Dearest Sisters,

“...Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on Him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe He is precious...” 1 Peter 2:6-7 Greetings in Christ, my sweet friends! I pray this letter finds you rejoicing in the greatness of our God and praising Him for the truly precious Savior we serve.

…I was eagerly anticipating this issue’s topic, “A Joyful Servant’s Heart,” as the call to serve the Lord is one which He has deeply impressed upon my life. Isaiah 49-50 are beautiful passages to me, outlining a servant’s call and obedience. Although I believe these are prophecies of our Lord Jesus, are we not admonished to walk in His steps?! What a beautiful example He has set before us. “And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to mnister, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:27-28

by Tiffany S.
from Virtuous Daughters, April/May 2017~Volume 17, Number 1

Dear Sisters,
…One of my prayers for this year was that I would enjoy sweet fellowship with the Lord in His Word. One way I hoped to do that was by reading through the Bible chronologically....my sweet brother surprised me with a chronological Bible as a New Year’s gift! It has been such an exciting journey as I have learned many beautiful lessons and truly enjoyed spending time with the Lord. A few things He has shown me thus far....

The Lord is reminding me to seek His face. A friend and I are memorizing Psalm 27, and as I have pondered this beautiful chapter, God has revealed so many truths! One thing do I desire of the Lord! When He asks me to seek His face, my heart cries out that His face—and His face only—will I seek. “When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.”—Psalm 27:8 

    You see, when we are seeking the Lord, we cannot be seeking anything else. Looking into His face causes us to be awed by His power, His grace and mercy, His love, and His justice. 
    What sort of things snatch our attention and shift our focus away from the Lord? The list is endless as it is anything that is not God Himself. Here are a few examples:
    Fear. Fear is a very real feeling that grips and penetrates our hearts and lives. When we are fearful, we are focusing on things, people, doubts, situations, or the unknown rather than seeking the Lord. Psalm 9:10 brings me peace during frightening circumstances. “And they that know Thy name will put their trust in Thee: for Thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee.” This ties in beautifully with Psalm 27:8.
    Wants. We all have something we want in life. It could be money, friends, material things, fashionable clothes, easier school or work, etc. But Psalm 27:4 reminds us that we should only seek our Lord’s face. “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.”
    The World. What a distraction! Fads, attitudes, pleasures—they pull us away from our responsibility to seek the ways of Christ. Nothing, however, is comparable with the rewards and blessings of being devoted to our Lord. “Teach me Thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.”—Psalm 27:11
    What does it mean to seek, anyway? I think it is a yearning, burning desire to have something. All of our energy is put into seeking it. We search, we persist. We “hunger and thirst” after it. Is this how we seek after Christ? Are we passionate about abiding in Him, loving Him, and being devoted to His work? He will always accept those who long to know Him better, so start seeking Him today!
    “But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”—Deuteronomy 4:29

Seek His Face,
​Tiffany

My dear young lady 
So full of dreams;
(I’m also full of them, too!)
If you truly desire 
Your dreams to come true,
You’ve got to stop wishing, and do.


You say to yourself, 
Quite often in fact,
“I’m good at such-and such.
One day when I’m older 
And all grown up,
It’ll surely amount to so much.”


But, alas, dear girl! 
Life is too short,
And now is the time to do.
Don’t wait till you’re grown 
Or too sickly to serve
NOW is the time for you!


When your life is near over, 
And you’re weary and worn;
Let there be no regrets back.
And say to yourself, 
“I’ve nothing to mourn,
I’ve always ben busy on track.


“The Lord was at work 
In all of my days.
No one despised of my youth.
His grace is sufficient 
No matter our age
And this is a timeless truth.”

What if as a baby your doctor made a mistake that resulted in personal blindness?
What would you have thought? Was the doctor not educated? Negligent? Careless? How could something this tragic befall you? Would you be mad at the doctor, your parents, or even God? This “what if” was a reality for a person named Fanny Crosby. How would she handle this calamity? “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness . . . For when I am weak, then am I strong.”--2 Corinthians 12:9–10

The secret of life
Is letting go.
The secret of love
Is letting it show
In all that I do,
In all that I say,
Right here in this moment.
 
The power of prayer
Is in a humble cry.
The power of change
Is in [yielding] my life
And laying it down,
Down at Your feet,
Right here in this moment.
 
This songwriter beautifully, truthfully captures the secret to Christian living. It applies to all of us across the spectrum of life—young and old, women and men, followers and leaders, daughters, mothers, sisters, wives. Amy Carmichael puts it this way:
 
But all through life I see a cross,
Where sons of God yield up their breath.
There is no gain except by loss;
There is no life except by death.
 
What does surrender to God ultimately mean? What concepts does it carry into our lives as we seek to walk it every day? It’s helpful to lay groundwork at the start of our discussion. Please muse with me for a moment. Read slowly and ponder.

“Stop!! There's a car coming!” I cried out impulsively, as we started to accelerate after a stop sign at a highway intersection. A car, fast approaching at highway speeds, was less than 120 feet away and headed straight toward our vehicle. In that millisecond, I knew there was scarcely time for our vehicle to stop before we were completely in the lane of the incoming car, and a t-bone collision was inevitable.
  
As I sensed the oncoming wreck, I knew—without a shadow of a doubt—this would be it. We have had close calls in our travels before, from which God had always so mercifully delivered us—but this time, I felt so keenly it was too close to be a “close call”—it would be “the call” for me to go Home.