Jeffrey Dean - This Is Me. A Teen Girls Guide to Becoming the Real You

T HIS I S M E
P UBLISHED BY M ULTNOMAH B OOKS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( CEV ) are taken from the Contemporary English Version. Copyright 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked ( ESV ) are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( HCSB ) are taken from The Holman Christian Standard Bible, copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked ( MSG ) are taken from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( NASB ) are taken from the New American Standard Bible. Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org). Scripture quotations marked ( NLT ) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

eBook ISBN: 978-0-307-56173-2
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-59052-985-0

Copyright 2007 by The Jeffrey Dean Company, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

M ULTNOMAH and its mountain colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dean, Jeffrey.
This is me : a teen girls guide to becoming the real you / by Jeffrey Dean. 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-59052-985-0
1. Teenage girlsReligious life. 2. Teenage girlsConduct of life. I. Title.
BV4551.3.D43 2007
248.833dc22
2007010434

v3.1

To Bailey and Brynn

Taking Notes

When you see the pencil-and-paper icon above, you may want to fill out your answers on a separate piece of paper or use the Notes functionality on your eReader.

If you are using a touch-screen reader or app, simply hold your finger over the first word in the line and then select Note to create a note and begin typing your answer.

If you are using a non-touch-screen reader, move your cursor up to the line where you want to enter an answer and then begin typing to create a new note.

You can then reference your answers anytime you are reading the eBook as they will be stored as notes on your device.

Many thanks to Adrienne Spain. It was even better this time around. Your talent inspires me. Thank you again. To David Kopp and everyone at Multnomah. Thank you to the many Prayer Partners of Jeffrey Dean Ministries. To all of my family. To my girlsyou are my joy. To AmyI love you. To teen girls everywhereas you read this book, I pray you see yourself as God sees you. To God be the glory.

eather was an extremely shy and soft-spoken freshman. One of her teachers introduced her to me when I spoke at her school. It only took a few minutes for me to see Heather was lonely and very insecure. As we were talking, several girls walked by and made a crude comment about her. My heart broke for her. She told me she didnt have many friends. She even asked me what I thought she should do to make more friends. I was hurting for Heather, but as I watched her walk back to class, I knew there was no way I could understand how hard life really was for her

Renee was a popular, smart, funny senior in high school, and she had a singing voice that made Britney Spears sound like Miss Piggy. (Actually Britney Spears does that all on her own.) Renee and her boyfriend, Reed, stopped me backstage at a conference where I spoke. They were both in the band that led worship that night. Renee was a preachers kid. Ask her a question about the Bible, and she had all the right answers. When your daddy is the one in the pulpit, you kind of have to act like youve got it all together, she said. But I could tell Renee was far from having it all together.

The more we talked, the more the facade began to fade. She said, I cant remember the last time I had a real conversation with my dad. Hes so busy doing church that he hardly ever has time for me. And then, as I continued to listen, she confirmed what I had already suspected: Reed and I are sleeping together. I know its wrong. But we are. Obviously, her lack of attention from her father left a void in her heart she was trying to fill with a cute guy and sexual intimacy. It