Book Number Two

Sunday I finished "Your Girl" by Vicki Courtney. This is a must read for every little girl's mother. Why did I read it? My friend Stephanie and I are doing research for our vision in writing "a mission type" curriculum for G.A.'s, R.A's and Mission Friends next year. We are presenting to our church in a few weeks...please be in prayer for that.

****update- the author of this book commented on my post...talk about humbling! Check out the comments at the bottom of the post!
Back to the book...Vicki writes about raising a godly daughter in an ungodly world. Chip Ingram also has a great study out on this too called "Effective Parenting in a Defective World". I learned tons of great biblical principals in that study as well..

Just to hit the high points:
1. As mothers we need to look at King Josiah. Kings 22:2 says, "he (Josiah) did what was right in the eyes of the Lord...not turning aside to the right or the left." Josiah wasn't raised with a heritage of faith...but he made a choice to not follow in the footsteps of his father/grandfather. As mothers we need to follow the steps Josiah took(a.) Josiah cried out and wept to God - 2 Kings 22:19. What do we cry out for? Direction. In today's world we need to cry out for our children and what they are tempted with and exposed to on a daily basis. We have to be careful not to become desensitized to our secular culture. (b.) Josiah pledged himself to covenant - 2 Kings 23:3. The Word of God is our instruction manuel. We have to teach our children that we don't just do what "feels" right; we have to know God's word and let it be a lamp unto our feet. As mothers we have to ask ourselves...are we following the rules or do we pick and chose the rules that were meant to be broken? Are we in the Word daily, modeling to our daughters and sons that we "pledge like Josiah, to become intimate with God's Word?" (c.) Josiah took action- 2 Kings 23:4-20. Vicki states, "It is not enough to raise our daughters to be prayer warriors...lover's of God's Word...in today's world we must raise our daughters to be activists."


Vicki also talks about "Battles Worth Fighting For"
1. The Danger of Conformity- Are we raising our kiddos to have the courage to stand up for their faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo in Daniel 3? Romans 12:2 "Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect." James 4:4 "You adulterers! Don't you realize that friendship with the world makes you and enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God." God calls us adulterers when we put more energy, time, or money in anything over Him. We are constantly teaching our kids something...(I am going to go off on a little rabbit trail)...what do we say to our kids when we don't have time to go to a Bible Study or Sunday night church, but we make time to get our hair done, watch TV, etc. I am preaching to myself here!
2. Passing Down The Formula For True Self-Worth. The world says your worth is summarized into the equation:

outside appearance + achievements = worth

God wants us to teach our girls that

their worth = who they are in Him.

Vicki asks in this chapter, "Can you (the mom) look in the mirror and say aloud, "Lord, I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." If we can't tell ourselves that, how are we suppose to teach our kids to feel that way about themselves?

3. Raising Daughters who say, "I Don't," until they say, "I Do." Do we teach girls that the only prince charming out there is Jesus. Only He is perfect and can totally fill the God spot in each of our hearts.

4. Dressed to Lure or Dressed to Be Pure - She says that clothing is like a label on a product. What is the clothing that our girls are wearing say about what is inside the "label".

5. Sugar and Spice and Not Very Nice- Vicki talks about cliques, mean girls, gossip, and jealousy.


Chapters 10-12 talk about arming our girls for battle.
1. Heritage of God's Word - The Word was written by God. It is relevant and reliable. Are we having a devotional time with our little girls every night? Do they witness us having a quiet time?
2. Heritage of Prayer- She talks about modeling the ACTS method of praying. Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. Okay, I am going to admit it - I had no idea what this was until I read it. It was great to hear her give ideas on teaching our children to pray.
3. Heritage of Faith -
Her Top Ten faith compromisers -
***Not attending church regularly
***Worshipping Only on Sundays
***Worrying/Failing to trust God in times of adversity
***Failing to Tithe
***Being a whiner
***Not sharing your faith
***Failing to put your past in it's place
***Being prideful or legalistic
***Failing to have a daily quiet time.