by Emily Parish

This month, KBR is hosting an “Encourage Your Siblings Challenge.” Throughout we are posting articles written by other sisters with ideas on how to invest in and encourage our siblings. As you take the challenge this month, we would love to hear what projects YOU have done together with your siblings. Email your ideas to us to share with other KBR readers!

Emily with her younger siblings

“If there be therefore any consolation in Christ,
if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any bowels and mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory;
but in lowliness of mind let each esteem
other better than themselves.”
{Philippians 2:1-3} 

Younger siblings are such a blessing! It is our responsibility as big sisters to invest in them wisely, and that can be done in many different ways…

In our Words and Attitudes

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Proverbs 25:11). Sometimes it can be difficult to encourage our siblings because we “don’t feel like it” (“I’m having a bad day”), but we need to leave our self-focused feelings behind and reach a hand out to our siblings. A single word of encouragement takes only a couple of seconds, like, “Wow, you finished all your school early today! Great job!” or “I can see Jesus in you, when you share your favorite train with baby sister.” I have tried doing this when I am having an upset mood, and it melted my self-focused heart to see a huge smile spread across my brother’s face! Since such a little sentence means so much to my siblings, why don’t I do it more often?

In our Study of God’s word

I once invited my younger sister to do a Bible Study with me. Every other day we would read about a different woman of the Bible. We would talk about her strengths and her weaknesses together; we would underline verses and write down things in our special “Woman of the Bible” notebook. I tried to make it fun for her by having special snacks and hot tea while we read and providing crafts to go along with our study. We had an enjoyable time together, grew in our relationship with one another and with our Heavenly Father.

Another way to encourage our siblings is to slip a Bible verse in their school books or place one on their bed, and add a little “thinking of you” and “love you” note. A Bible verse is always a perfect way to give them some of God’s Word and show them you care.

My siblings have had a lot of fun acting out plays from Bible stories. Often performing for our parents or video taping for viewing later, makes lots of laughter and smiles!

In Prayer

“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). Praying with our siblings is a perfect way to encourage our siblings in the Lord. When we were younger, my oldest sister, Rebekah would always want to pray with me and my other older sister before we went to bed. I am so happy I have a sister like that! As a little girl, her joy and love towards the Lord encouraged me to search God’s Word more and not focus only on the things I wanted in prayer. She has inspired me to encourage my younger siblings with shared prayer at bedtime.

In Song

“Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp” (Psalm 150:1-3).

I like to sing praise songs with my younger siblings. This is an opportunity to be with your siblings, memorize Psalms, and praise the Lord together. When we praise the Lord, why not encourage our siblings to praise Him with us and to sing with all their heart to the Lord – and praise Him daily as they work and play?

In Work

“Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men” (Colossians 3:23). One day I wanted to make biscuits for the neighbors, but it was my turn to watch my two little sisters. Then I thought of an idea. I put them both on stools, got the cookie cutters out, and asked them if they would like to help me make a gift from the kitchen. After we were done, there was flour all over the kitchen floor and all over them! Even though the biscuits weren’t quite perfect, they had a blast and we were all able to bless the neighbors with our work.

While studying Asia, my sister Olivia (9) and I planned and served a Chinese breakfast for my family. We decorated the room with lots of homemade Chinese crafts. Her biggest pleasure was that “Big Sis” even dressed up in a qi’pao (Chinese dress) with her. Now she is asking me to do a foreign breakfast once a month!

“Feed bag races”

In Play

When you were younger, you liked to play – it might be playing baby dolls, a game of basketball, “feed bag races,” or fossil hunting – what it was, you always wanted a big sister/brother or Mommy and Daddy to do it with you, right? This is another way we can encourage our siblings, by spending time and playing with them. Try to keep in mind that each one of our siblings is very different. They have different ideas of interest and what is fun. So be creative and think of what they like doing, and make a fun project out of it.

Our siblings need our love and our encouragement. Instead of waiting for tomorrow, invest in the opportunities today! This is our responsibility as a sister. May God bless you as you encourage your siblings.

In Him Alone,
Emily Parish (14)

Enjoy this month’s special computer desktop wallpaper:

by Lesa

“A wise son heareth his father’s instruction:
but a scorner heareth not rebuke.”
{Proverbs 13:1} 

It was a beautiful spring day as we came out of church that Sunday morning. As all of us children ran to play tag or some other game before our parents started gathering us to go home, our attention was drawn to some little boys running between cars, grasping at something. My sister Hayley and I went to see what it was, and found two baby ducks lost in the church parking lot. They were so cute! We helped catch them and the others crowded around to pet them. Others searched the poor duckies’ mother, but they came back with the report she was nowhere to be found.

