Customer Reviews

Raising a Daughter After God's Own Heart

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Raising a Daughter after God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George is a must read for any mother concerned about her daughter's spiritual life. George, who is well-known for her devotionals for women, including A Woman after God's Own Heart, uses her own experience as the mother of two daughters to help moms trying to get it right. She first encourages women to start with their own relationship with God by reading the Bible regularly, memorizing Scripture and starting a prayer journal specifically for recording prayers about your daughter. She breaks down our role as a mom into several different roles: cheerleader, teacher, shepherd and more. Each role gets a chapter (in some cases two) with real life examples, practical advice that any mom can do, and Scripture supporting her position. George recognizes that no mother is perfect, including her, and her writing voice is always encouraging and positive, She gives moms a place to start, no matter where they may be in their daughter's life: infancy to school girl to teenager, she doesn't want them to be afraid to begin. The chapters are easily read in a few minutes each night and each ends with a few activities to help moms dig a little deeper.

I have enjoyed Elizabeth George's other books such as A Woman After God's Own Heart®, A Wife After God's Own Heart: 12 Things That Really Matter in Your Marriage, and A Girl After God's Own Heart: A Tween Adventure with Jesus, so I was pretty excited when I heard she was coming out with a new book, Raising a Daughter After God's Own Heart. Elizabeth has a gift of making her books personal and inviting. They are encouraging and uplifting while convicting. She gives practical application of scripture as well as scriptural teachings to help better our relationships with Christ and others in our lives.

Raising a Daughter After God's Own Heart continues on in the tradition of her other books. She takes scripture to help guide us as we strive to build our relationship with Christ while we are encouraging our daughters to live their lives for Christ. The chapters include information on being the following for your daughter:

A Bell Sheep
A Prayer Warrior
A Seed Sower
A Coach
A Church Lady
A Social Secretary
A Teacher
A Homebuilder
A Shepherd
A Marathon Runner

Each chapter starts out with a scripture passage and then dives into the various roles you play in your daughter's life and how those roles are critical to your daughter's spiritual health. The chapters each wrap up with a "You Can Do It" section which includes suggestions for practical application of the information presented in the chapter as well as a "Mom's Think Pad." The Mom's Think Pad is basically a question and journal area that allows you to dig deeper, set goals, and really apply the knowledge that you've gained during the reading of the scripture passage and chapter.

Elizabeth opens up her heart and her life to help those of us who are following behind her. I was quite encouraged as I read this book, and I'm very grateful that Elizabeth followed the Lord's leading in writing it. Christian moms need all the encouragement and Godly advice they can get as they strive to raise a daughter to have a life-long relationship with Christ.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book to help facilitate the writing of a frank and honest review. A positive review is not guaranteed, and all opinions are my own.

I have read several of Elizabeth George's books and I love her heart. Her love for the family is so evident in each of her books and this book, Raising a Daughter After God's Own Heart, is no exception. Elizabeth has walked this road as a mother successfully and has some valuable wisdom to share. I am so thankful for this book, as I feel it is an excellent resource for every mother who has the desire to raise a strong daughter who is strong in her walk with the Lord.
Elizabeth begins by sharing how that as mothers, we are the "bell sheep"...the sheep that follows and obeys the shepherd. The shepherd places a bell around that sheep, so that the other sheep will follow it. This was a beautiful illustration of how our children are to follow us as we follow Christ. We need to live what we are teaching our daughters. She devotes emphasis to the importance of praying consistently for our daughters in every season of their lives. She discusses the importance of sowing the right seeds into our daughter's life and how we are to do that as mothers. She goes on to give imperatives on being our daughter's coach and cheerleader, the importance of training our daughter to be an active part of her church body, and also monitoring her social events. Basically, Elizabeth is a strong advocate of being involved in your daughter's life and having a strong, safe relationship with her. I appreciated that she did not advocate simply being your daughter's "friend," but her trusted parent. There are some basic essentials in this book regarding teaching your daughter how to care for a home, interact with family, as well as have manners. I think my favorite chapter was chapter 10: The Shepherd. The heart of every mother should be seen in this chapter as a shepherd leads and protects the sheep, so we should do with our daughters.
I think every mother should read this book. At the end of each chapter, there are practical suggestions as well as a section for you to jot down ideas, thoughts and Scriptures that correspond with that chapter...kind of like homework.
I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for my review, but was not obligated to provide a positive opinion.

I look at my daughter and my heart swells with longing. It's a longing that she find the freedom I have found in Christ. The beauty of intimacy with God. The thrill of living a life surrendered to Him rather than her own interests and agendas. The hope of a clean heart. The joy that living True Love out every day brings.

How do I as a mother help her find this kind of life? What can I do to make her want that kind of life? How can I teach her in a way that makes her heart swell with longing? I ask myself these questions regularly, even as I pour out my heart in prayer.

I found some of the answers Raising a Daughter After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George. There was not only direction from a godly woman who's walked this road before me, there was inspiration. Elizabeth writes in a way that causes the longing in my heart to swell to new proportions. Her heart gets mine as a mother. Her book resounds with my own desires as Miraclegirl's Mama.

A point Elizabeth drives home again and again is I can't raise my daughter to be a woman after God's heart if I am not a woman after God's heart. I can't teach what I don't live. I stop and give pause to this thought. . .

I can not teach what I do not live.

Am I living a surrendered life? A modest life? Joyful? Peaceful? Content? Do I model prayer to my girl? Do I bring God into every day talk, not in a forced way but in a natural way, because He is as much a part of my life as she is?

Not only does Elizabeth address these topics and inspire us moms to live this out, she helps us bring it home with an end of chapter question and writing area. I found this to be a valuable asset to the book as a whole. Not only did I read. . . I followed up with my own written thoughts that solidified my plan of action in my mind. This enabled me to carry thoughts of the book with me, even after laying the book back on my bookshelf hours earlier, and act upon them as the day progressed.

A new habit that I began as a result of reading this book is recording my prayer requests for miraclegirl in the journal I keep for her, so that she has a written record of how I have prayed for her throughout the years of her life. I am anticipate writing down the answers as they unfold, recording them as a part of her life story.

Do I recommend this book? Wholeheartedly yes! With a 5 out of 5 star rating. Every Mama of a daughter will more than benefit by reading this book.


***Special thanks to Harvest House Publishers for sending me a review copy.***

Elizabeth George has been one of my favorite female authors for quite some time, and was first introduced to her work when I first got married. In fact, it was due in part to reading her books, that I came up with the blog name I did. Now, as a mom of two girls, I was very excited to hear of her new release, Raising a Daughter After God's Own Heart.

I have always enjoyed how Elizabeth George writes in such an easy to read and understand manner. Her books are designed for moms and women at any stage and age of life. I love that she always includes many personal experiences, and does so in this newest book once again. This book gave me so many wonderful ideas to implement in my own life as a mom of young girls currently, and to reference later as my girls grow.

Being a mom is one of the greatest gifts God has blessed me with and even though I am at a stage where some days are tougher than others, I know that my girls are learning valuable lessons they will take with them their whole life! You will be presented with many scripture references and encouragement as you read each page of this book. I know I was. It includes a wonderful section in each chapter, Mom's Think Pad, where one can journal and get fantastic ideas.

Raising a Daughter After God's Own Heart is the perfect gift idea for any mom in your life, and would be a fantastic baby shower idea.

I highly recommend this book and give it a huge thumbs up!