I often wondered what it would be like to enter that time and space before ushering my two oldest girls into their teenage years. “Tweens” as we now call them. When they were babies and toddlers I truly saw those years as being so far off into the future. But it seems like only yesterday that my oldest daughter, Lily, was born. Well, my yesterday was actually just over 11 years ago. And my second born, Henley, was born just over 8 years ago.
The youngest still clings to her innocence as tightly as she clings to her Strawberry Shortcake dolls whereas the oldest is so determined to be as grown up as we will allow her to be.
As a mom, I am starting to emerge from this fog of denial to be faced head-on with reality.
They’re growing up.
Soon I will look back on these days and ask myself many questions. “Have I mothered them well?” or “Will they make good choices?” or perhaps “Will they guard their hearts?” And, more importantly, “Will they follow Christ?”
While I wouldn’t trade my place in this world for anything, I’ll admit that sometimes being a girl can be difficult. Learning to navigate the rough waters of female conflict, jealousy, comparison and vanity can be a challenge. Learning to distinguish lies from truth is hard. And learning to love Jesus in a world that tells you He’s not enough is even harder.
Teaching our children to follow Christ must start in the home. Yet sometimes it’s a struggle when all of the teaching opportunities seem to be routine. We try so hard to live our faith as an example, but sometimes my girls just want to talk or cry a little on their mama’s shoulder. Advice comes easily on some days and on other days I’m reaching out to Jesus to give me the words. Words to help them understand that this life is hard but they are so very loved, despite the hardships of growing up.
It’s in these moments that I’m grateful for those who go before me to produce encouraging, Christlike material that influence my daughters’ young minds. To those who share their talents with us moms while speaking truth straight from His Word.
So I’d like to introduce you to my latest gem, For Girls Like You. This book was written for the tween girls in your life (ages 6-11) by Wynter Pitts of For Girls Like You magazine and blog. Wynter has four daughters of her own and is filled with a motherly wisdom that I’ve come to appreciate in a short amount of time.
To be fair, I will have to say that upon receiving For Girls Like You I didn’t know what to expect. We read many devotionals in our house and sometimes I feel as though it all sounds the same. Good material, mind you…but rather consistent with what we’ve already read before.
For Girls Like You is different…
I’ve seen the light bulb turning on within Henley’s head and Lily, though sometimes she might feel she’s heard it all, has been intrigued as well.
As a mom, I thought I’d been covering all the bases, but Wynter points out many areas that I’ve overlooked. Topics that fit precisely into their age group!
One of my favorite devotions is entitled “The Problem with Spinach.” Wynter describes a time when she discovered a piece of spinach stuck between her teeth at the very end of the day. How frustrating to find it once the entire world has had a glimpse of those teeth yet never said a word to help a girl out! We’ve certainly all been there.
You may be wondering how this has anything to do with teaching my daughters about Jesus, but it hits home as a great reminder of how we need to be looking toward individuals in our lives that we can trust. Those who will speak truth, even the hard truths, into our hearts and give us much needed honesty. As my oldest is on the downward slide of her fifth grade year, she will be entering middle school in just a matter of months and I want to remind her of how important it is to seek those friends as well as to be that friend.
Another one that I love talks about how we praise God. My daughters are so very different. Lily is the thinker. She’s quiet and relatively reserved and doesn’t like a whole lot of attention on herself. Henley, however, is loud and crazy and extremely animated. As you can probably imagine, their personalities drive their methods for giving praise. Lily is pretty internal and tends to sing softly. Henley, on the other hand, shouts praise and worship music throughout the house on a regular basis. This devotion helps them understand that neither of them is right or wrong. It gives them perspective into their personalities and that no matter how they choose to praise Him the important thing is that they do it every day, in a manner of how He designed them.
This book truly teaches my girls just how present God is in every detail of their lives. From modesty to feeling angry, obedience to being a good steward of their money, gossiping to serving God – this book is written in perfect context to the life of a tween girl.
I hope that you’ll join my family in reading For Girls Like You on your own. I’m certain you won’t be disappointed! #forgirlslikeyou
Disclosure: I received this book to review. I was in no way compensated for this review and all opinions are 100% my own.
