Edited by counselor Lauren Whitman, Darcy Is Always First is part of the Good News for Little Hearts series that brings gospel wisdom and biblical counsel to families. Based on CCEF’s model of hope and help, each story focuses on an animal family’s real-life issues, encouraging young readers toward a growing relationship with Jesus during challenging circumstances.
Lauren Whitman, MA, is a counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF), where she has served for a decade. She also serves as the developmental editor of the Journal of Biblical Counseling and is the author of A Painful Past: Healing and Moving Forward and A Biblical Counseling Process. Whitman, her husband, and their two children make their home in the Philadelphia area.
Joe Hox was raised on a farm in southern Iowa where he doodled whenever he wasn't spading thistles or bottle-feeding calves. Everyone knew by his crooked hay rows that he would choose art over farming. Joe taught art for twelve years before becoming a full-time illustrator. He is the illustrator for the Good News for Little Hearts series, as well as Who Is Jesus? 40 Pictures to Share with Your Family, written by his wife, Kate.
The Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF) has been teaching people how to understand the wisdom and depth of the Bible and apply its grace-centered message to the problems of daily living since 1968. A biblical counseling and educational ministry located in suburban Philadelphia, CCEF operates a robust biblical counseling ministry in their home office as well as on-site training for others with a heart for discipleship. CCEF also teaches several accredited counseling programs both on-site and through distance learning in conjunction with Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. As an extension of the local church, CCEF accomplishes its mission through a unique synergy of counseling, training, publications, and conferences.