Raising girls is not for the fainthearted. Being a teenager used to be tough enough without the morass of social media constantly screaming in your ear. As if it wasn’t enough to have magazine covers, movies, music, and television constantly telling you to be a little smarter, stronger, sexier, cooler, and thinner now our girls have devices tucked in their pockets that measure them by comments, likes, and clicks.
I know my daughters are constantly bombarded by messages telling them what it means to be a woman. I want to counter that with truth–God’s truth–that being a woman means being the woman God has created you to be. Yet the quiet and constant voice of God’s word is so easily drowned out by all our cultural screaming. I’m grateful for any tool that helps me reinforce the message that God loves my girls and has created them for a purpose.
That’s where Beloved comes in. Beloved is a new one-year devotional for girls and young women. Authored by Lindsay Franklin, the devotions in Beloved examine the lives of sixty biblical women and show what God has to say about being a godly woman–and how his word is relevant to us today. Beloved uses the stories of women like Huldah, Abigail, Ruth, and Eve, to explore topics as diverse as boldness, agency, courage, kindness, cyber-bullying, what to look for in a guy you’re dating, and how to overcome sexual trauma. The topics are real, relevant, and drenched in Scripture.
I love this excerpt from Day 1 that introduces the theme of the book:
Our female examples in the Bible rarely fall into the two sterotypes so often foisted upon women–virtuous angels or wicked seductressess. No, most women of the Bible are drawn in real, human shades of gray–sometimes displaying good qualities, sometiems displaying negative qualities, filled with wisdom as well as bad choices, walking in faith and stumbling in darkness. Just like the men of the Bible. Just like us. Girls and women are not God’s afterthoughts. We’re his daughters. Valued. Adored. Cherished. Beloved.
I appreciate the scriptural insight and tone of Beloved, and I’m including it as a stocking stuffer for my oldest daughter this Christmas. If you are looking for a devotional for your teen or pre-teen, girl, Beloved is a great choice. You might also want to take a look at the previous book in this series, Adored.
I was provided a complimentary copy of the book from the publisher through FlyBy Promotions. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.