Ahh, summer fruit! Brilliant red watermelon, sweet cantaloupe, peaches whose juice drips down your chin, strawberries as big as plums, fresh picked cherries, crunchy sweet corn and garden ripened tomatoes… We wait all winter, then watch as the fruits of summer come on and ripen. We watch carefully, ready for the picking. Then we peel and husk, hull and slice in order to serve up the best of the crops… and they are well worth the PATIENT WAITING.

Spiritual Fruit

How often we get that excited anticipating the appearance of our SPIRITUAL FRUIT...Do we think about it, plan for it, watch it grow, and long to see it mature and ripen to the glory of God as a testimony to a watching world? Those who long for a bountiful harvest know this:

Spiritual Fruit requires great PATIENCE!

Although it doesn’t appear in just a season, it’s sure, inspired development for the Christian woman is a step-by-step process, and it is made up of many intentional steps heavenward...

This summer, I want to recommend that you set aside a couple of days to read Stepping Heavenward, by Elizabeth Prentiss. If you’ve never read it, you must! If you’ve read it before, and especially if it has been a while since you last read it, read it again because it is not merely the events of the story that make this a valuable Christian Classic. The loving character and purposeful working of a wise and holy God come alive in these pages as we see how He delivers to His children, through daily occurrences, precisely those circumstances that nurture and perfect His beloved children. It is the journal of a woman's spiritual journey begun in 1831 and covers her life from the yearnings of an unsettled teenager to the solid world-view of a mature godly woman. The unique diary-entry style is a QUICK and EASY read, yet you will find yourself stopping with her along the way to digest the implications of her patient pleas to give more and more of herself to her heavenly Father and to be remade in His image.

A Story of Patience

It is a story of PAIENCE – of a young girl, impatient with her inability to control her own sinful self. It is the story of her godly mother patiently praying night and day for her beloved child. It is the story of a near tragic marriage and one of a match patiently discovered by faith. It is the story of a loving pastor who patiently instructs. It is a story that details the patient love of a Sovereign God moving providentially among His people to bring about His purposes and develop Godly character in His children. It is the story of a woman’s growing understanding of the blessed love of her Savior amidst the storms of life as He draws her closer and closer to Himself. It is a story of the inabilities of the flesh and the supreme grace of God.

A Book for Teens

If there is a young teen or single young woman anywhere in your life – give her this book as a gift. In it, she will discover the secrets of war in the inner life – what Scripture calls being "dead to self and alive to Christ." She won't be able to miss the importance of looking for Christian character ABOVE all else in accepting a mate. This is a great eye-opening book for a young teen with many years of prayerful decision-making ahead of her. It is also a book of encouragement for the praying mother of that young lady.

A Book for Young Wives and Mothers

For the young wife and mother, this is a blueprint of one woman's spiritual growth, a battle plan for the Spiritual Warfare being waged on the battleground of her home-front. It will help her see the hand of God as she learns joyful submission to His perfect will in her daily walk and will encourage her ONWARD.

A Book for Older Women

For the older woman, this story helps her gain a fresh perspective to look back in faith on the course of her life and both heal and consecrate anew to His Holy Purposes those defining moments intended to bring her to faith and joy above all else in Christ alone.

A Book for ALL Women – All Ages and Seasons of Life!

Pick a time this summer to spend a few minutes with this fruitful Christian Classic for women. Give this book to any women you love who have never read it. Encourage your friends to read it again. It is available in paperback, so please don't settle for the little abridged version that is available. It simply will not satisfy your soul in the same way.

When you finish it, you will find yourself hungry for her other writings, and in finding them you will not be disappointed. This is a great book to take on vacation!