Customer Reviews

Preparing for Marriage

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Our pastor recommended this book be used for our pre-marital counseling. My husband and I each had our own book and would go throught the chapters seperately. This helped when we got together with our pastor every week, because our answers were honest. I felt this book helped us think about the expectations we each had for different aspects of marriage. Ex: who does the housework? how much do you spend a month on food? what type of debt do you bring into the marriage? how often do you expect to have sex? It also encouraged us to discuss issues from our pasts that we didn't believe to be relevant, but would have affected our marriage down the road. We really enjoyed this book, but as with any pre-marital counseling book the key is an AWESOME pastor.

My wife and I went through this book before we were married and found it to be so helpful. This is a hands-on tool that will help you to explore your relationship and find God's plan for marriage. It also fleshes out the topics that are ESSENTIAL in any premarital counseling. My wife and I have a stronger relationship as a result of this book.

Wow! My husband and I used this book in our premarital counseling class and we learned more about what a true Godly marriage is all about. From your roles and responsibilities, to handling your finances, to unrealistic expectations, even to dealing with each others pasts. I don't know what we would have done if it wasn't for this book, it helped so much in determining our strengths and our growth areas. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is engaged or contemplating marriage! We still go through parts of it even though we're now married!

I am familiar with Family Life. They are on a par with Dr. James Dobson's outfit, Focus On The Family. They are a part of the umbrella organization Campus Crusade For Christ. Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine have a daily radio show called Family Life Today. I've read this book and I have other books by Dennis Rainey and Barbara Rainey about marriage and teenagers.
A lot of this information is also in their conferences and Family Life really tries super hard to connect not only with your mind by providing you some insight into marriage troubles and how to overcome them...but Family Life goes beyond this and motivates and urges action. This book is a book to use as a workbook to put you through the action part of working out the ultimate question... "is this The Person."
I read this book AFTER i was married and was seeking answers to questions. This book has an accompanying Leaders Guide that is intended to be used by a mentor right alongside the real book used by the couple. I have the leaders guide and if the book is used with the leaders guide with an older wiser mature couple guiding the younger couple this book can be a wealth of valuable information. I recommend the book from a conservative southern baptist perspective and I know absolutely that even liberal christians will get a lot out of this book.

My fianceé and I are currently working through this book with my pastor for our premarital counseling. While nothing in the book strikes me as bad or useless, the fact is that both of us have been independent adults for some time now, and had made a point of discussing most of the topics in the book already - before we even were engaged. Furthermore, some of the exercises (most notably the "life map") seem trite, and even a little silly. This isn't to say that it's not helpful, particularly for those who are about to truly leave their parents' home for the first time, but if you're already a mature believer, it might be best to find something more in-depth.

I am really enjoying this book. My fiance and I are using it as a guide for premarital counselling, and although we already know most everything about each other, it is nice to discuss our views on things with the background of knowing that it'll help us make decisions later on in our marriage. I would recommend this book to any serious dating or engaged couple!

My husband and I used this book as part of an 8 week Premarital Counseling course. We both found the book to bring up good topics for discussion though most of them we had discussed before. I would not describe myself as a very religious person but more of a spiritual person with strong Christian beliefs. That said, I found some "opinions" in the book to be narrow minded and that some of the bible passages were taken out of context. I do think that it was a good tool as part of our sessions but don't depend completely on this book for your premarital counseling. We also looked at The 5 Love Languages and Dave Ramsey's book Financial Peace Revisited. Those books as well as the insight from our counselors made all the difference.

This book is an amazing tool for anyone planning to make a serious marriage commitment. It asks all the right questions that each of us should ponder and answer honestly before we say "I do." I was introduced to this book by our church when my fiance and I became engaged. We were each deeply hurt by spouses who broke their marriage vows (after 23 & 21 year marriages) and decided it was easier to run away than to work at correcting the areas in which we had gone wrong. I believe that anyone who works their way through this book - step by step - will be building their marriage on the firm foundation of marriage that God intended. What a great investment to make in helping to assure a lifetime of deep commitment and great joy. I believe God will bless any marriage that has been entered into with the time, effort and dedication that this book requires of us.

We use this book at Healing Place Church (Baton Rouge, LA) for over 4 years and it has gotten great reviews and responses. We reviewed 6-7 curriculums for premarital preparation and "Preparing For Marriage" stood out far above most other programs.

The content a wise balance of scripture and practical application. The organization and presentation of the process is great. It allows the couples to get an early start on communication of key issues of a healthy, Christ centered marriage. The process of a couple going through this book together along with a mature Jesus loving mentor couple is invaluable.

The Leader's Guide is an excellent resource. It gives Leader's many options to use the text whether one on one mentoring or a group environment for a class environment. It also prepares the Leaders to facilitate an individual counseling session or facilitate a class.

We've enjoyed sharing this information with engaged couples and look forward to seeing the fruit this Godly resource will bear.

It develops a framework for healthy discussion for those seeking to get married. Dealing with the topics of finances, sex and marital roles. It is a helpful springboard for conversation.