is dug down deep can my children see and follow it.

But Dug Down Deep is a book for more than just parents.  It’s a book for the young adult I was not so very long ago, trying to figure out exactly what I believed.  It’s for the pastor or teacher who wants a less textbook-like approach to outlining theology.  It’s for anyone who wants an overview of the Christian faith.  It’s for everyone who wants to be challenged in what they think about God.

The best thing about the book Dug Down Deep is that it continually points you to the Book of books.  It is the sort of book to be read with a Bible in hand, the sort of book that will make you set it down and pick up the Bible instead.

Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).  These words always bring me back to the simplicity of sanctification.  This is why I obey.  This is to be my motivation.  People who love Jesus do what he says.  They learn to obey him in the big and small parts of their lives. (Dug Down Deep, pg. 173)

(Thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah for providing this book for review!)

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

One is a missionary in Africa. One is attending West Point.

None of them would be where they are today if it had not been for the love of Uncle Dick and Aunt Dixie in adopting each of them. That love which is a physical picture of a spiritual truth. That love of our Lord who adopted us (Romans 8:14-17, Galatians 4:5-7, Ephesians 1:5).

Uncle Dick and Aunt Dixie worked as missionaries in Haiti years ago. They raised many children together, including my Haitian cousins. Then Uncle Dick was called home to Heaven. And Aunt Dixie’s love for his memory and for Haiti became Hope in Haiti, an organization that builds schools and sponsors children in rural mountain villages of Haiti.

I’m guessing that Uncle Dick is part of the welcoming committee in Heaven this week for the believers and little ones from Haiti that are crossing Jordan’s shores.

Meanwhile, Aunt Dixie’s is part of coordinating a relief effort to give Hope in Haiti once more.

Has your heart broken this week at the news coverage? Or are you already calloused to the images, deaf to the news broadcasts?

Have you come face to face with how different their reality is from ours? Ashleigh has.

Few of us actually landed in Port a Prince the day before the earthquake. But my friend’s sister did. Annette is right there, to be the hands and feet of hope.

But the hands and feet need the rest of the body. They need us to hold them up in prayer. They need us to hold them up financially. They need us to hold them up by spreading the word. They need us to petition to let adoptive parents bring their children home to the states now.

That is how to give hope to people just like my cousins Micha, Jeremy, Evens, and Jesse. That is how to give Hope in Haiti.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

Little Gidding, Cambridgeshire, England

The following was written by a dear friend of ours and his sending it to Philip and me was something of a New Year’s gift. I know that you’ll all be glad that he gave me permission to share it with you:

Are you a Psalm skimmer?  I confess that I am.  I often find myself skimming through a psalm until I get to one of those familiar nugget verses, land there a little bit, and then keep skimming.  This is NOT how one should read the Psalms.  Every word is to be chewed and savored.  Time must be allowed for this.  Giving the Psalms (and all of Scripture) a quick glance like one would do to a blog or email is the quickest way to divorce God’s word from God’s Spirit.  We have taken something sacred and made it common.  As a result, we no longer experience the presence of God when we read.  God will not be rushed.  He will not be treated like a Facebook friend.

Maybe this is just a symptom of the times.  “Face time” is no longer required for relationships.  We’ve actually digressed in our interpersonal skills.  Think about it.  People used to walk next door and sit down and talk with their neighbor.  With the invention of the phone we could call them and listen to their voice.  With the invention of email, we could just write.  With the invention of texting, we could reduce our relationship to short little abbreviations.  At times I feel like we are becoming the ghosts of C.S. Lewis’s Great Divorce.  There is little physical substance to our relationships.  Is this really progress?  Face time is too rare.  It is rare because it requires two things – “face” plus “time”.

I fear that this new way we now relate to one another has spilled into our relationship with God.  This is not just dangerous, it is spiritual death.   Our relationship with God requires face time.  Scripture cannot be merely scanned in order to get the gist of its meaning.  Waiting for God cannot be like opening a slow webpage – “God you’ve got a few seconds before I move on.”  God is never in a hurry and we cannot rush him.  The Psalms remind us of this.  They are full of patient waiting, worshipful meditation, and adoration.

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. – Psalm 130.

During this new year, take time to take time before the LORD.  Ask God to reveal to you the things that drown out his voice.  Ask Him to show you the things that are controlling your day.  Ask Him to show you how to change and to give you the strength to do so.  This might be occasionally turning off your phone, or leaving your computer at work, or driving without listening to the radio, or killing your TV. Is there something in your life that you cannot turn off?

Our relationship with God requires quiet moments, patience, and passionate pursuit.  He is our Rest, our Joy, and our Treasure.

In Your presence there is fullness of joy – Psalm 16.

On the cross, Jesus endured the absence of his Father, so that we might enjoy His presence.  What a gift!  Take time this year to receive it.

written by Rev. Joel Brooks,  Redeemer Community Church

photography credit, Philip Ivester

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

In England this fall, Philip and I enjoyed the blessing of meeting two of our YLCF readers in the flesh: one from California and one from the UK. For part one, click here.

In Oxford-town we made the merry acquaintance of the English-born, India-reared Rebekah from Aberdeen.

“In front of the Bodleian,” we had agreed.

