MARRIAGE RESOURCES, BOOKS & OTHER THINGS

Now that our series, 31 Ways To Mess Up Your Marriage, is complete, I wanted to recommend some resources that have been helpful to us through the years.

• Love & Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerich (Thomas Nelson, 2007). This is a book, workbook and cd series that is some of the best material available. It is an eight week series that you can go through in your small home group or individually if you'd like to do so. You can find the material at www.loveandrespect.com.
• The Love Dare by Stephen & Alex Kendrick (Broadman & Holman, 2008). The accompanying book to the Fireproof movie, this is no lightweight. It is a 40-day challenge for husbands and wives to understand and practice unconditional love. Whether your marriage is strong and healthy or in peril, it is an effective tool.
• Love Extravagantly by Chuck and Marita Littauer Noon (Bethany House, 2001). This book is written by a couple who are personal friends of mine. Marita, an expert in the personalities, and her husband, Chuck, a family therapist, use real-life examples and professionalism to craft a book that deals with the challenges of modern marriage.
• Marriage Today.com - This is the web site for Jimmy & Karen Evans' ministry to marriages. Their material is excellent, down-to-earth, transparent and easy to implement. Highly recommend their material and conferences.
• Don & Sally Meredith - www.2becoming1.com. We have used the Meredith's material for over 30 years in our marriage conferences. It is excellent. They have revamped their workbooks and cds, but we find ourselves going back to it over and over agin.
• Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas (Zondervan Publishing, 2000). For me, this is the salient treatise on marriage. Mr. Thomas says, This isn't a book that seeks to tell you how to have a happier marriage. What if God designed marriage to make us holy more than to make us happy? This is a book that looks at how we can use the challenges, joys, struggles, and celebration of marriage to draw closer to God. That says it all!

One final word -- Blaine and I recommend that couples attend some kind of couples class, retreat or conference once a year. We all can use a bit of refining of the most important relationship we have on this earth. Celebrate it!