We showed mom and dad the baby ducks and told them we couldn’t find their mother anywhere. We hoped, of course, as little girls will do, to adopt them.

“Please can’t we take them home?” I asked. “The pavement is so hot and they have nowhere to go.”

“And I think there are some big dogs around here that could eat them!” Hayley said as she tried to convey their immanent.

“Girls, I’m sure the mother duck is close by, and when we leave, she’ll call them,” Dad told us.

But at the heart of our “concern” for these ducks’ wellbeing, was a desire to have pets to enjoy, and we were not easily persuaded. Despite his cautions to us that these were not hamsters and rabbits, but animals that belong in the wild and should stay there for their good, we persuaded our father to let us keep them—at least until they were old enough to go free in the creek.

“Honour thy father and thy mother:
that thy days may be long upon the land
which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”
{Exodus 20:12} 

Happiness knew no bounds as we drove home that day! We named our beautiful ducks Millie and Molly. Hayley and I planned for their new home in the bathtub upstairs. When we got home, all five of us kids worked together to give them water and something we thought baby ducks would eat, a cozy “nest” and towels to make them comfortable.

We so enjoyed those baby ducks! They were eating well and even would search out little things to eat in the grass. They would nestle in our hair and would go to sleep while we sat and read a book. We loved them, and they seemed very happy.

But when God set up fathers as the head of their homes, He also gives them a wisdom He doesn’t endow to the children. We had not come to understand this principle quite yet.

However, only a few days later, Millie started acting strange. She quit eating and was very lethargic. Then to our horror, she began throwing her little head back and was unable to control her movements. We cried as we watched our beloved baby duck pass away and held a somber funeral for her in the back yard.

We were still so grateful for the duck that was left; she was still very healthy. Perhaps Millie had gotten sick. Certainly it wasn’t anything we had done—we had given her the utmost care. Thoughts played in the back of my mind, wondering if we should have listened to Dad…

The next day we gave all of our attention to poor little Molly, who was now alone. We tried to make her feel less lonely by putting a doll in the bathtub with her so she could snuggle in the hair. But by the following day, as I sat with her on my lap while I read a book, I noticed the same symptoms I had seen before Millie passed away. I jumped up and ran to the kitchen. “Mom! She’s dying too!” I wailed.

After Molly was laid to rest beside her sister, Hayley and I tearfully came to the conclusion that our father had been right. The next time we went to church, we saw a mother duck swimming in the creek with several other ducklings. At that moment we realized that sometimes fathers will have a caution about something; as we strive to be submissive daughters, we need to heed these cautions and not demand an explanation before we make a choice. We hugged our daddy and promised him to always obey him from our hearts.

“We need to heed [our father’s] cautions
and not demand an explanation.”

Since that day there have been many times when the ideas of us girls have been different from Dad’s. Our minds go back to two baby ducks in the bathtub and the tragic lesson they taught us. We look at Daddy, and with a new respect we say, “We will obey you. We trust your heart.”

“The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice:
and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.”
{Proverbs 23:24} 

~Lesa McKay
{Guest Writer}

…But God’s Vessel of Honor
by Ashleigh

“I am only one
But I am one
And I cannot do everything
But I can do something
And what I can do I will do
And what I will do I must do
For I am one.”

 Two years ago, when I read this quote, I realized something very significant…something amazing. I am one!

I am the third daughter of ten children. I have realized that because I have eight younger brothers and sisters watching me, my life is influencing them greatly! I often have to stop and ask myself, am I blessing or cursing? Am I building or breaking? Am I leaving a life-changing imprint on these younger lives for the use of God?

We regularly have well-meaning people tell us girls that we should be out there, finding ministries and getting busy. While visiting the doctor a couple of months ago, he heard that I was the daughter of ten children and homeschooled. He asked me, “Do you find that you get your own independence with all that?” He almost sounded concerned. I didn’t quite know what he meant, but it suddenly dawned on me, our family is different! How often do you see a family all travelling in one vehicle at one time? Or going for walks on the beach, going to parks, singing together in the home, going to birthday parties all together? It surely is a beauty that is disappearing. God has done much in our lives for this to take place, and is still doing so much more. I already have a ministry—my family. They are one of my biggest ministries at the moment: living with my family and helping out where needed.

