Books In Review: Spoken For

4/15/2016

I was so excited to discover that Alyssa Bethke, wife of one of my favorite YouTubers, Jeff Bethke, co-authored her first book with Robin Gunn, for I grew up reading some of Robin’s children’s books. This book spoke directly to me as I looked back on my struggle to understand my worth through my high school and college years. Although I came to finally understand my own value prior to reading this book, I think that the message of this book has the ability to help other young women discover the same truth for themselves. I wish I had read a book like this when I was a teen. I hope that by writing this review, I can encourage other young women to pursue the discovery of the truths contained in this powerful book. If you want to know more about it, just ask ~ Bethel

(Left) Alyssa with her husband, Jeff Bethke (one of my favorite YouTubers). (Right) Authors of the book Spoken For, Robin Gunn and Alyssa Bethke

Most women in our culture today, especially teens and young adult women, struggle with knowing or understanding their own value. We struggle with discerning the truth about our worth and our identity when Satan and the culture around us feeds us so many lies about where they should be found, especially when you’re single. Many young women turn to the wrong source to find their value, whether it be the love of men, their dress size, the approval of others, or other invalid sources. When they don’t get it from these sources, they are dissatisfied with their own reflections and often turn to methods of self-harm just to cope with life. Too many women are stuck in this cycle in our world today. It makes us ask: is there something better? And how do we find it?

In their book Spoken For, authors Robin Gunn and Alyssa Bethke set out to help us women understand the place where we find our value – at the feet of Jesus. They help give us a much needed perspective on the value we have in God’s eyes through our identity in Christ. We are spoken for because we belong to Him. Robin and Alyssa describe how we are wanted, pursued, cherished, and valued, and how our lives can change if we live like we believe all this to be true. This is done both with the explanation of biblical promises as well as personal stories from both authors, written in each of their voices for every chapter. You come to enjoy Robin’s and Alyssa’s life journeys as they reveal their struggles to believe these truths in their own lives and dating relationships, including Robin’s break up of her first engagement and Alyssa’s struggle with an eating disorder. Although she is young, Alyssa has been mentored by Robin, and has just has much wisdom to share in her story. The two generations of experiences and honesty shared between them would be valuable to any young women that takes the time to read it. This book also includes discussion questions at the end of each chapter, which can be used for group discussion or personal reflection. This is all done with the intention of helping us understand that we are not up for grabs. “You are spoken for.”

This book is a must read for teens and young adult women seeking to understanding their value and their purpose. This would also be a great resource to older women that want to minister or mentor younger women. It’s available through most major book distributors, so girls, get your copy today!

Teen Rating. This book is perfect for teen girls! It was written with a teen and young adult audience in mind.

Male Friendly Rating. Although this book is written for women, I could see guys getting value out of it, especially the concepts of remembering our value