For what could be more appropriate a meeting place for such avowed bookworms as the greatest library in the world? (Rebekah’s Oxford grad brother, I later learned, had looked askance at this plan, and no doubt wished us luck, as it’s, well…huge. ) But despite the fact that she was waiting patiently on Broad Street while Philip and I were rushing breathless up to the great oaken doors on Catte a quarter of an hour late, we did manage to find one another by some token of grace. And in company with my French ‘sister’ Delphine who had joined us in Oxford for the weekend, we sallied forth without further ado in conquest of lunch, it being well past one by this time.

With hot baguettes in hand, and the requisite steaming cups of tea, we settled ourselves upon the sunny steps beneath the arches of the Bodleian and fell to our repast with a relish only matched by our eager conversation. As with Jessica, so many preliminaries were dispensed with that it felt more like a resumption of an old conversation than the commencement of a new friendship, and I’m sure that to the people we later passed, weaving and traversing the busy streets, it appeared that we had known one another for years.

After lunch, Philip treated the three of us ladies to the ultimate Oxford experience: a punt down the River Cherwell! It’s no secret how keen my husband is over ‘messing about in boats’—he and I privately call each other ‘Rat’ and ‘Mole’, respectively–and after a similar expedition on a day in May that still shimmers in my memory with a haze of joy, he knew how much it would mean to me. It was a perfect autumn afternoon: just the right bit of ‘freshness’ in the air as the BBC forecaster had promised, with a pale, silvery sunlight breaking through the tearing clouds, alternately kindling and hazing the golds and bronzes of the turning leaves and laughing along the limpid water in sudden bursts that warmed one’s heart like a smile. The surface of the river was thick with the fairy-craft of fallen leaves; but for them we passed only one other boat, and that one manned with passengers wielding paddles, causing our captain to laugh at the utter indolence of his crew. (Unless the occasional shriek that accosted him each time we came within a half-dozen feet of the riverbank could be counted as doing our part. )

I admit that it is better fun to punt than to be punted, and … a desire to have all the fun is nine-tenths of the law of chivalry.

Dorothy Sayers, Gaudy Night

Punting may not be as easy at it looks, but Philip gave us a gentle and refined passage down the river, plying the waters with the long pole from his stance on the till while we lounged in our seats and chattered away. Able seaman Rebekah told us about her medical training and her residency in Aberdeen, as well as some dreams and schemes that show how serious she is about devoting these single years in passionate service to Christ. And we laughed at the advances of some cheeky ducks that were obviously quite used to being fed from the remnants of picnic hampers—one in particular that seemed to have her hopes bent on the beneficence of Delphine, nudging up and craning her neck over the side of the punt. (Was it just me, or was there something in her quacking that sounded like, “Permission to come aboard?”?)

Laughter, in fact, was the constant music that wound and wove itself through our day. And just before we passed beneath Magdalen Bridge to deposit Rebekah on the landing in time to meet her train, we erupted once more (discreetly, of course ) over the glimpse of tourists taking pictures of us from the shore. We must have looked like professional ladies of leisure by that time, with our chivalrous boatsman at the till.

We waved and blew kisses as she disembarked and hurried up to the street, disappearing immediately amid the cars and buses and the thronging spires.

As I looked after her, I couldn’t help but recall the way that C.S. Lewis had famously parted from a dear friend, waving from an Oxford street corner across the roar of passing traffic:

“Christians never say goodbye!”

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

If there is anything that travel has taught me, it’s just how small the world really is. Perhaps it’s a bit ingenuous of me, but I can’t quite get over the miracle of the fact that we could be dining with a Parisian friend in Oxford one night and having vegetable soup and cornbread around our own dinner table with both sets of parents in laughing attendance the next. Such a contrast—in a little over 24 hours’ time—never fails to strike me, especially when I consider the unfathomable fact that my ancestors measured the very same journey in months. They, on the other hand, would probably not have spent their first week on native soil reminding one another to drive on the right-hand side of the road or waking each morning from a jet-lagged stupor in utter bewilderment as to where on earth they were. Cornwall? Devon? Somewhere in between??

But there’s another dimension to the smallness of this spinning planet that has nothing whatever to do with the efficiency of modern travel and everything to do with the instant connection of sisters in Christ. It was our own dear Anne Shirley who first said what YLCF has reminded us of and proved over and over again:

Kindred Spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out that there are so many of them in the world.

Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

And how much more splendid, not only to connect over a common bond via the internet, but to have the opportunity to meet face to face?  While traveling in England this September, Philip and I had the joy of meeting up with a couple of our very own YLCF readers and on both occasions I had the uncanny sense of reunion, instead of a first-time acquaintance. As is so often the case when meeting fellow believers, there was an immediate kinship. So much so that I discovered to my chagrin after parting with each of them that I had neglected to ask some of the most basic questions of new introductions, paddling languidly and comfortably, as it were, through the pleasant waters of ordinary conversation.

