Although a sweet and uplifting idea, friends and family are not always perceptive enough to speak that encouragement into your life. Still, I thought Christy relied too heavily on the affirmations of her husband and friends, and lacked the ability to speak words of life over herself. There is only so much one can portray in a novel, however, and the awkwardness of their relationship disappeared after the first few chapters, so perhaps I should chalk it off as a rough start to the novel. Granted that as adults we are very much the same person we have always been, only with more experience and knowledge, but Christy’s emotional maturity seems stilted, and her understanding of herself and her husband appears limited. I thought there were a few instances where the main character, Christy, did not seem to have matured from what I remember of her teen years. She has a knack for understanding the best and worst traits of her character and developing them in such a way that readers will fully identify with. I appreciated the issues Gunn chose to address in this long-awaited novel, and feel that she portrayed them well. The unknown looms over them, and it’s a very real and tangible situation that challenges their faith in new ways. Bills, stress and obligations clutter their lives, and the beloved characters have to learn to understand and communicate with each other through the chaos of their lives. Christy is faced with the decision between doing what is convenient, or trusting that God will provide. Todd is at the center of an uncomfortable and yet not unheard of church battle between the leaders and congregation, and chooses to resign before more disrupt can occur.

Forever With You takes place two years after Christy Miller and Todd Spencer’s marriage, and follows their faith journey through sudden and total unemployment. It was an interesting experience to revisit these characters as an adult.

I’d only been wondering what happened to them for over twelve years. Every fan out there knows the joy this brought me. A few months ago I discovered that Gunn was at last publishing a succession series based on Christy Miller’s married years. I devoured everything Gunn wrote and followed a teen love of Christian fiction for a number of years before my reading interests expanded, but my favorite Gunn stories always maintained a place on my bookshelf. The series and characters had a remarkable influence on my early teen years. I first read Robin Jones Gunn Christy Miller Series around twelve years ago. Forever With You is the first installment in a series twenty-five years in the making.

Forever with you by robin jones gunn