What made it in, and why

One of the hardest things for me to decide was what to attempt to include. Devotionals, fiction stories, testimonies, Hard Q's, quizzes, a history of GGFG... we had always been quite diverse in our posts, so I had a hard time narrowing this down. At one point we had 50 active pages on our Web site!

I wanted to show off different authors, on different subjects. I wanted to show that no one was too young to serve God by sharing what God's done in their lives:

"Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12

I wanted to dismiss what I call the # 1 lie girls believe - "You are alone; no one else has ever gone through what you are going through." 

I wanted to show what God has done in the lives of girls of all different backgrounds, in different places, to encourage girls that God is way bigger than themselves.

I remember one of the first times I looked a friend in the eye and said, "You think you're the only one who has to deal with that family issue? You don't even know my story. We are more the same than you think, and I'm here for you. I'll listen, I'm here for you, and I do understand!" We might have slightly different stories, but a lot of the same feelings, temptations, and struggles occurred in each of our lives. God could use us to encourage each other - there was a reason we were in each others' lives!

That is what happens online, a lot. People finally open up, and people realize they aren't the only one, and that others have overcome even more than they have to overcome. They realize that they aren't the only girl who's ever struggled with self-harm since the beginning of all time. They aren't the only girl who's struggled with an addiction to pornography. They aren't the only one who's lost someone, who's been bullied, who has a hard time with pressure about grades, who feels alone... and God sees it all. God didn't leave people to struggle on their own; He has a plan of redemption.

So the stories in this book show us some of those stories of redemption taking place, in real lives, and this inspires real hope. Our prayer over every writer for GGFG: "May God use your words to encourage others and bring them to Him, and to glorify God."