We had arranged to meet Jessica and her husband Aaron for Sung Mattins one Sunday morning in Wells, almost directly half-way between where they were staying in Worcestershire and where we were staying in Devon. I knew Wells of old, both from a previous visit and from the lively, living pages of Elizabeth Goudge’s City of Bells, and I could hardly wait to set foot on those brown cobbles once more, worn smooth by centuries of peasants and pilgrims and ordinary folk just like ourselves en route to morning worship at the great cathedral. Darling Wells! The smallest cathedral city in England, a little jewel framed by the emerald hills of Somerset, and early on a quiet Sunday morning, as old-worldly a place as can be found. A sweet place for a meeting that, in itself, could have been plucked from the pages of one of our dear Elizabeth’s own novels…

We spotted them coming out of the Quire after service and hastened to catch up with them in the cloisters. A hug took precedence over introductions (don’t you just love meetings between Christians? ), and over lunch, nestled into a quiet corner of The King’s Head, we swapped stories and talked books just as if we were friends of years and not, literally, minutes. It was good to meet with our own countrymen after being abroad for several weeks; as Philip said, “to talk American with someone”. And we confessed to them the moratorium on book-buying we were afraid we were going to have to impose on ourselves, being very much in danger of exceeding our weight limit on the voyage home.

“It’s nearly impossible to stop,” I lamented, as we discussed Aaron and Jessica’s next day’s destination of Hay-on-Wye, the famed ‘town of books’.

“Like an addiction,” Philip could have added.

“But we’re not going to buy anymore,” I firmly declared, all but thumping the well-lacquered table in my earnestness.

After lunch we wandered about Wells, peeking into closed shops (and ducking into a few open ones!) and reveling in the medieval architecture of the Vicars’ Close (recognizable to Goudge readers as the quarters of Henrietta in City of Bells), before turning back to the Cathedral for Evensong at three.

“What do YLCF readers do when they meet up with one another for the first time?” I quipped to Jessica as we strode along with the quarter-till bell ringing in our ears. “They go to church—two times in a row!”

We were all laughing at the idea, and at how natural it had been to suggest it, but our voices were silenced and our steps sounded hollowly, serenely, on the stone pavement of the nave as we hastened back towards the Quire, from whence the rolling music of the organ already proceeded. The lights were lit in the stalls and the great Golden Window above the altar was living with the glow of the afternoon sun as we filed silently into our seats behind where the choir would be seated. Soon the choir and clergy filed in, the boy choristers looking cherubic in their ruffled white collars and surplices, their older counterparts grave and respectful. And when they opened their mouths the very glory of Heaven seemed to break forth upon us. I spent the better part of the service with tears blurring my eyes.

We parted with Aaron and Jessca on the Green, the bishops and saints and apostles of the Western Front gazing down upon us with their solemn, centuries-old eyes and the ravens and rock doves beginning to circle homeward about the cathedral spires. It had been a beautiful day and my heart was full of God’s goodness as I hugged my new friend goodbye and the men shook hands, promising to keep in touch.

And if anyone doubts my claim that the world is as small as I’m asserting it to be, then they surely cannot dispute the dear smallness of England itself. For two days later, picnicking on the banks of the placid little River Eye in Lower Slaughter, Gloucestershire, I glanced up at a passing couple, meandering hand-in-hand along the quiet bank.

“Jessica?” I gasped, nearly choking over my baguette.

We all had a good laugh, and compared notes on the day that we had both apparently chosen to spend in the Cotswolds and asked a few questions we had forgotten to ask before–like, when their baby was due! . And then we parted again with another hug and another promise, and Philip and I smiled after them as they walked on, still holding hands. Ten years behind us and so full of beauty and promise and Christ-centered ardor. Could such newlyweds but know what a sweet fragrance they are!

A few hours later I was standing in a bookshop in Chipping Campden, my arms guiltily full, when I heard a voice behind me:

“So! I thought you weren’t going to buy any more books!”

And so another laughing reunion, a blissful half-hour perusing the shelves of an irresistible shop (yes, we added a few more volumes to our already sinking boat of overweight luggage) and a bit of a hunt for a tea shop (which proved fruitless, it being after five by this time). And then, for the third time in as many days, I said goodbye to Jessica, on the narrow sidewalk of a golden Cotswold village.

I think it bodes well for our meeting again.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

This is you.

This is the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. And by your participation in our A Peek Into Your Day blog carnival, you have demonstrated the beauty and complexity of the very special community we have here, not to mention the limitless creativity of God in allotting such unique places in life for each of us.

I had so much fun watching the posts come in on Wednesday—I told my husband that it was like watching lights flare and glow over a dark grid. It reminded me of the way I felt that first time I stumbled across the YLCF website so many years ago and how my heart thrilled at the knowledge of all of these precious girls and ladies out there that simply loved Jesus and wanted to live for Him to the best of their ability in a fallen world.

My eyes have burned with tears many times these past few days as I’ve read of your hope, your joy, your love for God and for those He has placed in your lives. It has been one of the most encouraging things that I can remember in quite some time simply to click through these blogs and revel in, not only the diversity, but the one single unifying factor that ties them all together into a beautiful whole: Jesus Christ.

Because, for all the differences in your individual lives and callings, one thing remained a constant. Almost every blog had a descriptive box on the right-hand side proclaiming the author to be a lover of God, a servant of Christ, an aspiring disciple. And almost every entry started out something like this:

I got up and met with the Lord. I sought Him in prayer. I went to His Word and I tried to take something away from it into my day. I tried to remember Him and what I believe and what it’s all about…

Do you girls have any idea how exciting that is? How precious it must be to the Lord? I don’t know about you, but the very thought of so many women all over the world (and the carnival, I know, is only a small slice of the whole of this precious community) getting up every day and trying to figure out how to live for God and what pleases Him and how to lend action and breath to love for Him—it gives me hope for this generation! And it makes me realize afresh just how much more brightly the Light shines against the darkness.

