MESSAGE
FROM CARMEN
Hey folks, you've been waiting a long time for this! Perhaps some of you have even forgotten that you subscribed to this CourtshipNow E-Letter! As we were preparing our e-mail list, I noticed some of you had signed up more than once (someone had signed up five times) ... no doubt wondering why your subscription was not working! Alas, I was determined that before baby number seven arrived, I would get this first CourtshipNow E-Letter sent off . . . since we just had baby number eight
in December, you can see that I did not meet that goal!!! But Benjamin and Jacob have both been wonderful distractions, and are both excellent reasons for me to have postponed this particular aspect of our ministry—as I'm sure you'll all agree!
Alas, raising a family, running a ministry, and trying to be an author and publisher is not as easy as one would think! Nor is it at all glamorous—for any of you who might have "romantic" notions of this woman who apparently "has it all together"! Those of you who know me I'm sure would laugh at that assertion. For the rest of you, I really should include a picture of my office and laundry room—but that would just be too scary!!! You'll just have to take my word on it—I don't have it all together!
But what I do have is an ardent desire to spread a message of purity in our world and to promote the idea of Christian courtship ... and I am blessed to be supported by an amazing husband and eight incredible children!
So here we are, some three years later, sending off our first CourtshipNow E-letter. I hope that over the next few months we can become coordinated enough in our efforts to keep this coming out to you on a regular basis (in a non-scheduled way)!
Blessings on you all!
In Our Lady's Love,
Carmen
May 10, 2007P.S. Today is my hubby's 45th birthday! You can be sure he never dreamed that by the time he was 45 years old he'd be sitting there with eight children, scarcely two pennies to rub together, no hope of retirement in sight, and running a Catholic ministry! Isn't it amazing the way life never works out the way we plan! But, hey, he still has most of his hair! God is good ... all the time!
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COURTSHIP, THE NEED FOR SUPPORT
Running a ministry is much like a courtship relationship. It involves:
being completely counter-cultural
living with unknowns about the future
stepping out in faith
turning to mentors for guidance
relying on a community of support
practicing patience
spending a whole lot of time in prayerful discernment.
I feel that as we go into our fifth year of ministry as a family I am now an expert—if not on "courtship" at least on the "confusion and chaos" that living a counter-cultural life can bring!
My years in this ministry, have shown me just how much our youth and families need to be supported in the idea of courtship. It is such a counter-cultural notion, and there are so few role-models to turn to. It's very easy to fall into disillusionment and just slip back into accepting the dating patterns of our society, if you do not have the support to help hold onto that original vision of courtship that first inspired you! Hopefully this e-letter can provide some of that support. Please forward it on to family and friends whom you think might also be in need of support in this area.
So what inspired you about the idea of Christian Courtship in the first place? I'd like to challenge you each to go back to that original vision and spend some time reflecting on it in prayer. I'd also like to share with you my own "testimony" of courtship.
When my husband an I had been married about five or six years, we were driving home one night from my uncle's farm. It was late, and we turned on the radio. By God's providence, what was on was an interview on "Focus on the Family" about courtship. We were both so inspired by this interview that we agreed at that time that we were going to put courtship into practice in our family.
You see, my husband and I did not practice courtship ourselves. Though we were both Catholic Christians who had grown up practicing our faith, we were also both products of the dating culture. As such, we had both suffered scars that come from the physical and emotional impurity of long-term and casual dating relationships. In our own relationship we had made mistakes. We came into marriage with each of us holding onto our own suitcases full of "baggage", and this had created a number of stresses on our relationship. We both readily identified that the path of our lives would have been so much easier and certainly more God-glorifying and dynamically romantic, had we been directed to Christian Courtship and had practiced its principles, even—and especially—during our single years!
We were hooked on the concept, and we took every opportunity that presented itself to inform ourselves about Christian Courtship: listening to talks, reading books, discussing it with other families. We wanted our children to be raised in this ideology from the time they were very little, so there would be no "surprises" in their lives when they suddenly turned to an age of wanting to date.
We considered ourselves very blessed to have been able to have received the message of Christian Courtship at that early stage of family life so that our children were able to grow up with it. We were also very blessed to have been able to openly discuss this with other family and friends in our community, so that our children could grow up with a base of support for this concept among their peers.
As the years went on in our marriage we never once suspected that we would someday be running a Catholic ministry promoting Christian Courtship to the world. There have been a number of times that Satan has attacked me personally with the lie: "You are such a hypocrite to preach Christian Courtship; you never did that. You made lots of mistakes!" I have to rebuke those lies, reminding myself that we are all sinners ... that the Lord is capable of restoring us all to grace ... and that we can be made new in His love and mercy! So move on!
