Focus on the Family Magazine - August/September 2023

KIDS & TEENS / EVANGELISM
Robin and daughter, Rachel, enjoying a vacation together
“They saw, through the role
models in the books, how they
could turn their heart to the Lord
in making their decisions.”
Developing tools
for young hearts
Several years ago, after speaking
at a school in Brazil, Robin was
surrounded by a cluster of teenage
girls.
“We’re reading the ‘Christy
Miller’ books,” they said through
a translator. “We’re giving our
lives to Jesus, and it’s wonderful.
We’re making good decisions.
But none of the boys of Brazil are
reading those books.”
Robin saw the problem. These girls
wanted to follow Jesus, and they hoped,
someday, to find husbands who follow
Jesus—just as the fictional Christy
Miller found a godly young man
named Todd. What should they do?
At the time, Robin urged them to
pray for the boys in their country, and
the girls instantly formed a prayer club
for the purpose. But their questions
lingered in Robin’s mind. They saw in
Christy Miller a model for following
BEFORE YOUR TWEEN
DAUGHTER BECOMES A WOMAN
by Robin Jones Gunn
Bestselling author Robin Jones Gunn
encourages you to begin a conversation
with your young daughter before she
reaches adolescence. This ongoing
dialogue will strengthen your bond
as she grows into the beautiful young
woman God created her to be.
Shop.<strong>Focus</strong>OnTheFamily.ca
NEW FROM
FOCUS ON
THE FAMILY!
Jesus, but would they know how to
apply discipleship principles in their
own lives?
On another occasion, Robin’s thenteenage
daughter, Rachel, stopped
Robin as she passed by her daughter’s
room. Rachel lay on her bed with a
“Christy Miller” volume in her hands.
“Mom, do you think God has a guy
like Todd for me out there?”
“I know that God has plans for you,”
Robin replied. “And His plans for you
are for good, not for evil, to bring you
a future and a hope. That’s what God
promises in His Word.”
But this wasn’t her only response to
these lingering questions. Along with
author Tricia Goyer, Robin penned
a nonfiction book a dozen years ago
titled Praying for Your Future Husband.
The pair of writers collaborated again
to write Before You Meet Your Future
Husband: 30 questions to ask yourself
and 30 heartfelt prayers, which came
out in May 2023.
“We saw a need for a tool to help those
young hearts,” Robin says. “With all the
other messages [these young women]
get, how can we provide a tool that will
say, ‘Here’s what God says about you.
Here’s how you seek Him and trust Him
for whatever He has for you’?”
Crafting a
must-have guide
Young girls aren’t alone
in wanting such tools.
Their mothers have
questions, too—especially
regarding how to
bond with and guide
their young daughters
as they face the
changes that come with
adolescence.
Robin knows from
experience that this
transition doesn’t have
to be awkward.
“When Rachel was
9 years old and her
body was about to change, I set up
an intentional, little tea party for the
two of us,” Robin recalls. “We were
the only ones home. I took that time
by the fireplace, with soft music
playing, and I told her the secrets of
womanhood.”
“It’s a gift of God to be a woman,”
she told Rachel. “You are fearfully
and beautifully made—wonderfully
made. This is the way you are going
to see these changes happen in your
body, and it’s a gift.”
To Robin’s delight, Rachel
responded: “I love that God made me
a woman.”
In her latest book, Robin interweaves
personal stories with biblical
wisdom to help mothers begin a positive
conversation with their preteen
daughters about these issues. That
book, Before Your Tween Daughter
Becomes a Woman: A mom’s musthave
guide, was released by <strong>Focus</strong> on
the Family in July.
As with her previous books, Robin
views this book as yet another “missionary”
let loose to share God’s
grace and truth around the globe.
Benjamin Hawkins is a freelance writer and
editor of The Pathway, the news journal of
the Missouri Baptist Convention.
16
FOCUS ON THE FAMILY CANADA
AUG / SEP 2023