Intentional Marriage: The Art of Loving Your Husband
The book, Intentional
Marriage: The Art of Loving Your Husband by Crystal Brothers, reminds me of
a cross between The Love Dare and good common sense advice, but specifically
for a wife. And honestly, sometimes we
need that common sense to be forced into our lives. The idea behind the book is that you cannot
change your spouse, but you can change yourself.
"You cannot pout, or argue enough to change your husband. What you can
do is change yourself."
For each of 31 days, Crystal provides a biblically based idea to intentionally love or serve your husband. After the short devotion and idea for the day, Crystal poses related questions that will engage wives in thinking about how they can love their husbands, how they can have a contented attitude, and how God views their role as a wife. The questions will engage wives in being intentional about loving their husbands.
For me, the book really hits home. I love my husband, but certainly there are days when I allow love to just be a feeling. I'm not intentional about showing him
love. In fact, sometimes I'm just not
willing to change, and I expect him to do all the changing. Fair, huh?
In Intentional Marriage: The Art
of Loving Your Husband, I can see that the problem isn't just what I'm not
doing, it's my attitude. God calls us to give cheerfully, to be
filled with grace, to be unselfish. And
I love that this book calls me out on these things and more.
I look forward to implementing the devotions into my daily
life. The daily action items can be
those that go directly to your husband (like making his favorite dinner), but
they also include conversations with the Heavenly Father, changes to yourself and
your internal attitudes, and examining God's Word in the Bible.
Not only is Intentional
Marriage: The Art of Loving Your Husband a 31 day devotional, it is also a
resource guide. At the end of the book,
Crystal includes even more valuable
ideas for wives including:
- 101 Ways to Bless Your Husband
- 101+ Free or Cheap Date Night Ideas
- 101+ Conversation Starters
I love the ideas for ways to bless your husband. There are many things that sometimes we, as wives, just expect our husbands to do for themselves. What if we took the time every so often to show love by doing the expected (theirs) or the unexpected?
And the date ideas . . . Well you know me, I
love being frugal! One of my favorites
is: go geocaching. I used to think that
people going geocaching were crazy, but now I think it sounds like a little
adventure!
And the conversation
starters . . . I would say that my husband doesn't have any trouble finding
topics of conversation, but there are some great questions in the book! Everything from deep questions like,
"What incident in your life has most shaped your faith?" to humorous
questions like "If you were in the circus, what would your job be?"
I believe that Intentional
Marriage: The Art of Loving Your Husband is an excellent resource for
wives. You can also find related
resources and free printables on
Crystal's website. Click HERE
to access them.
You can purchase the book now until April 28, 2014 as a part
of the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle! The
bundle is only $29.97 for over $700 worth of books, printables, and more!
·
Healing
with God's Earthly Gifts (coming soon)
·
More than
a Holiday (coming soon)
·
My Simple
Healthy Life (coming soon)