So, thank you all for participating, and for being so real. Thank you for loving our Jesus and for being bold to proclaim it. Thank you for shining like stars in the midst of a crooked and depraved generation. What a lovely, twinkling display it must be to the Father of Lights!

And to our own dear Ashleigh—for organizing and pulling off this blog carnival. We know and appreciate the work that you put into this, and I’m sure that all of YLCF will join me in saying thank you.

Thank you, all, for being you, the faces of YLCF. We love you, girls.

p.s. If you haven’t yet linked in to the A Peek Into Your Day carnival, it’s not too late! Links may be submitted through Sunday, November 1, 2009. The winner of the drawing will be announced Monday, November 2.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

Over the course of the past few weeks, we’ve enjoyed a behind the scenes look into the real, day-to-day lives of the YLCF team members. You’ve watched us making meals, running errands, feeding animals, hurrying to softball games, writing articles, and, yes, even picking up fast food for dinner. Now it’s your turn! Join us as we visit the homes of blog friends, catching a glimpse into various lives and lifestyles.

We want to hear about your day–your real day. What does a normal, regular, ordinary, plain ol’, same ol’ day in your life look like? We hope you’ll open your virtual home to us and allow us and other readers a peek into your life. Show us that real lives aren’t lived by storybook characters, but we can still capture the fullness of the God even in the day-to-day.

To join in the fun is simple. Just post about your day on your blog, then copy and paste the URL for your individual blog post into the MckLinky below. Your link will appear in the list for others to click and view. Link back to YLCF somewhere in your post or use the blog button, copying this code:

<a href="http://ylcf.org" target="_blank"><img src="http://ylcf.org/uploaded_images/peek-into-your-day.jpg" border="0" alt="YLCF Blog Carnival"></a>

Additionally, every participant will be entered to win this pretty little blue and brown 16-month day planner! Winners will be chosen at random from the participants and announced Monday, November 2nd.

Post your link, get nosy and start blog hopping!

YLCF does not necessarily endorse every blog or lifestyle portrayed in the above links. We also reserve the right to delete any links deemed offensive or inappropriate.

A Day in the Life of the YLCF Team…

• Monday at the Farm in the City by Lanier
• Tuesday in the Writing Life by Elisabeth
• Wednesday in North Idaho by Chantel
• Thursday at the Little Pink House by Gretchen (with series introduction)
• Friday in Sunny Southern California by Ashleigh
• Saturday at Castleberry Farms by Jeannie

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

The past year or two has seen a shift in focus here at YLCF, as one after another of our board and team members have married. We’ve enjoyed some wonderful posts from our sisters in their single years, and the response has indicated to us that such posts are reaching a deep need. But many, if not the majority, of our posts have reflected our individual stages. For many of us, that means we’re writing about our wonderful and beautiful marriages.

We understand–having all been there ourselves!–that it can be discouraging for an unmarried young woman to read post after post about married life. Our intention has been to share our hearts, as well as give our beloved friends a vision and a goal; to remind them that a fulfilling, Christ-centered marriage and the joy of children is something worth waiting for. But a few “little birds” have told us that it can be a bit much for a heart striving to be content. While we do believe it important to set one’s own boundaries in one’s spiritual journey (for example, if reading love stories causes discontentment or pain, we’d suggest not clicking on the Courtship Stories page for a new story every day!) and we certainly won’t ever stop writing from our perspective of wives and mothers, we would like to incorporate a bit more from the single years.

We’re not necessarily asking for posts about singleness (though they are certainly appreciated and needed). We’d like to know what you are doing with your single years. We’d like to catch a glimpse of your heart. We recently talked about making our lives count for Christ, no matter our marital status, and we’d like to hear more about how you are accomplishing that. If you are single, if you have wisdom to share… share it.

Along the same lines, we’d all love–LOVE–to hear from women who are in the next phase of life, past the first years of marriage or raising toddlers. The women who have a few more years of wisdom in their hearts and can offer a perspective most of us on the Team can’t pretend to grasp. We do understand, however, that time for such writing may be a slightly more limited!

This post isn’t borne out of desperation or a lack of posts or writers, but simply because we love interaction with all the ladies of YLCF. After all, the “F” in our name is for “fellowship” because it’s what we love most. Keeping in mind our Values and Writing Guidelines, get those fingers flying and let us hear from you!

As another means of promoting the fellowship and interaction (Gretchen already gave a little teaser to this) we’re going to ask for yet more participation from our dear readers. You’ve all had a chance to be privy to a day in each of the Team members’ lives–my own, the final installment, is coming on Friday–and now we’d like to get a peek into a day in your lives.

