Kay Arthur - Youniquely Woman: Becoming Who God Designed You to Be

Unless otherwise indicated Scripture quotations cited by Kay Arthur and Emilie Barnes are taken from the New American Standard Bible , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Unless otherwise indicated Scripture quotations cited by Donna Otto are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Verses marked MSG are taken from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Verses marked PHILLIPS are taken from J.B. Phillips: The New Testament in Modern English, Revised Edition. J.B. Phillips 1958, 1960, 1972. Used by permission of Macmillan Publishing Company.

Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, Copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.

Italics in Scripture verses indicate author emphasis.

Harvest House Publishers has made every effort to trace the ownership of all poems and quotes. In the event of a question arising from the use of a poem or quote, we regret any error made and will be pleased to make the necessary correction in future editions of this book.

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

YOUNIQUELY WOMAN
Copyright 2008 by Kay Arthur, Emilie Barnes, and Donna Otto
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Arthur, Kay
Youniquely woman / Kay Arthur, Emilie Barnes, Donna Otto.

p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-1726-1
ISBN-10: 0-7369-1726-8
1. Christian womenReligious life. 2. Christian womenConduct of life. I. Barnes, Emilie. II. Otto,

Donna. III. Title.
BV4527.A785 2008
248.8'43dc22
2007034934

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 / VP-SK / 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To the extraordinary, Younique Women
who gave us courage.

Emilie: To Mama Irene, Florence Littauer,
and Evelyn Friedman

Donna: To Jeannette Bakke, Sylvia Bjork, Trish Crace,
didi Foss, Mardel, Luster, Marie Petersen, Pauline Robinson,
Allyne Rubel, and Mildred Van Liew

Kay: To each and every one of you who came to our
Youniquely Woman Finishing Schools.
You were superlative students, and
were so proud of you!

Kay, Emilie, and Donna

Acknowledgments

When three strong solo voices sing together in a book like this, you either end up with harmony or noise. As we worked together on this amazing project, we found wonderful chemistry and fun together. We hope thats harmony. Kay sings with her characteristic prophetic, scriptural soprano while Emilie and Donna add the practical and helpful melody of encouragement. It works because we are sisters in faith with a zeal to tell women about Gods faithfulness in our lives and what it takes to be youniquely woman.

Of course we had a great team of accompanists. Our heartfelt thanks go to Bob Hawkins Jr., who first saw the vision of Youniquely Woman and faithfully carried it through. He is the one who heard the music. We also thank Carolyn McCready and LaRae Weikert of Harvest House who conducted us creatively through the project as only gifted sisters in Christ can.

Wed also like to acknowledge those who were instrumental in helping to execute our vision for the Youniquely Woman conferences:

To Kim Rock and her team at PMI who gave their all in organizing, co-coordinating, and hostessing our Youniquely Woman events. And to the team who daily discipled the women who came to the Youniquely Woman events, teaching them how to discover Truth for themselves and then teach it to their children: Tommye Hammel, Beverly Mealor, Gloria James, Jan Priddy, BJ Lawson, and Janna Arndt. And to the HBC staff for your work in helping to create the Youniquely Woman curriculum.

And finally, if there is truly harmony here, it is due to the labors of our wonderful friend and editor, Larry Libby. Thank you, Larry, for helping our voices come together.

Listen to the music.

Contents

One
Living Intentionally

A Goal and a Legacy
Kay

Knowing what I know now Have you heard older people talk like that? Knowing what I know now

I would have done things better

I would have grabbed that opportunity

I would have reacted differently

I would have run from that place as fast as I could

I would have stayed in school

I would have married someone else

I would have been more patient and kind

I would have spent more time with my sonmy daughter.

Certainly there are many things I would like to do over and years Id like to live over:

I would shun those destructive paths I allowed myself to walk.

I would hold my tongue and not speak those unloving words.

I would guard my thoughts and rein in my dreams.

I wouldnt have divorced my husband.

I would have asked my sons how they were feeling and focused more on them than on trying to find a husband.

Ive often thought I would write a book and title it Hindsights for Insight. But thats life, isnt it, dear one? Once the days and hours and moments have slipped through our fingers, we cant go back and alter anythingas much as we long to do that. All the wishing, wanting, and daydreaming in the world cant change that fact. We cant do anything about then, but we can do something about now.

From Donna

Abraham was the father/ leader of the Hebrew family/ nation. He helped God change history. Is God calling you to be the Abraham of your family by implementing changes in the present that will positively impact the future for your family?

Thats why Donna, Emilie, and I put together our Youniquely Woman events, and thats why weve written this book. We cant return to those years of young womanhood. We cant recapture those seasons when we were young wives and mothers with little ones. But God is so good, so kind, that Hes given us