Winning Him Without Words: 10 Keys to Thriving in Your Spiritually Mismatched Marriage [Paperback]

Dineen A. Miller (Author), Lynn Donovan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 15, 2011

Week after week, they sit in church . . . alone. They are the spiritually mismatched, those who are committed to a spouse who does not share their faith. Feeling abandoned by their spouse and forgotten by their church, they live out their faith in survival mode, guarding the spiritual flame yet never feeling free to share it. But God wants them to thrive—not just survive.      

                            

Winning Him Without Words presents 10 Christ centered keys to thriving in a spiritual mismatch. Readers are encouraged to commit to Christian community, to release their spouse to God’s capable hands, to find peace in their relationships with Christ and with their spouse, to continue their pursuit of a growing faith and to love their spouse with fresh enthusiasm. God wants every marriage to exude peace and love, and Winning Him Without Words empowers readers to create that environment in their homes and thrive as God works.

 

Winning Him Without Words was the recipient of the Non-Fiction Book of 2011 Award from the San Diego Christian Writers Guild.  The San Diego Christian Writers Guild is one of the largest countywide Christian writers group in the United States.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Moving. Challenging. Full of devastating, healing truth. No two ways about it: Dineen Miller and Lynn Donovan have crafted a masterpiece in Winning Him Without Words. For those who’ve felt alone in the battle to win their husbands to Christ, help is here! In fact, any marriage—even those, like mine, in which spouses share a faith in Jesus—would be strengthened and blessed by putting the 10 keys in this book into practice. Wives, the time is now. Take the truths these two women share and let them infuse your marriage with what we all desire: God’s amazing love and blessing.
Karen Ball
Editor and bestselling novelist of The Breaking Point and the Family Honor series

I am the daughter of a brave mother who was married to an unbeliever. My mother’s decision to follow Jesus even if my dad didn’t made all the difference to me as a little girl and propelled me into Christian leadership as an adult. I am forever grateful for women like Lynn and Dineen who live out a message of “God is enough.” Winning Him Without Words is a lifeline of hope and help for any woman who is struggling in a spiritually mismatched marriage.
Pam Farrel
Relationship specialist, international speaker, and author of more than 30 books, including the bestselling Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti

For anyone who endures a spiritually mismatched marriage—hoping and praying that things might improve—here’s authentic help from two women who know this topic from the inside out. Never preachy or harsh, these authors reveal their own struggles and difficulties as wives caught up in spiritually mismatched marriages. Winning Him Without Words is a must-read for hurting wives as they prayerfully seek change in their husbands and meaningful transformation in their marriages.
Dr. David and Lisa Frisbie
The Center for Marriage and Family Studies, Del Mar, California
Authors of Becoming Your Husband’s Best Friend and other books

C.S. Lewis once said that friendship is born at that moment one person says to another, “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” That’s what Winning Him Without Words is like. For the woman who is married to a man who doesn’t share her faith in Christ, this book is a faithful friend who will encourage her in her feelings of aloneness, anxiety, frustration (and all the other emotions that come with living in a spiritually mismatched marriage) and point her to the One who can and will make something good out of them. This book will give great hope to those who may wonder if thriving is out of reach.
Nancy Kennedy
Author of When He Doesn’t Believe

As a “marriage” author, whenever I have a reader or audience member ask me, “What should I do if my husband isn’t a believer?” I have felt inadequate to support him or her. Now I have a new approach—pray and hand the person this book. As I read through these pages, I was humbled by the wisdom and encouragement that these women share—much of which was a timely reminder for my own marriage. With honest struggle and authentic hope, Dineen and Lynn show women how to make God the very center of their unequal marriages.
Kathi Lipp
Author of The Husband Project and The Marriage Project

It has been a wonderful gift and blessing to “meet” Dineen and Lynn through their journeys. As one who is also unequally yoked in a spiritually mismatched marriage (to a wonderful guy, for 29 years!), the relief in knowing I am not alone is huge. That, coupled with practical keys they share as they share of themselves, has invigorated our marriage and brought honor to God.
Kathy Pride
Author of What the Bible Is All About for Moms

About the Author

LYNN DONOVAN writes for the online ministry she founded in 2006, Spiritually Unequal Marriage. Lynn is a popular Bible study leader and national speaker who dispels the myths women believe about love and marriage and points them to the freedom that is theirs through a living relationship with Christ. She lives in Temecula, California, with her husband, Mike.

