I just finished reading a wonderful piece of non-fiction and knew I had to share it. It’s been an awesome refresher and discovery for me:

Robin Jones Gunn, author of the plentiful and I’ve no doubt awesome Christy Miller series, and Alyssa Joy Bethke, wife of Jeff Bethke and giver of her own encouragement and stories aplenty.

It’s only been the last few months that I’ve discovered RBJ’s writings, and rediscovered both Alyssa and her husband and all the goodness they produce in words, both on Youtube and in print.

Both these ladies’ writings are awesome! They have Godly, truth-slathered things to say, and they say them well and with heart. Ah! So good! They got me!

The reason they got me? Because God got me even more through their writing. That’s how I’m measuring this. I started the book because I had sampled productions from both of them, liked how the words rolled together and into my soul, and because I wanted a refresher on some basics – like who I am and whose I am.

I found this book was geared towards young women a little more. Throughout the book, they make wonderful use of the picture of us as Christ’s Bride and share many good stories from their own experiences – both with their husbands and with Christ. Their book asks: ‘Have you ever thought of the Bible as a love story? Between you and God? Because that’s what it is. It’s the story of Jesus winning our hearts and making the ultimate sacrifice.’

They do a fantastic job of blending his enormous love for us together with the fact we are his and confirming, excellently so, who we are in him.

Identity. That’s what so many issues seem to come down to, and that’s what this book marvellously covers and presents through the stories of two women from different walks of life, who both simply desire to get closer to a God who loves them beyond anything. The truth they’re evidencing – by their stories – is one of a God who wants us, pursues us, loves us, has called us, says we are of great value, that we are a peculiar treasure (my personal favourite), has set us free, covered us, has promised us, and spoken for us. Those also happen to be the various chapters in the book.

Overall, they remind us that Jesus desires for us to realize his complete love for us. 

I heartily recommend this to all women, but even more so young women because I know that so many things geared towards us can easily erode our sense of identity in Christ, our confidence, and our knowledge that we are loved in the best and most lasting way. The truths these ladies dish out like heaping servings of pie and ice cream are just as wonderful, but oh so much better for you. This book is about knowing who we are and whose we are as we grow further into the women of God we were designed to be.

If you realize the ways in which you are God’s, you need never to have another shackle on you. He unlocks them all. Forever and always.

Just sayin.’

P.S. Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians!