Intentional Marriage: The Art of Loving Your Husband {Book Review}

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!