Buying a gift for a teenage girl has been a challenge this year, but our most recent review item would fit the bill perfectly. New, from Zondervan, is a beautiful, gift-worthy book called Beloved: 365 Devotions for Young Women. It is full of 365 one-page devotions for young women, tweens, and teens.
I love the little colorful foiled details on the cover on the flowers and the word “Beloved” – as well as the fact that it is a durable, hardcover book. There is even a cloth ribbon bookmark so that your special young lady will be able to easily keep her place while working through the daily devotionals.
The inside of the cover and first page is a pretty maroon color, followed by a page where you can write a gift message, and say who it is to and from, with the date. Each page has a white background, and a colorful edge to it as seen in the picture below. Each day is numbered, there is a Bible verse, and then there is a 2-3 paragraph devotion. Beneath each devotion, there are 4 blank notes for the young woman to write notes, jot down responses, or even add in her own scriptures for reference.
My 13 year old daughter found the devotions enjoyable. I gave this book to her to work on by herself, and she chose to do so in the morning after she got ready for the day.
She told me that she liked that each day, the lesson was a quick read, but was relevant to her life. It never talked down to her and wasn’t too “kid” like at all. She said it was a good devotion for someone like her. She liked that the different days do bring up strong women of the Bible, such as Deborah, Rachel, Leah, and Rebekah.
I read through many of the lessons in this book, and I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting it to kind of be a girl power kind of book, or maybe one where we talk about how delicate and feminine we are as women or something like that. Fortunately, neither of those were correct! While it does talk about how strong, bold, and brave women can be, as well as speaking to our femininity, there are excellent life lessons that go beyond all of that. It talks about bigger issues, discusses how to bring others up, accepting responsibility, being patient to let God’s plan unfold, and talks about being obedient to God. There are devotionals about having an attitude of service and humility, forgiveness, remaining faithful to God, God choosing unlikely vessels to bring about his plans, and thinking about what gifts God has given each person.
I recommend this book as a gift. It would actually make a really great Christmas or birthday present, but could also be a really special idea as a gift when a young lady is becoming a woman. It would make a good milestone present.
The lessons are short and sweet, and provide a straight-forward Scripture verse and lesson, as well as plenty of starting points for further thought and discussion. A mother and daughter could do this together, even, though I would recommend you each have your own copies so you could each write your own notes in yours.
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