 

DINEEN A. MILLER is an award-winning author of suspense novels, articles and devotions. After a first career in advertising and design for such publications as Time magazine and Car & Driver, she turned full-time to writing and ministry. Dineen has won several prestigious awards for her fiction, and her devotional writing has been featured in Soul Journey and Our Journey. She blogs at UnequalMarriage.Typepad.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Regal (February 15, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830756051
• ISBN-13: 978-0830756056
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #188,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Life-Changing! Soul-Searching! A Doldrums Buster for Any Marriage!!! February 20, 2011

By Patti Lacy

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

"We are ordinary women and ordinary wives just like you. And, just like you, we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and our redeemer. OUR HUSBANDS DO NOT."

With that sentence, Lynn Donovan and Dineen Miller hooked me on an exciting new read, one that had me examining--and improving--my marriage, though I'm in a thriving believers' union. Did you hear that? THIS BOOK WILL improve your marriage...whether your husband presently believes or not.

In concise yet poignant prose, Lynn Donovan and Dineen Miller have written a book to yank you from the doldrums of a mismatched marriage...or a marriage that needs the Living Water of Jesus Christ.

Would you rather thrist and claw in the sand land of he said, he won't, he can't that marriage often becomes? If so, DON'T read "Winning Him Without Words!"

Armed with the Living Water, Christ Jesus, the Great Counselor, The Holy Spirit, and God's scriptural sword, Donovan and Miller trumpet you to victory through a part how-to guide, part Bible study, part fascinating memoir of their own unique faith journeys. In fact, Lynn and Dineen share from desert times so you can drink deep from the oasis that God intended marriage to be.

Ten thought-provoking chapters probe at marital battlefields and answer those questions you were afraid to ask, then ask you the questions you really need to answer. I LOVED this discovery aspect and chapter-ending prayer of commitment.

It's not often I put down novels or research material to venture into personal growth or women's issue books, but this is one venture that was well worth every minute!

I do have one suggestion: I would purchase the paperback version rather than the Kindle (learn from my mistake, okay?) The resource materials, chapter-ending questions, and the study group nature can be more easily shared and set near your prayer chair. Believe me, you'll be flipping back through THIS book time and time again.

GET READY for an extraordinary trek, folks! May this only be the beginning of a great ministry!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just Another Christian Self-Help Book April 3, 2011

By Jeannie M. Campbell

Format:Paperback

Unequally yoked marriages are something all counselors encounter in session. We are trained to bring up the "hot button" issues like children, finances, and faith during premarital counseling because differences in key areas like these can lead to marital disharmony. In essence, therapists operate on the assumption that it's better to know ahead of time if you and your partner don't see eye-to-eye, so you can get a head start on resolving the issues instead of being blindsided by them later.

But what if faith wasn't an issue when you first married? What if you came to a saving knowledge later in life and your spouse didn't? Or what if you shunned your faith values for a period, got married, and then came back to your faith?

Authors Lynn Donovan and Dineen Miller wrote their book Winning Him Without Words in an attempt to answer questions just like these, because they found themselves in the scenarios mentioned above.

Both authors are so candid throughout the book that I never felt like this was just another Christian self-help book. These are real women, struggling with real issues, who don't claim to have all the answers. They do, however, claim to know the One who does. Despite years or praying for their husband's salvation, both Lynn and Dineen found certain principles to help their marriage thrive instead of wither and die.

As a counselor, I wanted to take note of the 10 keys that helped them, and I'm so glad I did, because now I have a book to whole-heartedly recommend to clients facing similar life circumstances. Women everywhere will be able to relate to the yearning both women disclose they have for their husbands to accept Christ, because if we haven't prayed for our husband's salvation, then we've prayed for a change in our husband's attitudes or actions. All married women feel alone in their marriage at some point, and these principles Lynn and Dineen offer are solid ways to bring about real connection.

In fact, one of the keys presented was to Stay Connected. In order to do this, Lynn joined a fantasy football league with her husband, even though she knew nothing about football. Dineen started playing disc golf. Yes, it required sacrifice of time and maybe even some of their own desires, but both marriages enriched from it. This is a great takeaway for women everywhere.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Encouragement shared from the heart February 12, 2011

By Iris Nelson

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Donovan's/Miller's book "Winning Him Without Words" is an encouraging book that will help not only unequally yoked couples, but all couples. The book is written from the heart, which you can feel in every word. God is in the center of the authors' marriages and they trust God for their husbands salvation. Donovan and Miller not only talk the talk, they walk it in obedience to God.