Best-selling author Robin Jones Gunn decided to become a missionary the year she turned 12. God ignited a fire in her to serve him at that tender age, and she wanted to spread the gospel around the world. Little did she know that God would use her stories to save souls.
Gunn has received numerous accolades for her work, and in 2007, won the prestigious Christy Award for her chick lit novel, Sisterchicks in Gondolas!
Upon the recent release of Peculiar Treasures, (which puts her close to 70 published titles) and as she celebrates her 20th anniversary as a novelist, Gunn shares with Crosswalk.com how through her writing, God has honored the youthful desires of her heart.
Did you know as a child that you were a gifted writer?
I don’t think I saw it as a gift. I got in trouble a lot while I was growing up for telling stories. I would be called to account—‘Did that really happen? Are you telling the truth?’ It seemed to me as I was growing up that this ability to always put out a story or spin something in my imagination was not a good thing. I needed to be factual and concise and not go on and on. That gifting was always there, but I didn’t see it as a blessing.
I’ve kept journals for many years. All through high school I wrote handwritten letters to pen pals. Some of those letters would be 36 pages long and my pen pal would say, ‘I read your letter to my mom and my girlfriend. You have such an interesting life.’ I was embellishing.
What was your first career choice?
I grew up in a Christian home, but when I really came to know Christ was at 12 years old, at summer camp. I had been so motivated by the talks of the missionaries that came to visit camp, I thought that was the best way to serve God—to go to a foreign country and learn another language and translate the Bible into another language that never had God’s word before.
When I was 21, I worked at a mission in Europe and helped smuggle Bibles into Eastern Europe. I applied after that to go to Africa with a mission organization. The job opening was to be a laundry supervisor in Kenya. I was turned down because I didn’t have the right criteria. That was devastating, at 22, to know that you couldn’t even wash clothes in Africa!
Where did God direct you after that?
I married my husband (31 years ago). He was a youth pastor at the time. I loved teenagers and being around them and worked with them in a youth group. Our son is now 26 and our daughter is 22. When our son was just a baby, I had an idea for a children’s book, and that’s what’s started the writing process.