Covenant Hearts: Marriage and the Joy of Human Love


Bruce C. Hafen - 2005
    Satan is ever striving to blur and contort the truth; modern society is experiencing a shifting toward a culture of divorce. In a way that no other book has, this book provides an eternal perspective about marriage. Noting that marriage can be the most sanctifying — yet the most demanding — experience of our lives, Elder Hafen observes that marriage is "the home room of the earth school our Father created to give his children a place to learn and grow. Families are the laboratories where we test and develop our religion." See through the confusion in our society and create an environment in which human love overcomes all opposition and lasts forever.

Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life


Emily Nagoski - 2015
    So where is it? Well, for reasons this book makes crystal clear, that pill will never exist—but as a result of the research that’s gone into it, scientists in the last few years have learned more about how women’s sexuality works than we ever thought possible, and Come as You Are explains it all.The first lesson in this essential, transformative book by Dr. Emily Nagoski is that every woman has her own unique sexuality, like a fingerprint, and that women vary more than men in our anatomy, our sexual response mechanisms, and the way our bodies respond to the sexual world. So we never need to judge ourselves based on others’ experiences. Because women vary, and that’s normal.Second lesson: sex happens in a context. And all the complications of everyday life influence the context surrounding a woman’s arousal, desire, and orgasm. Cutting-edge research across multiple disciplines tells us that the most important factor for women in creating and sustaining a fulfilling sex life, is not what you do in bed or how you do it, but how you feel about it. Which means that stress, mood, trust, and body image are not peripheral factors in a woman’s sexual wellbeing; they are central to it. Once you understand these factors, and how to influence them, you can create for yourself better sex and more profound pleasure than you ever thought possible.And Emily Nagoski can prove it.

Calm My Anxious Heart


Linda Dillow - 1989
    We worry about our children, our friends, our careers, our families, our spouses—and the list goes on. We want to be content and trust God with our worries, but it’s a struggle to let go and free ourselves from the burden of anxiety.If you’re tired of worrying about all the what-ifs in your life and want to experience the calm and contentment that the Bible promises, Calm My Anxious Heart is what you’ve been looking for. Filled with encouragement and practical help for overcoming anxiety, this book includes a ten-week Bible study to help you discover what the Bible says about anxiety and contentment and ways to apply it to your daily life. This classic book has been field-tested, revised, and updated for a new generation of readers. A companion journal is also available to record your thoughts as you listen to God’s teaching, embrace the present, and live with joy. With Calm My Anxious Heart, you can let go of anxiety and experience contentment that comes from trusting God.

Conscious Loving: The Journey to Co-Committment


Gay Hendricks - 1990
    Through their own marriage and through twenty years' experience counseling more than one thousand couples, therapists Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks have developed precise strategies to help you create a vital partnership and enhance the energy, creativity, and happiness of each individual. You will learn how to:* Let go of power struggles and need for control;* Balance needs for closeness and separateness; * Increase intimacy by telling the "microscopic truth"; * Communicate in a positive way that stops arguments;* Make agreements you can keep;* Allow more pleasure into your life. Addressed to individuals as well as to couples, Conscious Loving will heal old hurts and deepen your capacity for enjoyment, security, and enduing love.

A Fierce Love: One Woman’s Courageous Journey to Save Her Marriage


Shauna Shanks - 2017
    Are we still called to God’s plan of how to love when we are getting none in return? Shauna Shanks’s brave journey through obedience reveals the outcome of when we dare to follow God’s ludicrous outline for love as described in 1 Corinthians 13.Wrecked with news of her husband’s affair and his request for a divorce, Shauna finds herself urgently faced with a decision. Does she give up and divorce her husband and move on, or does she try to fight for her marriage? The former choice seems to contradict God’s plan for how to love, such as “love never gives up,” “love is patient,” and “love is kind.”Taking God at His word and assuming the love chapter was really meant to be followed literally word by word, she not only finds herself falling in love with her spouse again, but also falling in love with Jesus, which changes everything.First Corinthians 13 presents an audacious, illogical, and irrational context of how to love, meant to be applied to every marital context not just the fairytale marriage. If God’s instructions seem illogical and audacious, you might just expect the same kind of results in return!This book is not air-brushed. It was written in the midst of the author’s deepest trauma, and she purposefully did not edit out her mistakes and failures during that season. This book will resonate with women who do not feel like the picture-perfect Christian woman with the fairytale life and marriage.A Fierce Love is the story of a train wreck and reaching out to God not in the calm but in the chaos and finding hope for the future.

Marry Wisely Marry Well: A Blueprint for Personal Preparation


Ernie Baker - 2016
    Learn to make a wise choice of a spouse, and how to start preparing yourself for a future relationship that is truly built on Christ.

The Mystery of Marriage: Meditations on the Miracle


Mike Mason - 1985
    In highly readable, first-person style, Mason’s writing stimulates readers’ thoughts and prayers and propels couples to deeper intimacy. “A marriage is not a joining of two worlds,” says the author, “but an abandoning of two worlds in order that one new one might be formed.” Rich chapters on “Otherness,” “Vows,” “Intimacy,” “Sex,” “Submission,” and an all-new chapter on “Oneness” lift readers to view the eternal, spiritual nature of this faith-filled, “impossible,” wild—yet wonderful—frontier. Story Behind the Book"Over the twenty years since its publication, many couples have told me that they’ve read my book aloud to each other. This always amazes me and gives me great joy. I’m also amazed that many single people have read it. Either way, my goal is for hearts to be warmed by the mystery of divine love. I want couples to enter into deeper intimacy by thinking together about the mystery of marriage—about how their love, besides being a gift of God, reflects the very love He has for Himself in the Trinity. For God is not a bachelor, and throughout the Bible marriage is a supreme picture of the nature of God’s love and of His kingdom. I want people who read my book to feel so soaked in these wonderful, divine mysteries that it deepens their reverence for marriage and inspires them to greater love."   -Mike Mason

Shepherding a Child's Heart


Tedd Tripp - 1995
    The things your child does and says flow from the heart. Luke 6:45 puts it this way: "...out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Written for parents with children of any age, this insightful book provides perspectives and procedures for shepherding your child's heart into the paths of life.

