Dear Anna-Sofia and Elizabeth,
I recently read your book ‘So Much More’ and it was instrumental in changing my views on my role as a woman of God, and I am so thankful for it.
I live in the U.K. and in September 2005 I began attending a teaching college, and I actually completed my first year there. I was a Christian, however my contact with Christian education had been very limited and it never even occurred to me as an option – in my opinion I was going to teach in the State schools and act as witness there, I could see no contradiction between being a Christian and teaching what the State required. However my brother-in-law and sister had very different convictions on education (they have 5 children and are home-schooling the oldest three) and they bought me ‘The Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum’ by Rushdoony. Reading that book was the beginning of a massive change in my views of education, and I began to realise how essential it is to proclaim Christ’s authority in all things, of course once I realised that, I realised that I could not (without compromise) teach in the State schools. I began to discuss my new found convictions with my parents and although they understood and agreed with many of the things that I said, it was very much their desire that I should finish college and get a degree.
It was around this time that a friend told me of an American college called the Whitefield who offered courses by correspondance, and one of those courses was in Christian education, moreover my friend’s niece was planning on doing this course and so I would have someone to talk to about it! I was delighted, and my parents were encouraged to find that I could be trained in Christian education – however they still wanted me to finish my original degree. I felt torn as I did not want to disobey my parents, but I did not desire to spend three more years being influenced in humanisim at college. Nevertheless, I finished my first year at college and applied for the Whitefield and trusted that if it were the Lord’s will, He would give my parents a change of heart.
… I ought to explain that from the time I was very young, I had always maintained that I was not going to get married, and I felt that a mother could send her children to school and go and get a job herself. My sister’s example challenged this view, and on a previous occasion when staying with them I had read ‘Praise Her in the Gates’ – this changed my view on motherhood, and I was very keen to encourage my married cousins to remain in the home, but I still refused to apply it to myself and remained stubbornly determined that I was not going to get married. In my mind, marriage was for some people, but not for me.
About a month into a recent stay at my sister’s I read ‘So Much More’. I remember the day that it arrived my sister was looking through it and her first comment was ‘I like this book’ and then she sat and giggled to herself! I asked why, and she referred to your comments regarding singleness, and how it is not a gift for us to choose (my sister and brother-in-law greatly desired to see my views on marriage and femininity change). I began reading it, and was greatly convicted by it. I had thought that I was opposed to feminism and that I did not desire independence, but I began to see that there was much I did not know of myself! By the time I was half-way through your book I realised that my thoughts on marriage and my role were unbiblical and I repented of them (much to the delight of my sister). It also caused me to view the time that I would spend helping my sister in a different light, previously I had simply thought of it as helping my sister, but then I realised what a wonderful opportunity it was for training me in the running of a home and embraced it as such.
I spent six months with my sister and brother-in-law and it was a wonderful opportunity for me and from my sister’s example, and from practice at running a home (and even a house move!) I learnt much about my role – yet if it had not been for the change in my views, I believe that I would have lost much of the blessing that that opportunity afforded me.
I am now home, and my father has read parts of ‘So Much More’ (specifically the parts regarding college) and I believe that his own attitude has been changed by reading it. I’m now seeking to use my time to help my family and develop skills that will be useful to me as a wife and mother, and will make me a blessing to others.
Thank you so much for your book, it has been a blessing to me and I am so thankful that I read it! It has been such an encouragement for me to realise (through your book and your web-site) that although I do not necessarily know many people who share this vision, yet there are others out there who are living it out daily and God honours those who honour Him.
Thank you,
your sister in Christ
Rachel (19)