Every author knows that a book should start off with a foreword, a time and space in which the writer can pay tribute to the people who inspired it all. And in the case of Rory Feek’s new book The Day God Made You, that foreword centers primarily on the gift that he and his late wife Joey received when God gave them their dear daughter Indiana.

“Indiana, your mom and I needed you and the world needs you, too,” Feek says in a recent video of him reading his newly released book to the adorable 6-year-old at their farmhouse in Tennessee. “God knew all these things the day God made you.”

Indeed, the day little Indiana came into the world, she became a treasure to not only her parents and her family, but also to everyone who followed her story on Feek’s popular This Life I Live blog. And when Joey + Rory's story took an unexpected and cruel turn in March of 2016 when Joey died after battling cancer, people’s interest in the little girl with the big smile grew even stronger.

Indy was born with Down Syndrome, and she plays prominently in the book, which focuses on everything from inclusivity to faith to acceptance, all combining to stress the important message that God created all children with purpose and love.

Unforgettable Joey + Rory Songs

It’s a message Rory tells his daughter every day.

“Indiana has almond-shaped eyes, and I started thinking about how God made her unique,” Feek tells Taste of Country in a new interview. “When she was born, Joey and I didn’t know that she was going to have the personality and the characteristics she has, but God knew all of that. Not only did he know that, but he knew the things that have happened since then. He knew the family she would be born into and who Indy’s neighbors would be and the dreams she would have. This little girl might have been a surprise to us, but not to God.”

Feek released his first children's book, The Cow Said Neigh! A Farm Story in 2018. But The Day God Made You has especially connected with Indiana.

“You just never know with Indy about books,” the 55-year-old with the bushy beard and ever-present overalls slung around his shoulders says with a chuckle. “She’s like any other child. You never know what she will connect with. But the moment I brought it in the house, you could just feel it. Maybe it’s the whimsical art. I don’t know. I do know that she has already memorized parts of it already. I think the book is special and I think the messaging inside is not just for Indy, but for all of us.  We are all a little bit different.”

Feek released The Day God Made You on Tuesday (June 16).

See Joey + Rory's Sweetest Pictures

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