Success Stories
August 2005

Kristine in Northern Virginia. She asked for success stories, so here is just one small aspect of my journey into the FW world which I would love to relate to you. 

My journey into the world of Fascinating Womanhood began about four years ago when I found myself literally on my knees with my hands folded in prayer, asking our Heavenly Father for his light into the following problem in my marriage. Although I knew I had a wonderful husband who was an excellent provider and a great, dedicated husband and father to our children in every way, yet there was definitely something missing. Something was very wrong, and I could not place my finger on it. It was almost tangible. My husband was unhappy about something and I knew this but did not know why. And there we were, not thriving as we had done in earlier years, and I for one had not a clue as to the “why” of it all.

So there I was, kneeling in prayer and this earnest seeking took place for about three months until something happened. My husband took us on our yearly vacation to the mountains. When we arrived in town we passed the local new library which had a sign posted in large letters, “BOOK SALE.” After we arrived at our house and unpacked, and knowing how much I love to read, my husband was good enough to hand me the car keys to head over to the library and seek out some “hidden treasures.” Well, a hidden treasure was what I found that day!

I was in the book-sale room leafing through books when I happened upon a thin, white, rather old fashioned looking book which had a most curious title: Fascinating Womanhood. “Wow,” I thought, what could that mean? Fascinating? Womanhood? Womanhood was many things, I thought, but fascinating? Then I opened quickly to a few pages and saw words like “childlikeness” and “sympathetic understanding,” and “masculine” and “ feminine.” “No,” I thought. Not my kind of book. Put it back. It looks to too unusual. So that is what I did. I put it back on the shelf and walked away. But as I did I whispered a prayer that if there was something in that book which I needed to read the Lord would get it somehow in my hands. And that was that.

So I finished my treasure hunting with five or six books and headed out to pay the librarian. “How much” I asked, pulling a few coins from my pocket. Then the response, “Oh, honey, here’s a bag. Fill it up! We want to move those books. Um. . . fill it up? Ok, was she in with the Holy Spirit or something? All I could think about was that little white book which by now I was determined I did not wish to read. But not being able to refuse this almost certain directive from above, I turned around and marched back into the sale room. Right up to that little white book. “OK” I thought, for what it is worth. I’ll take a look.

Well, I got that book and the others home from the library, sorted through my new found treasures, then proceeded to place “that book” way under a stack of others. Someday, I thought, that will make good reading, but not today. And there it sat. Finally it made it home with me from vacation and there is sat again, for about three months until . . . My friend from AmVets called for her usual pick up notification, and I readied a large bag of my own treasures to pass on. Now, I thought, yes, this is where this book is meant to go! On to someone else who might find it interesting. Certainly not me! But as I was literally placing the book in the AmVets bag I looked at it, took a long deep breath and gave in. Ok, I thought, if I;m going to pass it on, I can at least give it a good skim to see what it’s about. So, in keeping with my usual rule about reading books, I opened the front cover and began with the introduction. And so my journey began almost with the first paragraph. I sat down. Oh, my, I thought, keep reading . . . keep reading. This is good. This is true.

I hadn’t gotten further than the third chapter when I knew without a question of a doubt that this book was the most complete and certain answer to the prayers which I had been offering to God for so long about my marriage. This is it. The Holy Spirit had responded to me in a most specific and perfect way. He had sent me a book and an author who could and did answer every single question which had been plaguing me for years. It was Fascinating Womanhood and the author was you, Mrs. Andelin.

Mrs. Andelin, your book gave us back our joy, and for this I am eternally grateful. Again, I can only say, thank you, thank you, thank you. May God truly bless you. Thank you again.

Sincerely

A devoted reader.

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One of Those Silly Arguments

I had only been practicing FW for a few weeks when my husband’s birthday was approaching. He always wanted something expensive for a gift; a watch, the latest gadget. . .

I was the frugal one, always watching expenses. I couldn’t understand why he thought he needed to make more money, but always wanted to spend more. But trusting FW and accepting that it’s his money I asked the question, “What do you want for your birthday?” “I want to take you to dinner.”

One night I served leftovers for dinner. Actually I didn’t serve them, I placed them on the counter. My husband served himself, warmed them up and ate them, standing at the kitchen counter, while talking to me about his work. I must have been really fascinating because after dinner he kissed me and actually thanked me for the dinner. I thought either he was trying to make me feel really guilty or FW was really working.

After practicing FW for a couple of months my husband started his own business out of our home, which requires a lot of his time. Our fifth child was only a few months old and we were trying to finish up our home school year. I was beginning to feel frazzled and overwhelmed without his help that he usually gave me. Although the petty arguments that we used to have had almost completely disappeared, I wasn’t feeling very fascinating. I was feeling like a burned out single mom. So, I stopped being fascinating. It didn’t take long before we had another one of those silly arguments. He ended up blowing up in my face.

I took the kids and left the house. (I was going out anyway. It wasn’t that dramatic.) When I had time to cool off I thought about what I could have done to prevent what had just happened. Okay, be more fascinating. So, what do I do now? Apologize? I haven’t apologized much during our marriage. I was always the one who was right, but FW has taught me to do otherwise. I decided that when I got home I would march straight upstairs and apologize. When we got home I had unloaded everyone and was just ready to go upstairs when my husband came downstairs, put his arms around me and apologized.