Focus on the Family Magazine - August/September 2023
It can be a struggle to raise a family while balancing your work life, social life and relationships. Focus on the Family magazine is here to help! Each complimentary issue delivers fresh, practical Biblical guidance on family and life topics. Every issue comes packed with relevant advice to build up your kids, strengthen your marriage, navigate entertainment and culture, and handle common challenges you may face in your marriage and parenting journeys. Plus you'll find seasonal advice ranging from back-to-school activities to date night tips for you and your spouse.
It can be a struggle to raise a family while balancing your work life, social life and relationships. Focus on the Family magazine is here to help! Each complimentary issue delivers fresh, practical Biblical guidance on family and life topics.
Every issue comes packed with relevant advice to build up your kids, strengthen your marriage, navigate entertainment and culture, and handle common challenges you may face in your marriage and parenting journeys. Plus you'll find seasonal advice ranging from back-to-school activities to date night tips for you and your spouse.
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EVANGELISM / KIDS & TEENS<br />
LISTEN NOW!<br />
Robin J<strong>on</strong>es Gunn and<br />
Jenny Coffey discuss preparing<br />
our daughters for womanhood.<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>Focus</str<strong>on</strong>g>OnThe<strong>Family</strong>.ca/Radio<br />
Finding her voice<br />
Camping with 70 teenagers from her<br />
church at California’s San Clemente<br />
State Beach <strong>on</strong>e summer in <strong>the</strong> 1980s,<br />
Robin found several girls huddled in<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir tent. What were <strong>the</strong>y doing here,<br />
she w<strong>on</strong>dered, when <strong>the</strong>re were sun and<br />
sand and surf and boys <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong> beach?<br />
The answer lay in a pile of books at<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir side. So Robin crawled into <strong>the</strong><br />
tent and joined <strong>the</strong>m in reading.<br />
“It broke my heart what <strong>the</strong>se<br />
13-year-old girls were putting in <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
minds—<strong>the</strong>se evocative love stories,”<br />
Robin says. “I begged <strong>the</strong>m, ‘Please<br />
find something else to read!’ ”<br />
But, <strong>the</strong>y asked, what o<strong>the</strong>r books<br />
were <strong>the</strong>re? “You’re a writer. Why d<strong>on</strong>’t<br />
you write a book for us?”<br />
When she returned home from <strong>the</strong><br />
camp, Robin scavenged for books,<br />
but <strong>the</strong> girls were right. The selecti<strong>on</strong><br />
was slim.<br />
So during <strong>the</strong> next two years, she<br />
wrote her first novel. Now a mo<strong>the</strong>r<br />
with young children, Robin bought a<br />
new teapot, awoke at 3 a.m. every day<br />
and wrote for roughly four hours.<br />
Each week she read her latest chapters<br />
to <strong>the</strong> teenage girls at church.<br />
“They would tell me everything<br />
that was wr<strong>on</strong>g with it, everything<br />
that needed to be changed,” Robin<br />
recalls. “But, as it was, <strong>the</strong> first book<br />
in <strong>the</strong> ‘Christy Miller’ series was being<br />
refined. It truly was <strong>the</strong> book <strong>the</strong>y<br />
wanted to read.”<br />
Reaching girls<br />
through story<br />
Thirty-five years ago this summer,<br />
that first entry in <strong>the</strong> series—Summer<br />
Promise—was released by <str<strong>on</strong>g>Focus</str<strong>on</strong>g> <strong>on</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
<strong>Family</strong>’s book publishing divisi<strong>on</strong>.<br />
So<strong>on</strong> both Robin’s teenage writing<br />
mentors, as well as publishers, were<br />
asking for more stories. Within eight<br />
years, <strong>the</strong> “Christy Miller” series had<br />
grown, expanding to include 11 more<br />
books. But Robin’s storytelling didn’t<br />
end with that series.<br />
Robin penned dozens of o<strong>the</strong>r<br />
stories throughout <strong>the</strong> years, including<br />
three novellas—Finding Fa<strong>the</strong>r<br />
Christmas, Engaging Fa<strong>the</strong>r Christmas<br />
and Kissing Fa<strong>the</strong>r Christmas—later<br />
made into TV movies.<br />
For <strong>on</strong>e set of stories—<strong>the</strong><br />
“Sisterchicks” series—Robin even lived<br />
out her dream of world travel when her<br />
publisher sent her around <strong>the</strong> globe for<br />
inspirati<strong>on</strong>.<br />
From <strong>the</strong> beginning, her books also<br />
drew young girls to Christ. Only a few<br />
weeks after Summer Promise was published,<br />
Robin received a letter from a<br />
teenage reader. According to <strong>the</strong> letter,<br />
<strong>the</strong> girl had joined <strong>the</strong> ficti<strong>on</strong>al protag<strong>on</strong>ist,<br />
Christy Miller, in surrendering<br />
her life to Christ. Hundreds of similar<br />
letters followed.<br />
“I still receive letters,” Robin says.<br />
“Every week, I receive letters from<br />
young girls who have read <strong>the</strong> books<br />
and come to know <strong>the</strong> Lord, or who<br />
have decided to no l<strong>on</strong>ger pursue a<br />
relati<strong>on</strong>ship with a guy who was<br />
damaging her. ><br />
AUG / SEP <strong>2023</strong> FOCUS ON THE FAMILY CANADA 15