So many girls do not receive home education anymore. Even if homeschooled, their learning seems to stop at the last paragraph of their science report, when they then plug onto social media or get lost in a fiction series. Where are the 'excellent wives' of Proverbs 31:10 in training? Maybe this is why they are so hard to find. (Proverbs 31:10.) I believe that schoolwork (reading, writing, arithmetic, etc.) absolutely ties into home education. But I also believe that schoolwork is not all there should be. For a girl who desires to glorify God with her life, there must be homework - home management training! Titus 2 women! We need them desperately! The girls in my generation are starving for knowledge about how to run a home, and God's Word is being blasphemed because of it. Generations of children with souls are walking in the counsel of the ungodly because the women have not paid attention to their flock, nor attended to their herds, but have been seeking riches and crowns which do not endure. (Proverbs 27:23-24.) To be fair, it is not all the women's fault, but it frightens and saddens me when many of my friends and acquaintances answer the question, "What books do you like to read?" with the titles of fantasy series or novels. I do not know where the excellent wives we so desperately need are going to come from if we're all using our spare time on things of such low priority. I apologize for being so blunt, but I don't think it is the time to be using watered down terms about things like this anymore. The bottom line is that we tend to set our sights so low. We tend to have little to no vision and be foolish, not understanding the will of God. (Ephesians 5:17.) I want to encourage you that Proverbs 31 women do not just 'happen.' She does him good and not evil all the days of her life. (Proverbs 31:12) There are skills that we, Christian teenage girls, can be learning now so that we do not have to learn them on 1.75 speed later on.
Below are 14 skills I think are highly valuable for teenage girls to learn. My goal is to take principles from the Proverbs 31 woman's life and suggest ways that modern Christian girls can follow her example. Whereas the Proverbs 31 woman of the Bible held a spindle, the modern Proverbs 31 woman might hold a camera.
These are skills that do either of three things, 1) save our family money, 2) add to the family economy, or 3) bless the family unit. Please do not be intimidated - these are not even all skills that I have mastered yet (even if there is a picture of me 'doing' it. 😁) But whether or not I have had experience in these yet, they are all on my to-master list because I think they are all important.
This is not by any means an exhaustive list. One of the beauties of womanhood is that God has given us all unique talents and He puts us in different situations for those things to blossom and flourish. Part II coming soon!
(Note: This is not in order of importance. 😁)
#1: Nutrition
A question I often ask girls is how often they cook for their family. One girls' answer impressed me. So I asked her what she was going to make for dinner that night. And then I understood. There is a difference between opening several pre-made meals and heating them up and creating a nutritious meal from scratch for your family. Whether you plop something out of a bag or use hand-picked wholesome ingredients, cooking for your family is a personal and loving thing to do. However, what we feed them is also highly important when it comes to loving our family by keeping them healthy and well-fed.
I grew up thinking I ate healthy. We shopped at Trader Joes, always checked the ingredients before buying things, and the word 'donut' was almost a curse word. However, when we moved to the country, one thing led to another, and has been, ever since, and we have made revolution after revolution to our diet. Now, even though we eat so differently than we used to, I see how much farther there is to go, and I am not sure that I would even say we eat healthily, even now! There is only so far you can go with health in our cursed world, but as excellent homemakers in the making, I believe it is our duty to know how to provide nutritious meals for our family. A wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. Food, healthy or unhealthy, can be one way that girls can, in a very practical sense, either build up or tear down their households. It is important that we know how to cook, of course, but do we know what to cook?
She brings her food from afar... ~ Proverbs 31:14b
How To Start: There is so much to learn about nutrition that it can be intimidating! I asked my mother once what books she recommended I read about all sorts of subjects. On nutrition, she suggested two resources:
- Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. Unfortunately, this lady is not a believer and her views are sometimes very off, and we do not believe or practice everything she does in this book, but mama found the insightful research and knowledge this lady has about health life-changing. The biggest thing mama says it taught her is just how unhealthy even "healthy" food can be, how to recognize ingredients that are contributing culprits to many modern diseases, and what to look for when we read labels.
- BreadBeckers.com is a wealth of information about eating the way God intended... and it's all from a biblical worldview! For starters, you can request a free CD that explains, biblically, why baking bread with freshly ground flour is so beneficial for our health. It is called "Do Not Eat The Bread Of Idleness," by Sue Becker. Also, you can listen to three online audio messages for free here. They are called, "Hospitality," "Not By Bread Alone," and "The Truth About Wheat."
Note: I am not endorsing everything found in either of these two resources. Neither have I read all of what I am linking to, nor listened to. Research at your own risk. 😁
#2: Finance/Budgeting/Accounting
My brain seems to operates in curly-cues and polka dots, so I have had a challenge with numbers, but I am overcoming. It's incredible how simple the answer was... free worksheets from math-drills.com... the reason I am finally getting the hang of it. :D (And if I am, then certainly you can too.) One of the verses that has motivated me in this is:
The heart of her husband safely trusts her, so he will have no lack of gain. ~ Proverbs 31:11
I turned this verse over and over in my mind, trying to figure out a way for the Proverbs 31 wife to do this without spending any time budgeting. This is another one of those many skills that is very relevant and necessary whether you are married or not. As Christians of any age, we are told to be good stewards of what we have been given, and budgeting is a really helpful tool towards this end.
In addition, bookkeeping and accounting are very marketable skills, as every business needs them. If you are naturally talented at that, thank the Lord - that's wonderful! Perhaps you can make yourself an available service to businesses who need that work done. This is not my area of expertise... anyone who has any ideas, tips, or knowledge about how to get into these things, please share your wisdom in the comments section!
