- May 4, 2024
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Some high school graduates can say that they’ve won awards, garnered a few sports trophies or earned a perfect grade point average.
But Elisabeth Huijskens can say that she has written a book.
The 18-year-old author, who recently graduated from high school and will attend Southeastern University to study journalism, came out with a book that chronicles dating from a Christian girl’s perspective. The book is entitled “Putting Fairy Tales to Shame: Loving Jesus Through Dating, Marriage, Sex, and Womanhood.”
She said her experiences with boys have contributed to her writing, and her struggles are relatable to girls her age.
“I am one of those girls who has stayed up all night and cried over relationships and hardships,” she said.
From blog to book
The book came from simple beginnings. Huijskens started a blog at 13, and she said that after gaining positive reactions to her online writing, readers suggested that she write a book.
She reviewed content from her blog and found the repetitive theme of relationships, so she compiled parts of her website into a full-length book. She pitched the idea to a well-known Christian publisher, WestBow Press, and the rest is history.
She said she based the book’s content on young women that she has mentored and worked with through worship services. The book highlights Christian views regarding love and sexuality, which Huijskens said she follows strongly.
But she also recognizes that the world’s views on sex are not congruent with her beliefs
“It’s a hyper-sexualized culture,” she said. “My opinions do not line up with what our culture and this world gravitates to. … The world is selling a counterfeit idea of sex.”
Though she faces differing views, she said she remains strong in her faith.
Huijskens has also drawn inspiration from other Christian authors, such as Karen Kingsbury and Dannah Gresh.
Love and life
A worship leader and charity worker, Huijskens is wise beyond her years. She was born in the Netherlands, but spent most of her childhood in Los Angeles. When she was 12, her family relocated to Palm Coast, where she is active at Lifecoast Church. She sings, plays the piano and speaks to youth about her experiences and the topics mentioned in her book.
She also began a photography business, “New Song Photography,” and she co-started a fair trade company, “Trades of Hope,” with her mother and two other friends. She works in marketing and promotions, and through the company she works to make sure that workers around the world have fair wages. The company sells jewelry, handbags and other accessories.
“We work with women all around the world who live in impoverished countries,” she said.
She has also directly experienced some of the poverty causes that she works for. Her mother founded an orphanage in Haiti, and throughout her life she has spent a good amount of time doing missionary work in some of the world’s poorest places.
But for now, she is enjoying a break. She wants to continue writing, and she hopes that her readers will be positively affected by her work.
Her book does not target any one religious affiliation. She wants her audience to understand that abstinence is important.
“The biggest general idea that I wish readers would take away is the truth about God’s love and how it is so much bigger than this love that we experience here on Earth,” she said. “It’s a way to experience a love that puts all of the love of the fairy tale stories completely to shame.”
BOX: Book excerpt
"Little did we know, each of us already had a groom, and He wanted us to marry ourselves to Him even when we were 5 years old. Today, at this very moment, we each have a Man who is standing at the altar. He is waiting for us to turn to Him, to return the great love He has always had for us. He’s aching to for us to turn away from worldly things that hurt us and our hearts, and in turn hurt Him. He wants to protect us, take care of us, and lavish us with love. The only thing standing in the way of that love is ourselves.”
— From “Putting Fairy Tales to Shame: Loving Jesus Through Dating, Marriage, Sex, and Womanhood”
