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Purity. It’s made to feel like a dirty word in our culture, because it is something that our culture refuses to honor. And even those of us that try to honor it eventually come to realize that the impurity of the culture around us has seeped into our hearts and minds. We have a hard trying to wrap our minds around the topics of purity and sexuality in a God-honoring way, but we are afraid to ask the questions that will help us find answers and freedom. We are scared that we are the only one that has questions or struggles, so we clam up and are left in fear. It makes us ask the question: how can I learn the truth about God-defined sexuality?

​In their newest book, Sex, Purity, and the Longings of a Girls Heart, sisters Kristen Clark and Bethany Beal help us find the beauty and freedom that comes from choosing to pursue God-honoring sexuality. Helping us see that we all have experienced sexual brokenness and struggles with lust, they help us identify where our culture has steered us wrong by identifying four lies about our sexual design and challenging us to replace them with truths from God’s word about the way He designed our sexuality. They offer tools for combating temptations and the battles within your mind and take time to address many specific questions about “hush hush” topics and questions that they asked their readers during a survey. And finally, they help us see that God has help us walk the path of freedom from past and present struggles with our sexuality, helping all of us see that God can redeem anything in His time, including our sexuality, if we choose to walk in faith and surrender to Him. This book is much needed and powerful. It’s the kind of book I wished I had as a teenager. Kristen and Bethany are honest and relevant in their writing style, and have a genuine heart to help girls and women get back to the women God intended them to be. This is a book that I recommend to women and girls about 16 and older. Get your copy today!

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher as part of my involvement in the book's launch team and for the purpose of this review 

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To check out my review of Kristen and Bethany's first book, Girl Defined, click here
To check out my review of their second book, Love Defined, click here

The release of this book had me quite excited. Not only are the other books in this series excellent, but I know that if anyone knows how to connect with and relate to tween girls, it’s Dannah Gresh. This book is an incredible resource to parents and youth leaders that work with tween girls. And I believe this book to be a game changer. It will be amazing to see a group of girls grow up that will have the opportunity to read this book as tween, Lies Young Women Believe as teenagers, and Lies Women Believe as adults. Because the younger we are when we learn to replace lies with the truth, the stronger the next generation will become in standing up for the truth and therefore impacting their world with that truth and the love of Christ. Therefore, I cannot recommend this book or this whole series enough! ~ Bethel

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Lies. They are all around us. No matter where we go in our world today, we cannot escape them. And it seems that they are being fed to us at younger ages. Lies about who we are. Lies about who we should become. Lies about the people around us. It makes it hard for kids to grow up in a world where lies are being presented as truth with no way to figure out what truth really is. This seems especially true for girls, with the pressures to be beautiful, smart, and popular. If they are unable to learn the truth when they are kids, they will build their life on lies that will be so much harder to detangle when they are older. It makes us ask the question: how can we help girls today learn the truth that will set them free?

In her book, Lies Girls Believe, Dannah Gresh, along with help from editor Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth, walks through lies that tween girls struggle to believe and help them discover the truth that will set them free. In this colorful book with fun illustrations, these girls are given tools to help them figure out how to recognize lies and the “sticky feelings” of guilt that come when we buy into lies. After walking through the nature of lies and where they came from, Dannah addresses 20 lies that are believed by many tween girls (based on surveys of tween girls, and their moms and grandmas). She tells each truth and addresses the lie that is usually believed instead, helping them see that truth really is the better choice. Each of these chapters concludes with a “truth lab” where girls can “test” these truths in their lives. Dannah concludes by showing them ways to figure out other lies in their life so they can replace them with truth. All of this is done in a relatable writing style that will allow the girls to feel like Dannah is their friend and mentor they trust. They are plenty of opportunity to journal and use color pencils to make the book all the more relatable. This book is powerful and will be a game changer for the tween girls of this generation that choose to read it and take to heart what it says. I personally recommend this book for any tween girl between the age of 9-13 years old. Girls and their moms should get their copy today!
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Moms, make sure to check out A Mom’s Guide to Lies Girls Believe, written just to help you help your daughter on this journey.

* I received a copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review

When I first heard they were updating this book as well as the teen counterpart, I was curious about it. But I originally only pursued reviewing Lies Young Women Believe (co-authored by Dannah Gresh). After some time and research, I was excited to discover that they now have a male counterpart (Lies Men Believe by Robert Wolgemuth) and are about to release a pre-teen counterpart too (Lies Girls Believe by Dannah Gresh). Since there are so many other books in the series and the topic is so close to my heart, I decided it was time to read the book that started it all. When I finally started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. Literally. I finished the 300 page book in one night. I found myself in love with Nancy’s sincerity and passion for helping women of all ages be freed from the lies that hold them back from the life God has in store for them. Although there are a few lies I struggle with myself, I also found that through many recent experiences, some of these lies that used to hold me back no longer have a hold in my life. That made reading this book a milestone in my spiritual journey. It has also helped me strengthen my ability to identify lies for what they are so they have be replaced with truth. I am now looking forward to reading more books by Nancy in the future, as well as other books in the series.

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In our culture today, we are constantly being fed lies. Lies about ourselves, lies about God, lies about identity and our relationships with others. These are just the beginning of a list that could fill a whole book in its own right. They cause us to live our lives apart from what God has in store for us in light of His truth. Although everyone regardless of age or gender deals with lies, some many of the lies prevalent in our society are directed at women both young and old. So many of the lies we believe can be as a result of deception from our own emotions or our struggles with shame. Either way, it makes us harder for those of us that are trying to lives our lives in light of the truth, when these lies make it difficult to distinguish the truth from the lies. It makes women ask the question: how can I identify and stand up under the lies that I am believing?