Next Wednesday, October 28, we’re going to host the “A Peek Into YOUR Day” blog carnival, right here at YLCF. This means you will have a chance to post about a real, normal day in your life on your own blog and then link to it here, giving all the readers of YLCF a chance to visit you and your day. The emphasis here is on being real. We don’t want idealized versions of what you wish your life were like, or what might fit a mold, but the real, day-to-day workings of your world. Whatever season you are in, whatever your life is like, we’d like to hear about it. If it isn’t real… don’t post it.

To participate, pick a day this next week to chronicle and come back next Wednesday ready to link up. My little nosy self is already excited! If you’d like to spread the word, grab this blog button and put it in your sidebar, tweet it, Facebook it, or post about it:

Copy this code:

<a href="http://ylcf.org" target="_blank"><img src="http://ylcf.org/uploaded_images/peek-into-your-day.jpg" border="0" alt="YLCF Blog Carnival"></a>

Every participant will be entered in the giveaway for this little 16-month day planner–along with a pretty pen, not shown, being that I still have to… obtain it. I don’t know about you, but I always fall hard and fast for anything with blue and brown! Along with adding your link to the carnival on Wednesday, comment and tell us if you add the button to your sidebar, tweet or write a blog post about the carnival before Wednesday for additional chances to win.

Official YLCF Giveaway Entry Rules:

• To enter the drawing, please participate in the carnival or leave a comment on this post with the link to the place you’ve “talked” about the carnival.
• Don’t forget to include your name and email address in the space provided on the comment form (your email address will not be published, but we need a way to contact you if you win!).
• This drawing open to readers with U.S. mailing addresses only, please.
• YLCF Team Members, their families, and recent YLCF giveaway winners ineligible for entry.
• Drawing ends Sunday, November 1, 2009.
• Winner(s) will be chosen randomly and notified by email Monday, November 2, 2009.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

I cannot tell you the number of times people have told me, “I’ve always wanted to write a book.” My response is always, “You should,” but I find what they really mean to say is the idea is a bit overwhelming.

It seems we often have an image of an inspired writer sitting down and, in a feverish pace, pounding out a story without distraction until a work of literary art is produced. Naturally this is unreasonable, not to mention unrealistic.

Writing fiction is not an insurmountable mountain. Furthermore, in the sea of junk literature we live in, stories that inspire believers and reach out to people who might never think to pick up a non-fiction Christian book are important.

But when faced with a blank Word document on the computer screen the question, “Where do I start?” can be very intimidating.

So why not start with an outline?

Try putting down a plot outline, no longer than a paragraph, which simply states the primary storyline.

Next, decide on your characters; a hero and/or heroine, antagonist, villain, sympathizer, and a sprinkling of minor characters.

Then give your characters life. They’ll need a name, age, physical characteristics, likes, dislikes, hopes, relationships, and a past. The best stories are built on good characters.

Try to pinpoint a location for you story. Do you want it to take place in a small town, big city, or several places?

Subplots are vital to creating a rich story, but this is not as difficult as it might sound. A subplot can be as simple as a relationship with a family member, the trials of dealing with a new surrounding, or a struggle with faith.

Finally, write a summary. This does not have to be too detailed, but it will be helpful to have a basic timeline of events when you sit down to write your story.

An important thing to remember through of all of this is you do not have to do it all in one day, week, or even a year. Just put down thoughts when they come. If you only have fifteen minutes on occasion take them.

Never allow yourself to think this is impossible or unimportant. I’ve known people who credit a novel as their first step towards their faith in Jesus. If you have a story in your heart, take the first step and start writing.

Emily Ann Benedict is a California native and homeschool graduate inspired to write by a love of reading and a desire share her faith. You can find her at emilyannbenedict.com.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

To back up this statement, I have lots of empirical evidence: two whole trips filled with sunshiny, calm, lazy hours that ooze by like warm honey, while the rest of the busy, demanding world just ceases to exist (temporarily, of course).

Despite being nothing like the two previous trips, my latest sailing adventure did not disappoint. After our last month of nearly solid rainy days, it looked like a perfect day. The projected cloud banks held off, and we had plenty of sunshine. But the promised 2-4 foot waves, well, they proved to be 6-8 foot swells. I was reminded of horseback riding: the best way to deal with large motions from the beastie on which you are riding is just to relax, and go with the flow.

And hang on for dear life. There was, after all, just a hint of danger in the fun. I’m not likely to become addicted to adrenaline rushes anytime soon, but I began to have a faint idea why people bungee jump and otherwise rashly risk life and limb for the sheer fun of it. Only a very faint idea, mind you.

The real foe in this adventure was much more prosaic than being carried off by the waves. Some fought it with determined snacking; some with pills; some succumbed and were reduced to limp-limbed, green-lipped masses of misery. I’d already done seasick in the hold on calm days. Now I discovered worriedly queasy in the cockpit, and pretty-near-fine, playing figurehead up near the prow. I asked myself why I was so special that I was going to miss out on losing my breakfast like my poor shipmates in the rear. But succumb I did not.

Life is so unfair.

But not even life as a figurehead was all smooth sailing. While I enjoyed the sun-sparkles on the water, stray sea-birds scudding just over the surface, the occasional curling white-cap, and the rolling ride up and down those tallish swells…I was also enrolled in an unofficial water-fight with the Atlantic Ocean. No question about who was winning. Every fifteen minutes or so — just about the time I was starting to feel not-so-drippy, another stray wavelet would redrench my skirt, or more rarely, smack me right in the face. Fortunately, I was armed. With an enormous yellow slicker that functioned more like my own personal tent, solidly blocking out all but the most determined wind and spray.

