Ten Girls Who Made a Difference - Paperback

Would You Like to Make a Difference?

Ten girls grew up to change their world — and every one of them would say it was not their greatness but God’s grace that made the difference.

Susannah’s children transformed England. Monica’s prayers shaped the greatest theologian of the ancient church. Ann crossed an ocean to bring the gospel to Burma. Maria lost everything and gave everything to China. Sabina was imprisoned for her faith — and spent the rest of her life fighting to set other Christians free. These women were not born extraordinary. They were ordinary girls who were used by an extraordinary God.

Ten Girls Who Made a Difference tells their stories — and asks every reader the same question: what does God want to do through you?

About This Book

Published by Christian Focus, Ten Girls Who Made a Difference is part of the beloved Lightkeepers series by award-winning author Irene Howat — a series introducing readers aged 8–12 to the joy of reading Christian biographies. Each volume presents ten remarkable Christians, one chapter at a time, in short, vivid stories that bring real historical figures to life through narrative, dialogue, and detail that young readers will not forget.

This volume features ten women whose lives span church history from the early centuries to the twentieth century — touching five continents, multiple centuries, and an extraordinary range of callings. What unites them is not their personality, background, or era but their faith: a faith that held under pressure, grew through suffering, and was used by God to change the world around them.

Irene Howat writes with real warmth and insight. People that you have never met come alive on the page. Christian legends and unsung heroes all become friends you can understand and look up to. In a world where role models of real integrity are few and far between, the Lightkeepers series fills the gap.

Each chapter is approximately fifteen pages — short enough to read at bedtime or in one sitting — and follows a consistent, engaging structure: childhood and family background, key moments of faith and formation, and the life-changing impact of a woman who walked with God.

Meet the Ten Girls

Susannah Wesley — Mother of John and Charles Wesley, whose faithful, Scripture-saturated mothering planted the seeds of one of the greatest revivals in English history.

Monica of Thagaste — A North African woman whose decades of faithful prayer for her wayward son produced one of the greatest theologians the church has ever known: Augustine of Hippo.

Ann Judson — The first American female missionary, who followed her husband Adoniram to Burma and gave her life to bringing the gospel to a people who had never heard it, enduring imprisonment, hardship, and loss.

Edith Schaeffer — Wife of Francis Schaeffer and co-founder of L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland, where for decades she created a community of hospitality and intellectual engagement that influenced a generation of thinking Christians.

Katherine Luther — Wife of Martin Luther, who escaped from a convent, married the reformer, and helped build the model of the Protestant Christian home and pastoral household that shaped the church for centuries.

Susannah Spurgeon — Wife of Charles Spurgeon, who after becoming housebound from illness established a remarkable book fund to provide books for pastors who could not afford them — a ministry that distributed tens of thousands of books.

Bethan Lloyd-Jones — Wife of Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who was herself a trained physician and who for decades quietly shaped and supported one of the greatest preaching ministries of the twentieth century.

Maria Taylor — Wife of Hudson Taylor and a gifted missionary in her own right, who lost her parents early and gave her life to China alongside her husband in the founding years of the China Inland Mission.

Sabina Wurmbrand — Romanian Christian who, along with her husband Richard Wurmbrand, was imprisoned for her faith under Communist rule and later helped found Voice of the Martyrs to advocate for persecuted Christians worldwide.

Ruth Bell Graham — Daughter of missionaries to China, wife of Billy Graham, and a woman of remarkable faith, poetry, and prayer who anchored one of the most significant gospel ministries of the twentieth century.

What Children Will Learn

• That God uses ordinary people — girls and women from every background — to accomplish extraordinary things
• The stories of ten remarkable women of faith, spanning church history from the early centuries to the twentieth century
• That faithful prayer, quiet faithfulness, and trust in God in suffering are among the most powerful forces in the world
• That women’s contributions to the gospel — as mothers, missionaries, ministers’ wives, and advocates — are part of God’s story
• How to read and enjoy Christian biography — building a habit that will shape their faith for life

Who This Book Is For

Girls aged 8–12 who love stories and who need real, historically grounded role models of faith — women who were brave, faithful, and used by God in ways that changed history.

Parents reading aloud to children — each fifteen-page chapter is a perfect bedtime story that takes roughly fifteen minutes to read, and will generate conversation about faith, courage, and calling.

Sunday school teachers and children’s ministry leaders wanting to introduce older primary-age children to the richness of church history and the lives of faithful Christian women.

Families with daughters at home who want to offer an alternative to the culture’s narrow and often shallow vision of what makes a woman remarkable — and who want their daughters to see themselves as part of a much bigger, God-written story.

Anyone looking for a meaningful gift for a girl aged 8–12 at a birthday, Christmas, or other occasion — a book that will be read, remembered, and returned to.

About the Author — Irene Howat

Irene Howat is an award-winning author and poet who lives in Scotland. She has published many biographical books for all ages and is particularly well known for her biographical material. She has written many books about the lives of different Christians from around the world. She has also written an autobiographical work entitled Pain My Companion. She is married to a retired minister, is a talented artist, and especially enjoys letters from children — replying to every one she receives.

In the Lightkeepers series, Howat’s gift for narrative biography is at its best — bringing historical figures to life with warmth, detail, and a storyteller’s instinct for what will grip a young reader and what will stay with them.

Series Information — Lightkeepers

Ten Girls Who Made a Difference is part of the Lightkeepers series published by Christian Focus — a series introducing readers aged 8–12 to the joy of Christian biography. The series introduces readers to the enjoyment of reading Christian biographies through vivid, narrative-style stories of men and women who were used by God across the centuries.

The Girls series includes five volumes — each featuring ten women of faith. The Boys series runs in parallel, featuring men whose lives display the same pattern of ordinary faith and extraordinary impact.

Other Lightkeepers titles available or worth looking out for at forthetruth.in include:

• Ten Girls Who Changed the World
• Ten Girls Who Used Their Talents
• Ten Girls Who Made History
• Ten Girls Who Didn’t Give In
• Lightkeepers Girls Box Set (all five volumes)
  

  What Others Have Said

  “Irene Howat writes with a real warmth and insight. People that you have never met come alive on the page. Christian legends and unsung heroes all become friends you can understand and look up to. In a world where role models of real integrity are few and far between, the Lightkeepers series fills the gap.” — Catherine MacKenzie, Children’s Editor, Christian Focus

  “These are great little biographies. Our girls loved them.” — A parent, Goodreads