​In the updated version of the bestselling book, Lies Women Believe, Nancy Demoss Wolgemuth explores many of the lies that women believe so that they can discover the truth that sets from free. Identifying with the first woman to be deceived, Nancy encourages women to identity that the lies they have believed are holding them back from the life God has in store for them. After giving some methods for identifying the lies, Nancy walks through a total of 45 different lies believed by women based on surveys. Some of the lies are ones we wouldn’t necessarily say out loud, but have proven to be believed by many of our actions. She includes sections about lies we believe about God, ourselves, our sin, priorities, marriage, children, emotions, and circumstances. There is also a newly added chapter about sexuality that was written by Dannah Gresh (who co-authored Lies Young Women Believe with Nancy). Nancy discusses the root of these lies and with both love and conviction tells us the truth as it is laid out in God’s word. She doesn’t shy away from the difficulties of addressing these deep-seated lies but instead chooses to help the reader root them out in God’s grace so they can live in the freedom of the truth. At the conclusion, Nancy shares an incredible list of truth to combat the lies she addresses, including Scriptures to help you absorb the truth. I appreciate the honesty and integrity of Nancy to stand up for the truth in a society that struggles to distinguish truth from lies, as well as the heart she has for the women she helps. If you are women, either single or married, either young or old, this is a book worth reading. Get your copy today.

To check out my review of the teen version, Lies Young Women Believe, click here

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​No matter where we go in this life, we are more than sure to be met with disappointments. That’s part of living in this world. Some of these disappointments are minor, while many of them are earth-shattering, causing so much pain and suffering in their wake. All too many of us find ourselves crippled by our circumstances, especially when difficulties hit us unexpectedly. So many of us get to the point of questioning God’s goodness or desiring to turn our backs on Him. This can make us feel trapped like there’s no way out. It makes us ask the question: how can I handle the major disappointments I am sure to face in this life?

​In her newest book, It’s Not Supposed to Be This Way, Lysa Terkeurst walks us through how we can turn to the Lord to find strength and courage when life throws unexpected disappointments at us. This topic is very relevant to Lysa, who in only a few years’ time has dealt with marital strife and two major health issues than inevitably required surgery. With her own fair share of hardships, Lysa admits that facing these disappointments is hard, and sometimes feels impossible to overcome. But she directs us to the Lord and His Word to helps us find strength to keep moving forward, even if we don’t have all the answers or when it we are actually given more than we can handle. She also reminds us how important it is for us to remain alert to the tactics of the one that wants to use our disappointments to keep us apart from God. This is all pointing to the reality that God is using our trials to prepare us from strength in this life and eternal peace in the next. This book is powerful, relevant, and honest. Although written out of her own personal experience, this book felt like it was written for me and my current struggles, which speaks to the talent of the author to relate to her audience. If you are going through trials or disappointments in your own life, I cannot recommend this book enough. It is the perfect companion to her last book, Uninvited. This book is available as of November 13. Get your copy today!

To read my review of Lysa's last book, Uninvited, click here
To read more about the circumstances that made this book so personal relevant, click here

​When I first heard this book was coming out last year, I was so excited. The original book Secret Keeper for teens is one of my all-time favorite books and since the author Dannah had developed a ministry to tween girls, I figured that this book would come along eventually. I was very excited to buy it and read it. In the end, I was not disappointed. Dannah’s heart for helping young women understand their God-given power of modesty is evident on every page. But I really enjoyed getting to see the older material I was familiar with was adapted to a younger audience. She uses different illustrations and metaphors to speak to the younger girls. She has a little bit different line of logic to help them understand the motivation behind modesty. The devotional companion even includes a coloring experience. But the heart between all of these books remains the same, and that makes it an excellent resource to tween girls, their parents, and even their youth leaders. If you haven’t checked this out, then you should. ~ Bethel

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Modesty is a difficult concept to teach to young women in our world today. We are surrounded by a culture that tells us that when it comes to clothes, “less is more.” And this idea is being pushed upon us at a younger age than ever before. Even t-shirts for preschool girls are designed to accentuate a figure that they don’t even have yet. Girls are being convinced that they can wear whatever they want whenever they want, and if anyone restricts that, it’s infringing on their rights. It makes it difficult for those of us that want better for these girls. We struggle with how to communicate to them the importance of the way they present themselves. It makes us ask the question: how can we teach the importance of modesty to young girls today?

​In her book, Secret Keeper Girl, Dannah Gresh adapts her material on modesty for older teens and addresses it on the level for tween girls. In a book of fun illustrations, both in visual and written forms, Dannah helps the girls understand their value as a unique masterpiece created by God and they our understanding of how much God loves us should motivate our desire to dress modestly. She also talks about what makes a girl truly beautiful, not by what is on the outside, but what is on the inside. She addresses issues that so many parents struggle to talk about with their daughters, but she does so in a totally tasteful and age-appropriate way. She gives fashion tests to help girls determine if an outfit is appropriate. Dannah even shares examples are stories about girls their own age to make their journey more relatable. If you are a girl about 7-11, you want to ask for a copy of this book. If you are a parents of a tween girl, you need to get this book. Even if you are a youth leader, you need to check out this book. Girls and adults alike will be grateful with the help and perspective this book provides. Girls and their moms with also love the corresponding mother-daughter devotional guide, which includes a coloring experience and an awesome letter to the moms. I cannot recommend either of these books enough. Get your copies today!

(To check out my review of the teen edition of this book and its devotional guide, click here)