Also thoroughly banished for those few salty hours: the busy, demanding world. I arrived home windblown, salt-encrusted, close kin to a tomato…and still in love with sailing.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

After several months in Israel this spring, I’m back in the US for the time being, where I’m enjoying my time with family and friends. I’m also writing more regularly than I ever have before. What does it look like to be a freelance writer? Since it’s all new to me, I’m just as curious about it as you are…

So far, a writerly life is very unpredictable. Last week, I had major writer’s block, but I got a lot done around the house. This week, I’m writing a lot, and my house, well, it just has to get by. (Thankfully, I’m living with several very accommodating siblings).

It’s Tuesday, July 21st.  I tend to wake up anxious when I have a lot to do, and today is no exception. So I spend a few minutes talking God about it, before making  myself a bowl of oatmeal and sitting down with my Bible.  I’m using a chronological reading plan this year, and it’s fascinating to see the books of Kings and Chronicles woven in with Isaiah, the minor prophets, and even the Psalms. It also gives me a better feel for the flow of Biblical history.

Today I find a verse that’s perfect for me, and sister #1, who is about to begin three weeks of teaching English in Korea:

Thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called from the corners thereof and said unto thee, “Thou art my servant, I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away;” fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

Sometimes I jump start my work day with house-cleaning or free-writing for a few minutes, but today I don’t have to make up my mind. Seeing that my article has just been published on Boundless, I hop over to my blog and put the finishing touches on a companion post.

Then I have a few minutes to write a note to my sister in Korea before it’s time for Tuesday morning prayer meeting. This is a bit of a luxury for a working girl, but it’s right next door, so how can I resist? After an already busy morning, it’s especially hard for me to concentrate, but I’m glad to be praying for the young adults in our community, and for the American soldier who has been kidnapped in Afghanistan. It’s more challenging to trust God over the issue of taxpayer-funded abortions, but even though we don’t know when, or how He will act, “We will not fear, for God has willed His truth to triumph…”

Soon, I’m back at my computer with a cup of tea, updating the courtship stories page here at YLCF. With the details already saved in a draft, it’s usually a quick job, but this time the layout is a bit more complex. I know just enough HTML to be dangerous, but somehow I muddle through, and at last all the centered paragraphs obey my commands and line up to the left like good soldiers.

Meanwhile, the rain has kept sister #2 home from her gardening job, and she’s gotten inspired to make soup for lunch. I’m in and out of the kitchen, brainstorming a hypothetical future Passover meal with her, updating the YLCF RSS feed and Twitter account, and helping a friend in Israel with her homework assignment.

I take a moment to run out to the garden and pick fresh oregano and rosemary for the soup, and even the flourishing weeds can’t dampen my enjoyment of misty rain and luxuriant green. I guess a corner of me is still used to dry, barren Israeli summers.

I’m not so delighted with technology. When it comes to sending off a business fax, it takes me more than an hour to hunt down a printer that works, and wrestle the fax machine into submission.

But lunch, which comes in the middle of all this,  is lovely: hearty vegetable soup with squash, spinach, green and white beans, and a creamy broth that’s been thickened with…pureed toast, amazingly enough. I’m liking my sister’s Test Kitchen cookbook more and more.  (Its challah bread recipe is another favorite, and the scones I found in the companion international cookbook helped relieve the craving brought on by reading a couple of D.E. Stevenson’s relaxing British novels).

After lunch, I write an email to a fellow writer whom a friend has just introduced to me. I’m looking forward to swapping ideas and experiences with her. I also hunt up the email addresses of several friends whom I’d like to interview for an upcoming article, and chat a little with my mom.

By now, sister #4 has arrived home from work, and she invites me to go shopping with her and sister #3. I feel like I’m on a roll with writing, but don’t want to miss their company, so I hop in the car with my laptop in tow. It stays in hibernation while we chatter up a storm, and stop at a consignment store. Then, while my sisters do the grocery shopping (yes, I am spoiled), I sit in the car and work. I had a new article idea the other night while I was supposed to be going to sleep, and I want to run it by my editor. I compose a note to him, and draft a message to my potential interviewees. Often I think most clearly about an article when I’m explaining it to other folks this way, and I’ll even refer back to my original email while I’m writing it.

Then I open up my current article, and thank the Lord, the creative juices begin to flow!  I have learned to be as grateful for writing progress as I am for rain in Israel, since neither comes by accident, but in answer to heartfelt prayer.

We sisters return home to discover that our younger brother has brought jalapeno poppers for our evening meal. Along with this unorthodox but welcome addition, my youngest sister fixes leftover beans and a fresh salad, and we sit down together for a late dinner. Now there are four of us around the table!

We clean up together, and then they decide to watch a DVD. I’ve seen it before, and I’ve already spent a while reading some favorite blogs, so I begin writing this post.

After about an hour, I’m still going strong, but it’s now well after 9:00, and I need to begin winding down, or I’ll have trouble sleeping tonight. I head downstairs to my grandma’s apartment, where we play a couple games of Skipbo. My grandma is one of the spunkiest people I know, and she’s also one of my best friends.