It is important for parents to understand this. I come across this everywhere I go to speak: parents worry that they can't expect their kids to not date, or to remain chaste until marriage, because they themselves dated and were not chaste. Remember this:
What is hypocritical is if I were to tell my children that I love them and then I allow them to go out and make the same mistakes I made without giving them any direction as to something better, now that I know there is something better for them!
So be encouraged and trust in the Lord. Give your children the gift of "Christian Courtship" by setting it as a standard in your home.
The Lord knew what He had in store for my husband and myself, and He allowed us to make our mistakes along the way so that we would have the conviction to persevere with this ministry. We know what is at stake for our youth. We don't want to see anyone lost in this "Culture of Death". We want to do everything we can to help rebuild a "Civilization of Love". We want to see families strengthened and supported in putting Christian Courtship into practice, so that the vocations (not just marriage, but single life and religious life as well) that will blossom out of these homes will have every opportunity to be joy-filled, dynamic, and God-glorifying—without all the baggage that comes from secular living.
That is why we do what we do!
And that is why we have put it all on the line here at One Way Publishing House, more affectionately referred to as "One Way Crazy House" by our family ... for we all have become fools for Christ.
We are fools for Christ’s sake …
(1 Cor 4:10)We are presently facing the potential of bankruptcy due to this ministry. And the Lord has granted us tremendous peace in facing this trial, for we know that we are doing His work and that He will keep us in His providence, no matter what! Yesterday, while discussing this with my twelve-year-old, she said to me, "If we're meant to lose it all, it is because it'll be for God's greater glory." It was as simple as that!
And indeed it is that simple, for if we have the eternal perspective by which to measure our present actions, then we will be able to step forth in faith and trust that God will provide for all our needs.
If just one soul comes to Jesus who otherwise would not have, then it's worth it all! If one person can be spared or saved from a life of impurity, then it's worth all the cost! The Lord has shown us, in His faithfulness, that indeed our efforts have not been in vain!
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NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF GOOD REMEDY:
In keeping with that we are praying a Novena to Our Lady of Good Remedy, asking for her help during this time of need for our family and our ministry. We appreciate all your prayers for us, and in turn we pray for each of you—our readers—each day.
We want to recommend to you this wonderful novena for your own needs and intentions.
Click here for more info on Our Lady of Good Remedy and to print off the novena.
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AWESOME RESOURCES FOR CATHOLIC YOUTH AND FAMILIES:
The feature resource for this CourtshipNow E-Letter is my second novel, SURRENDER, the sequel to Arms of Love.
Surrender will keep you captivated as it takes you into Brandon and Joanie Vaughn’s new life together and as you follow the unpredictable paths of Maggie and Amie Collins to know God’s will ... in a whole new story of discernment and responding to God’s call.
A great way of promoting: family life, the sacrament of marriage, Theology of the Body, courtship, chastity, and our Catholic faith."In a world where discernment and seeking God's Will are so often ignored, Surrender offers a fresh new perspective on the peace that comes from opening one's heart up to the beautiful and rewarding plans that God has for all those who seek Him with all their heart."
(Stacey, 21 years old)"It is a wonderful book about discernment and all the amazing and sometimes hard things that come with it, about the sacrifices one makes for love, and the wonderful things that happen when you put God at the center and follow his will."
(Maria, 15 years old)To order, please visit our website www.courtshipnow.com
or call us at 1-800-705-7396 or 306-934-3511.As always, BULK DISCOUNTS are available
to help you evangelize.Arms of Love and Surrender are wonderful tools for supporting yourself and others to live a counter-cultural life of purity! Let's spread the word and help others to embrace a new vision for courtship—with a fresh, new perspective!
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St. Francis of Assisi:
"Preach the Gospel at all times . . . when necessary, use words!"
Pope John Paul II:
"The future starts today, not tomorrow."
Mother Angelica:
"Faith is one foot on the ground, one foot in the air,
and a queasy feeling in the stomach.”
Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta:
"I know God will not give me
anything I can't handle.
I just wish that He didn't trust me so much!"
St. Augustine:
"If God seems slow in responding, it is because He is preparing a better
gift.
He will not deny us. God withholds what you are not yet ready for.
He wants you to have a lively desire for His greatest gifts.
All of which is to say, pray always and do not lose heart."
And for those of you who enjoy a good laugh,
an awesome quote I came across from Pope John Paul II:
"Stupidity is also a gift, but one mustn't misuse it!"
(Too funny!)
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world.
We cannot continue without your support and prayers!
May you be blessed for your generosity!
For orders, please visit us at:
http://www.courtshipnow.com/store/home.php
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