How To Start: (Budgeting) I can't think of a better idea than to simply ask your parents to show you! (And then remind them, my mother says. 😁) Have the goal of learning how to budget before you graduate.
#3: Graphic Design:
Whether you go so far as to know how to design logos, covers, graphics, and advertisements in a pleasing and eye-catching fashion or you end up work with 3D images and movie covers, Graphic Design is a high-in-demand skill to have in your toolset.
How To Start: This is something I haven't gone extremely far into yet. I mainly use free programs available to me, but here are some things that I have used. For the most part, they are straightforward and simple to learn how to use. I did list these in order of usefulness (to me.)
1. Canva.com
2. TextEdit Application
3. Remove.bg
4. Pages Application
5. Graphic Application
6. Pixelmator Application
If you know of any other helpful programs, please, tell me about them in the comments section! : )
#4: Photography
The day before all gatherings over 100 people were banned because of the coronavirus in our state, our family went and saw the Peking Acrobats. Yes, it was amazing. Daddy asked one of the attendants to take a picture of us. She took probably 20, and none of them turned out okay. Poor lady, I know she meant well, but she had no training. They were framed with way too much space to the right of daddy but cut off the shoulder of my brother on the opposite end of the photo. There were so many things wrong with it that were really simple to fix if she had only known what to look for.
From product photos to family photographs to blog articles to decoration to marketing, photography finds a relevant place, and can either make or break your advertising. Whether you end up owning a soap business or become your family's photographer (or both!) knowing how to take just a clear, well-lit and well-framed photo will save you so much money and boost your ability to be professional in everything you apply a good photo to.
How To Start: I highly recommend Lenspiration.com. It has everything a photographer at any level might need - training videos, ebooks, a forum, blog posts, classes, courses, etc. It is a wealth of digestible information, and all in an environment that seeks to glorify God!
#5: Calligraphy
Reasons for learning calligraphy:
1. You can fill your walls with Scripture, and no one will take it down because it looks pretty, even if handmade. This will also save you money if you ever want to decorate the walls of your own house, because anything hand-lettered is generally expensive.
2. People will feel special when they get a letter from you with their name on it.
3. It adds value to your words. Handwriting is like the package our written words come in.
I have dozens of pen-pals, and many of them have a habit of including encouraging verses or quotes in their letters, which I absolutely love! It blesses me so extraordinarily much when someone sends me a verse or quote in beautiful handwriting. Often times these things end up on my desk or station. 😁
How To Start:
- Calligraphy Made Easy by Ashley Gardner is a wonderful book!
- This video shows you how to turn any cursive style you already possess into faux calligraphy (that's basically what I do. 😁) And it provides free worksheets too. 😁
- I use these brush pens almost every day and love them. You can do calligraphy with anything though, and if you don't have the pens, learn to how do faux calligraphy.
#6: Gardening
I haven't time to discuss how pesticides are literally killing us, how history teaches us that if we love our freedom we should garden, and how much money we can save by gardening, but I have studied these things myself and am convinced that we all need to garden. 😁 Just because something is labeled "organic" at the grocery store does not mean it is healthy for us. Not only is it much healthier to eat the food that we grow as opposed to any produce you can pick up at the store (even if it's "organic,") it's also very healthy to work in the garden!
She considers a field and buys it; from her profits she plants a vineyard. ~ Proverbs 31:16
How To Start: It's all about soil health. If the soil is bursting with nutrients, the plants will be healthy (in a positive way!) for us to eat, and will also be able to fight off diseases and deter many pests on their own, because plants are living organisms.
Resources:
- Back To Eden Film (Our family has implemented the practices in our own garden, and have seen noteworthy results.)
- The Suburban Micro-Farm (Mama says of all the books she's read, this was was the most helpful to her in teaching her how to garden.)
- On YouTube, we like watching Huw Richards - Grow Food Organically. He produces high-quality content. So far, his techniques have been Lamb-family approved.
#7: Videography
Originally "Videography" was not on my list, but my life has recently changed to include 'videography' - something I used to be intimidated by - and I am seeing how useful it can be. To quote Justus McCranie, "The world is going video. If I visit a webpage and it doesn't have a video, I'm bored."
What Knowing How To Make A Video Is Useful For:
1) Any business you may ever be involved in ever, literally, for advertising purposes.
2) If someone ever asks you to do a video for them, you will do them a great kindness by knowing what you're doing and making it turn out good for them, just like with photography.
3) If you or your husband ever wants to film a documentary, start a YouTube channel or ever just make a video for a specific purpose, you'll know what to do and not be intimidated.
4) You can get paid really well to shoot videos for weddings or commercials or businesses for other people, which there will never be a lack of, because everyone needs a video.
How To Start: Once you know photography fundamentals, you just need to research how to convert that over to video. For example, how do ISO, aperture, and shutter speed affect videos? Also, how do you want to get what you want to be clear clear, how do you nail white balance, and how can you manipulate lighting for optimal glory? Then add motion, practice, practice, and research.
Resources:
- Tomorrow's Filmmakers Course (Currently on a MEGA sale 😁)
By the way, if you know anyone who is getting married, feel free to let them know about Gloria Productions, a wedding photography/videography business my brother and I launched this year! 😁
~ To The Utmost Glory Of God ~
P.S. Here's a song for you! It's the song I've been singing as I wash my hands. :D Don't ask my why I'm sitting on that chair, not the piano bench. It was just there. :D
Adoration
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness
Bow down before Him, His glory proclaim
With gold of obedience and incense of lowliness,
Kneel and adore Him, the Lord is His Name.
Fear not to enter His presence in poverty
Bearing no gifts to present as your own
Truth in its beauty and love in its purity,
These are the offerings to lay at His throne.
P.S. This post was inspired by this post... from a blog I really recommend. :D