The Peacegiver: How Christ Offers to Heal Our Hearts and Homes


James L. Ferrell - 2004
    Unlike other books about the atonement, The Peacegiver is written as an extended parable. It tells the story of a man struggling, with the help of a loved one, to come unto Christ. IN reading the rich details of his often difficult journey, we find ourselves embarked on a personal journey of our own. His questions are our questions; his problems, our problems; his discoveries, our discoveries. Along the way, the truths of the gospel are unfolded with surprising clarity and power, illuminating aspects of the atonement that few of us have ever heard or considered before. These surprising implications show us the way to deep and lasting peace in our hearts and homes."My peace I give unto you," the Savior declared. The Peacegiver explores in a deeply personal way what we must do to receive the peace he stands willing to give.

Communication: Key to Your Marriage: A Practical Guide to Creating a Happy Fulfilling Relationship


H. Norman Wright - 1973
    H. Norman Wright tackles this dilemma in the Christian book on couples communication. Presenting insightful ways to reduce marital conflict, manage anger, build one another's self-esteem and just plain listen to one another, Wright provides couples with the resources to understand each other at new and deeper levels. Ideal for married and pre-married couples, counselors, lay counselors, mentors and pastors, this classic has been fully revised and updated for marriages in the new millennium.

Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem


Kevin DeYoung - 2013
    We've all said it. All too often, busyness gets the best of us.Just one look at our jam-packed schedules tells us that we know how hard it can be to strike a well-reasoned balance between doing nothing and doing it all.That's why Kevin DeYoung addresses the busyness in this book, and not with the typical arsenal of time-management tips, but with the biblical tools we need to get to the source of the issue and pull the problem out by the roots.

Choosing to SEE


Mary Beth Chapman - 2010
    Together they began Show Hope, a nonprofit organization dedicated to caring for the world's most vulnerable children by providing financial assistance to families wishing to adopt, as well as increasing awareness of the orphan crisis and funneling resources to orphans domestically and internationally. Mary Beth serves as president of Show Hope and is a speaker for Women of Faith 2010 with her husband. She is also coauthor with Steven of the Shaoey and Dot series of children's picture books. Mary Beth and Steven have six children: Emily, Caleb, Will Franklin, and adopted daughters Shaohannah Hope, Stevey Joy, and Maria Sue, who is now with Jesus. The Chapmans live in Tennessee.www.MaryBethChapman.comEllen Vaughn is a bestselling author and inspirational speaker. Her recent books include It's All About Him with Denise Jackson (wife of Alan Jackson), which debuted at #1 on the New York Times nonfiction list. She is also coauthor with Chuck Colson of Being the Body. In addition to her nonfiction work, Vaughn is an award-winning novelist. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband, Lee.

Babyproofing Your Marriage: How to Laugh More, Argue Less, and Communicate Better as Your Family Grows


Stacie Cockrell - 2007
    A paw on a wife's shoulder is how some men indicate their desire for sex. The Tap is rarely accompanied by a term of endearment or any other verbal form of communication and is seldom well received by the often-sleeping/almost-always-exhausted wife. The frustrated husband, meanwhile, wonders if his wife has pulled a Bait and Switch in the bedroom.Clash of the Grannies—A high stakes "who will have the greatest influence on the grandkids" tournament played by each set of grandparents. Competitive categories include: the Title Championship (who gets to be called "Grandma"), the Battle for Floor and Wall Space, the Battle for Face Time, and Gratuitous Grandparental Gift-Giving.The Babyproofers are three women who wouldn't trade their roles as mothers for anything, and they love their husbands deeply. But after living through it and hearing the stories of hundreds of other couples, they know that with young children in the house, you need to block the stairs with baby gates, put plastic covers over the outlets, AND take the necessary steps to safeguard your marriage.Babyproofing Your Marriage is the warts-and-all truth about how having children can affect your relationship. The authors explore the transition to parenthood in light of their own experiences, with input from their husbands and commentary from men and women across the country. Their evenhanded approach to both sides of the marital equation allows spouses to understand each other in a whole new way.With loads of humor and practical advice, the Babyproofers will guide first-time parents and veterans alike around the rocky shores of the early parenting years. Don't fall prey to common relationship pitfalls: Babyproof Your Marriage!

Point Man: How a Man Can Lead His Family


Steve Farrar - 1990
    Men will find practical insight on topics such as a father's influence, maintaining purity, and husband-and-wife teamwork. In this war, renowned men's author Steve Farrar emphasizes, Jesus Christ is looking for men who will not die, but live for their families.

Love Life for Every Married Couple: How to Fall in Love and Stay in Love


Ed Wheat - 1980
    In Love Life for Every Married Couple, he'll help you improve your marriage through sharing, touching, appreciating and focusing healing attention on your mate. Answering physical, psychological and stress-related questions in a Christian context, Dr. Wheat demonstrates how to bring your feelings of love back to life.