Come Back, Barbara, by C. John Miller and Barbara Miller Juliani

This is the true story of a prodigal daughter and her Christian parents, who learned to love through pain, trust in dark times, and grow in their own relationship to the Lord as He brought healing and restoration through his grace. Jack Miller was a pastor, seminary professor, and missionary, who along with his wife Rose Marie raised a family in the turbulent era of the 1960’s and early 70’s. In the midst of teaching others about Christ, and advancing the gospel, their world was rocked when their daughter Barbara announce that she wanted nothing to do with Christianity or her parent’s values. Throughout this book, Jack and his daughter Barbara take the reader through the trials that two parents experienced, watching their child grow rebellious and belligerent, as well as listening to Barbara describe her embarrassment and discontentment with the lifestyle of her mother and father. It was in these difficult situations that God’s grace began to work mightily, not only in Barbara’s life, but in that of her parents as well.

While reading this work, I am moved by the anguish felt by these two parents, and also by the tension this young woman felt as she tried to understand herself and the God who was calling her. There is a refreshing honesty in this book as both father and daughter tell their side of the story. In the end, this isn’t simply a narrative about one family’s struggle, but a reflection on the grace and power of God to change the lives of both the prodigal and her parents. I highly recommend this book to any parent struggling with troubled children, as well as to those of us who’ve been prodigals ourselves. We may just come to appreciate our parents, our children, and our God even more.​