By the time we’re done, I’m very sleepy indeed. Feeling so grateful for God’s help today, I fall asleep to the music of a thunderstorm.

The rest of the week…

• Monday at the Farm in the City by Lanier
• Wednesday in North Idaho by Chantel
• Thursday at the Little Pink House by Gretchen (with series introduction)
• Friday in Sunny Southern California by Ashleigh
• Saturday at Castleberry Farms by Jeannie
• A Peek into Your Day by YLCF Readers

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

But I was positively delighted to discover that at the same time and place on my radio dial each day I could hear a new, conservative commentary on the news in the same beloved style of Paul Harvey News.

Check out the Huckabee Report–subscribe to the podcast, or for the old-fashioned sort like me, find it on your local radio station.   It’s about time we had some more reliable, conservative news sources in this country.  And I think Mike Huckabee’s Report will be just that.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

by Betsy Castleberry

The grass has turned green, tulips and daffodils are blooming, and the class of 2009 is graduating! My brother is among the graduate pictures on our refrigerator this year. It’s an exciting time, as you close a chapter and turn a new page, wondering what the next season of life will hold.

Yet with the graduating comes the age old question – “What are you going to do now?” Everyone asks you the same question, from friends and relatives to the cashier at the grocery store. It can be hard to know how to answer, especially for those of us who want to get married and don’t really desire a career.

You’ve finished high school, and now you move into the transition period between graduating and marriage. How should you use your time while you wait? It seems everyone but you knows exactly what you should do. You should go to college – you’re smart and should use your talent. Or you should get a job. How about a mission’s trip, or volunteer work? Maybe you should work in the home. It’s enough to leave your head spinning, but can I add my small word of advice?

Don’t do something simply because someone pressures you, or because you feel if you don’t decide on something the moment you graduate, you are wasting your time. It’s perfectly fine to graduate without knowing what you’re doing next. Isn’t that freeing? Why is it we want God to be on the world’s time line and to show us what we should do the day we turn eighteen? There is nothing wrong with telling everyone that you’re waiting for the Lord to give direction. It shows wisdom and a heart that truly wants the Lord’s will instead of satisfying the world.

Perhaps God has opened doors and shown the way ahead already, so that you know what you’ll be doing after you graduate. You may face opposition from people who don’t think you’re making the right choice, or try to persuade you otherwise. Yet if you truly feel God is leading you, follow Him with all your heart! I love what Chuck Swindoll says. “My job is not to defend or explain the will of God. My job is simply to obey it.” We don’t have to worry about others understanding or supporting us in what we do. If it’s His will, we simply obey.

“In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and His shall direct thy path.” (Proverbs 3:6) God blesses the heart that seeks to do His will.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

It’s more than a holiday. It’s more than a day for picnics and parties, for days at the beach. It is more than barbecues. It is a day to remember, and to honor those who have given their lives for their country. It is a day to realize and to understand the cost of war, the price of freedom. As many have said, freedom- any kind of freedom- isn’t free. We must remember this, and thank God that we are still free in this country.

We live in a generation where war has touched nearly every family in one way or another. There are few of us who have not felt the sting of war in our own hearts. It has brought separation, worry and tears, it has made heroes, and it has shown the true characters of others. It has called for bravery and courage in ways that many may never know. Some of these men- our husbands, brothers, sons, never came home to the family who loved them. They left an aching gap that can never be refilled, yet the memory of who they were will never die in the hearts of those they left behind.

Whether or not we agree with war, whatever may be our speculations as to what the real reason behind it is, it is our duty as fellow countrymen to support those who have gone away, to encourage them, to pray for them and it is our duty to remember those who gave all and the families, the wives and children who they left behind them when they fell. They may need to know that they are not alone. Today, we’re all here together as Americans, as fellow countrymen of any nation who has faced war. Today, it is the beginning of Memorial Day Weekend.

On Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 3:00 pm in your local time, it is the Moment of Remembrance. It is a moment of silent reflection, while the taps play, on the heroes and loved ones lost in every war.

Enjoy the weekend, enjoy the sunshine and the beauty that God has surrounded us with. Treasure the moments with your family, but stop and think of those who are not home, of those who have an empty seat at their family gathering and remember them in prayer to God.

And if you have the ability to bless some of those families in some other way, don’t forget them this Memorial Day weekend.

Listen to The Taps online.

Read about the History of Memorial Day in America.

Read other patriotic posts

• Soldier’s Wife
• Proud to Be An American
• The Future of America

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

Colonial Williamsburg, though, is something special. I could never get tired of it, I don’t think.  A lot went on her during the forming of our Country.  We stepped back into the year 1774, and life in some parts of the town, carried on as it did, except of course for the multitudes of visitors, who like us, had come to learn and experience and enjoy the old town and the past it presented.

My brother got chosen to be on the jury of the old court cases, we wandered through gardens, admiring the tidy rows and discovering plants we’d never seen growing before (Okra for one!)  and laughed at a random scarecrow who wore a straw sunbonnet and a dress.?

We got to watch the “Militia” march, and listen to the Fife and Drum Concert. When we went into the post office, I wished I had a letter to mail, but I’d left them all in the van and decided I’d just have to remember next time.