If we all realized that we each are a significant one; that we can make such a difference just through washing dishes or hanging out laundry, or giving time to siblings. God places each new day into our lives almost as a test, a fresh test for His children to praise and honor Him. If we would “let go, and let God,” how much more each one of us would be transformed!

I see my time of serving my family as training ground for the future. I told one mother that my big dream is Africa, going to remote villages and orphanages. She asked me how I was preparing for that today by serving my family. I realized that it’s not me who is preparing; it’s God who is preparing me: He has placed me in a home were I cook for “big numbers,” clean, look after little ones, and more. He’s preparing me for something, maybe not Africa or overseas, but something.

In all that God brings into our life, do we girls realize that He’s wanting to shape us into His tools? He’s making us into rubies, worth much in the eyes of Jesus. Isn’t it wonderful? When I tire, I have to remember that He is making me into something—a vessel for His use and glory!

“Will He plead against me with His great power?
No: but He would put strength in me.
But He knoweth the way that I take:
when He hath tried me,
I shall come forth as gold.”
(Job 23:6,10)

The Lord has given us daughters different opportunities and circumstances to serve. However, are we seeing that even the simplest things have the capacity to be great ministries for Him? He’s given us “ministries” that are not always seen as ministries, but God’s working on us through the unique opportunities of serving our parents, brothers and sisters.

It’s a hidden service that, most of the time, is only seen by God. We do not need to worry about what others don’t agree with in our lives, as long as we know that we are right where God wants us!

“The Lord is my helper,
and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
{Hebrews 13:6} 

~Ashleigh
{Guest Writer from New Zealand}

by Victoria

Our culture today promotes young women to pursue higher education, careers, and life outside the shelter of their father’s home. It tells us to think about the paths we should take for careers when we enter high school, and the day we hit our senior year, the all-powerful question comes—“Where are you going for college?” It’s assumed that you will acquire some form of higher education, because the world tells us that is where we find our value.

Yet, a generation of young women is rising up that is going against the flow of the world’s expectations, and is seeking God’s requirements instead. We are taking a stand against what is considered “normal,” and living radically different from the world. We are set-apart(Leviticus 11:45; 1 Peter 1:14-15), yet it’s still hard to retrain our minds from the college/career paradigm that has been driven into us. We can easily slip and find ourselves looking at the fast-paced track of “success” that other young women are on, forgetting that our worth is found in being virtuous and productive at home.

Some of the world’s lie remains in our heads because we deceive ourselves into believing that being a daughter-at-home is boring and a waste of time and talent. On the contrary, it is exactly the opposite! There are more opportunities to grow and further your talents at home while blessing others around you, than in pursuing your own selfish desires. Instead of seeking higher education for a career that we will one day put on the shelf and no longer use after marriage, we must seek a multi-generational cause. The home is an exciting, exhilarating place when you are able to:

· Spend unlimited time with the Lord. Although you have responsibilities at home, you also have the freedom to ponder Scripture throughout the day, read your Bible whenever you desire, and be in constant praise to your Maker! By being at home, you can invest spiritually in the lives of your siblings, mentoring them and sharing what the Lord has been teaching you. You can also disciple other young women in the ways of the Lord.

·Learn homemaking skills. You can pursue and master important skills that will bless not only your family now, but also your future husband, children, and their children after them. Beyond the basics of culinary arts, housekeeping, and childcare, you can become proficient in sewing, soap making, lesson planning, budgeting, and other pursuits that will be beneficial for years (and generations) to come.

·Become like Christ. Above all, the beauty of staying at home and blessing your family is that you will become more like Christ—Who came to serve, and ultimately lay down His life. (Matthew 20:28) There is no greater purpose than that, to pour out your life for the Master’s use. Learn to become His hands and feet, always ready to do His will and touch the lives of others.

So, let us prepare our minds for action (1 Peter 1:13), grounded in the truths that we believe (Ephesians 6:13), and be ready to give an answer of the hope that we have (Col. 4:6).

“Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts:
and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you
a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.”
{I Peter 3:15}

What an opportunity we have to do this while being virtuous and productive daughters at home—finding our worth in God’s plan!

~Victoria
{Guest Writer}