FRANKLIN, Tenn. (BP) — Alena Pitts Franklin was three years past her cinematic debut as Priscilla Shirer’s daughter in “War Room” when Alena’s mother went to sleep one evening and entered heaven without awakening.

A 14-year-old Alena was left with her father Jonathan and three younger sisters. But lessons her mother Wynter left in her 38 years on earth, her father Jonathan’s faithfulness and the grace of God helped Alena thrive, she told Baptist Press.

“Grief is horrific,” Alena said. “I would never wish death on anybody, or anyone to have to go through that. I think losing a mom is one thing. Losing such an incredible mom is another thing. And then losing a mom at such a pivotal age, like heading into my freshman year of high school, it was just all a lot, and lots of lows, lots of valleys.”

Alena’s blurry image of God from her childhood and adolescence left her questioning whether God was good, she said ahead of the release of her devotional for teenage girls, “God Is: 60 Days of Learning Who God Is to Understand Who We Are.”

Alena shares lessons she has learned about God since that fateful day in 2018 — lessons learned in continuing For Girls Like You Ministries founded by her mother, in working as a counselor at the Pine Cove Christian summer camp she began attending at age 5, and in marrying gospel music superstar Kirk Franklin’s son Caziah in 2024. Alena’s father Jonathan is stewardship pastor at Church of the City in Franklin, a multisite, nondenominational church with roots in the Southern Baptist Convention.

God planted the seed for the book when Alena returned to camp as an 18-year-old counselor to 14- to 17-year-old girls.

“I just remember walking with girls through really hard things, unimaginable things, and them asking me questions about who they were and who God was, and realizing that I actually had so much work and searching to do of my own on who God was,” the author said. “And I just remember kind of being blown away at the fact that these girls had no idea who their Father was, no idea (of) all the ways that God felt about them.”

She began a dedicated season of personally examining God’s character.

“I wanted to believe that God was good. I wanted to believe what the Bible said about Who He was or who He is,” she said. “And I realized that actually in searching for who God is, it’s easier to understand who we are, at least a little bit.”

She learned there is none like Him, that He is infinite, omnipotent, all-knowing, everywhere and a host of godly things she shares in the devotion.

Shirer, Alena’s first cousin once removed but affectionately considered Alena’s aunt, wrote the devotional’s foreword. Shirer, founder of Going Beyond Ministries, compares the devotional book to Rita Springer’s song, “I Think He Is,” a favorite anthem Alena recommended.

“Alena’s confidence in God’s character is something she’s unearthed over time, during the kind of hardships the songwriter describes,” Shirer wrote. “Her young life has been marked by its fair share of heartache, as well as by the beauty of many joys and triumphs. The ebbs and flows have taken her on a roller-coaster ride of self-discovery and sacred calling.”

Alena describes the book as a living thing.

“I actually learned this from my mom when she published devotionals,” Alena said. “Even though she’s not here now, I’m able to go back and read her words straight from her mouth.

“And I think that’s what I appreciate most about this, is that I will forever have lessons from God written down that I will remember and recall exactly when it happened, exactly how God showed me that, because I have this living thing that holds His Word.”

She hopes the book will live to impact girls and young women worldwide.

“I think the Bible makes it really clear that there’s a lot of power in the tongue. There’s a lot of power in our words,” she said. “And so I think when we write them down, they’re just alive on paper.”

B&H Publishing plans to release “God Is” on Sept. 23.

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Diana Chandler is Baptist Press’ senior writer.)