We went through so many little shops, and  I even got to play a little on one of the harpsichords that they make there.  I didn’t make it out of the town, either, without one of those beautiful straw bonnets, complete with bows and ribbons and a ‘hat pin’ that they sell there. Mom and Dad kindly paid part- for an early birthday present, and I carried it in my hand and guarded it the entire rest of the two and a half weeks we were driving around the states.

I even convinced my brother to buy a three cornered hat, and my sister, who thought the hats were quite silly, decided to buy a fife instead. It was a day that will long be etched into my mind, a happy day of new memories, mixed with a deepened love of our history, and this land that I am blessed to live in- for it’s heritage, if nothing else.

As we walked down the streets, I couldn’t help but think of those who had gone before- George Washington walked these streets, as did Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Peyton Randolph, and even Marquis de Lafayette and George Wythe.

But perhaps it was Patrick Henry, “re-living” through one of the re-enactors, who stood up and gave a speech that made all the many volumes of books I’d read on Patrick’s life and manners come to life before me, that captured my attention the most that first day. I think I could have stayed for hours to listen to the most ‘alive’ history lesson I’d ever had.

But all things come to an end, and when I left it was reluctantly indeed, for there was so much more I wanted to know, so much more to experience and so much more to see. Who knows if I shall ever have a chance to return just one more time, though I dream of it often.  I’d go back in a flash if I ever could!  I’m thankful, so thankful for the two happy days that I was blessed to spend wandering the streets of such a beautiful place, and to catch a little vision of what the lives of those great men, and those every day people of our past was like. It made my heart feel some sort of kinship with the past- for though our lives today are so very different from theirs in many ways, there are those ties of commonality, of hopes and dreams, of heartache and joy that every human being shares, and I will not forget my glimpse into their lives- both the “good” and the “bad” who made our history what it is.

Yet-if time should last, some 200 years from now, what would those who come after us see? I doubt they’d read -or even write- volumes on any one of our lives, unlike those who lived and worked in Williamsburg, but as Mr. Franklin said, just in case, perhaps we’d better be careful:

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write something worth reading or do things worth the writing.” –Benjamin Franklin

Pretty good advice this, don’t you think? Not for the sake of being remembered alone, for I don’t know that any of those great men particularly thought that 200 and some years from now we’d still be reading and remembering them as we do, they simply lived and struggled for what they believed and understood to be right and best for their country, and for their families. So we should live, and write and work – not for our own honor but to honor Him who gives us life, and no matter what should happen, or who should look at what we’ve left behind, or who should read what we have written hereafter, they will find a life well lived and words worth reading after all.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah…

Three words in, I stopped.

I was reading Isaiah 61. Which meant that despite all the debate about whether first century Jews spoke Hebrew or Aramaic, I could be sure that these exact Hebrew words came out of my Messiah’s mouth:

Ruach Adonai Yehovah alai
The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on me
ya’an mashach Yehovah oti levaser anavim
because anointed has Jehovah me to announce to the meek;
shlachani lechabosh lenishbrei-lev
sent me to bind up the broken-of-heart,
likro lishvuyim dror
to call to the captives, “Liberty!”
vela’asurim pkach-koach.
and to the bound, “Prison-opening!”
Likro shnat ratson leYehovah…
To proclaim the year of favor of Jehovah…

and just as He begins the second sentence, He stops, closes the book, sits down, and says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

That’s my Redeemer’s heart.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

If you, like me, grew up listening to “Gateway to Joy” every morning, you knew the next line was going to be, “This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot.”  That dear, familiar voice would proceed to tell you what she would be talking about with you today.  And it was always biblical, practical, and pertinent.

My mom, grandma, and I affectionately referred to her as “E.E.”  We listened to her tapes on car trips, faithfully caught the “Gateway to Joy” broadcast each morning, and always read the monthly Gateway to Joy Newsletter and The Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter.

It was the end of an era when “Gateway to Joy” went off the air.  I couldn’t listen to Nancy Leigh DeMoss (whose program “Revive Our Hearts” replaced “Gateway to Joy”) for years, simply because she was not Elisabeth Elliot.

But I was delighted to discover recently that I could still keep up with Elisabeth and her husband Lars on elisabethelliot.org.  There’s a new devotional each day pulled from Elisabeth’s past writings, all 21 years of The Elisabeth Elliot Newsletter are archived in PDF format, and best of all, Lars is still writing.  There’s no RSS feed for his “Ramblings from the Cove,” but bookmark the page and check back every month or two for the latest from the Grens with Lars’ humorous twist.  Back to the Bible still provides transcripts of some of the more recent years of “Gateway to Joy” broadcasts-good reading whether you heard every GTJ broadcast or have never even heard of Elisabeth Elliot (if that is possible).

Go soak up some wisdom from E.E.  And while you’re thinking of them, pray for Lars and Elisabeth.  I’m sure they’d appreciate the prayers for an extra measure of strength and a reminder of that everlasting love.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.

• To enter the drawing, please leave a comment with your email address.
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• This drawing open to readers with U.S. mailing addresses only, please.
• Drawing ends Friday, March 27, 2009.
• Winners will be chosen randomly and notified by email.

©2010 Young Ladies Christian Fellowship. All Rights Reserved.