Forever HisPrincess A MAGAZINE DESIGNED TO BRING A YOUNG LADY CLOSER TO THE HEART OF HER KING
WINTER 2016
FOREVER HIS
PRINCESS
IS ACCESSIBLE BY EITHER PRINT OR DIGITAL FORMAT FHP is a quarterly magazine available in printed form. 1-year- subscriptions are available for $35. You may subscribe by several means: 1. Send it via snail mail. (Address on our site and below) Include your email, name, address, and date. Address checks to We included a subscription card at the end of this magazine for you to cut out and send. 2. Visit the FHP website (foreverhisprincessmag.org) and follow the appropriate links to subscribe online.
FHP is also available for purchase in digital form. Individual issues are priced at $1.99 each. Subscribe via our site. If you purchase a subscription to FHP, a digital copy is included upon request. ADDRESS CHECKS TO ELISA KNICELY Address : PO Box 25 Bonners Ferry, ID 83805
Website subscribe.fhp@gmail.com
elisa
A note from
“A sacrifice to be real must cost, must hurt, and must empty ourselves. Give yourself fully to God. He will use you to accomplish great things on the condition that you believe much more in HIS love than in YOUR weakness.”
Recently, I’ve been inspired by Christian warriors; men, women and young people who A littleyielded note the theirfrom lives to the Lord Editor: and were used in a magnificent way. To say it is easy is quite wrong. It requires a sacrifice; a giving up of one’s everything for the cause of Christ. We as humans could tend to grimace at the thought of surrendering our lives away. We cling to our hopes, dreams, and fleshly wants. But I believe that once we’ve surrendered, He replaces those desires and leaves something in its place that is more beautiful that we ever imagined.
A clear depiction of this thought is what Jesus did for us on the cross. “Not my will, but Thine,” He prayed. He suffered, He died; and he gave up his life for the human race of sinners. Walking into the Christmas season, we are reminded of Jesus’ birth. The beginning of Christ’s love story is beautiful, but it is the ending that can save each one of us personally. And that is why we truly celebrate this season.
Elisa:
You could say that the quote above somewhat inspired the issue you now hold in your hands. Throughout the 48 pages, we have a faint theme of sacrificial living and life abandonment. One of my favorite thoughts came out of Shilah Hartman’s article ‘I Lay Me Down’. “True abandonment to Jesus does not mean all that I love will be taken from me, rather it means that I will commit to learn to love what Jesus loves and let Him guide me in my plans now and in the future. I will trust Him implicitly with all of me. I will lay me down.” Be sure to check out her lovely article on page 20. I want to take a minute and thank Louisa Friesen and Rosa Yoder for their deep dedication to FHP the past two years. Unfortunately, both of them are leaving the staff. We will miss your beautiful talent! As the articles slowly trickled in these past few months, I was blessed and inspired to live my life in abandonment to the Lord. I pray that you will feel the same.
lisa
e m o c h O ADORE ! m i LET US
H
IN THIS ISSUE Winter 2016
DISCOVERING YOUR KING HERE I AM, SEND ME
pg. 8
LETTER FROM YOUR KING I LAY ME DOWN
pg. 13
pg. 20 pg. 42
LIVING CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY MY BABY KING pg. 35
DISCOVERING RELATIONSHIPS UNLIKABLE OR UNLOVING?
pg. 23
GROWING UP pg. 16
LESSONS OF KINDNESS FROM RUTH CHASING FULFILLMENT pg. 30
NOTEBOOK 16 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU TURN 16! FOOD: CHRISTMAS TREATS
pg. 18
PROJECT INSPIRED: 5 GIFT IDEAS EMBRACE THE INNER ARTIST
pg. 40
pg. 44
SEASONAL DELIGHTS EMBRACE THE WINTER SEASON/ its the most wonderful time of year! BRING ON 2017!
pg. 14
pg. 38
pg. 30
18
28
40
23
30
8
20 16
42
NEW WORD
clinquant (ADJ) KLING-kuh-nt // glittering, especially with tinsel, decked with garish finery
contributors that made this issue possible
WE ARE: Women who are striving to find the heartbeat of God. We are living the mundane in a not-so mundane way because we’ve got Jesus right by our side. We live, love, and laugh, knowing that it’s the small things that make the differences. We delight in seeing God’s work in our lives. We recognize our deepest need of Him and we invite Him in as our only Father. He is the one we lift up and honor. Our desire is to pass this on to others.
ELISA KNICELY
ELESA STOLTZFUS
JANANE DOUTRICH
HEIDI HOCHSTETLER
founder, editor, creative director
coeditor, design assist, marketing
photographer
photographer
LOUISA FRIESEN
MARJ GEIGLEY writer
SHILAH HARTMAN writer
JESSICA WINGARD
writer
photographer
SPECIAL THANK YOU TO GUEST PHOTOGRAPHERS:
REBEKAH STOLTZFUS
JEN KAUFFMAN
NATALIE MILLER
TASHIA LEHIGH
SPECIAL THANK YOU TO GUEST WRITERS: Janelle Yoder, Judy Yoder, Kristy Yoder, Dorcas Yoder, Heather Lehigh AND PROOFREADERS: Victoria Martin, Loretta Mellinger, and Renita Bushnell Would you be interested in writing for a future issue of FHP? We enjoy a wide variety of writers, giving FHP a unique taste of originality. Older ladies are especially welcomed, as their experience and insight gives the younger generation wisdom to live by. Feel free to contact us with the information on page one.
Here I am,
send me Written by: Janelle Yoder Photography: Rebekah Stoltzfus
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What noble words! These words lie at the heart of the attitude that God desires to see in His children. Do they come easily? And when we say them, does living them out come naturally? I used to enjoy reading stories of those great missionaries who abandoned all, got on a ship, headed to the country of their calling, and stayed there for the rest of their lives, often without ever seeing their loved ones again. Something about their zeal and total surrender to the work of the Lord stirred something within me. How did they get that zeal, that sacrificial giving, that abandonment? God was at work in them, and the choices they made lent themselves to that type of life.
that were not totally according to His plan, he patiently continued His work in me. As you sense an inner tug toward total abandonment for Christ -- this "Here I am, send me" longing -don't ignore it. Make every decision count, and let everything you pour your heart into be with this in mind.
As God forms each person, He puts within them different gifts, abilities, and callings. Even though we ladies differ, God has put in us some of the same qualities: a nurturing heart, extra compassion, sensitive emotions, and many more. But beyond these gifts he's given you, the one thing God desires to find is a heart after Him. He loves to find a heart willing to serve and be sold out for His kingdom. To some He gives the calling of staying in their home communities and using those nurturing skills to teach, to start a home, or to reach out where they are. To others, he may give what we consider a more adventurous calling: to go to the ends of the earth. God already has a plan for your life; He will continue to reveal it to you step by step, decision by decision. But any unyielded ground and unsurrendered will in our life will affect our decisions. If we're not careful, we can sometimes find ourselves blindly following after things that we want, or what seems best to us, without really seeking the Father's heart for those decisions. Looking back on my life, after a good deal of my journey has been revealed, I see places where I stubbornly made my own decisions. If I would have sought the Father's heart, how perfectly that specific thing would have fit into the rest of my life! But I love how God works; he doesn't give up on us. He's a redeeming God. When I stubbornly made decisions
He loves to find a
He a r t
WILLING TO SERVE AND be
Sold out
FOR HIS
l
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