This week I have been blogging about marriage as part of the Happy Wives Club Book Blog Tour.  My first post this week was about Why I Still Believe in Marriage. In the two posts that followed, I shared what I have found to be critical keys to growing a happy marriage. You can access Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Today I am sharing some really great marriage resources!

 

Books:

 

The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary Chapman. This book was pivotal in helping me to understand why my husband and I seemed to be doing all we could to meet the others’ need but yet kept missing the mark. Here is a portion of the write up from Amazon: “By learning the five love languages, you and your spouse will discover your unique love languages and learn practical steps in truly loving each other. Chapters are categorized by love language for easy reference, and each one ends with specific, simple steps to express a specific language to your spouse and guide your marriage in the right direction. A newly designed love languages assessment will help you understand and strengthen your relationship. You can build a lasting, loving marriage together.”

 

His Needs, Her Needs by Willard F Harley Jr. My husband and I read this very early on in our marriage. As someone who grew up with only women (sister, aunties, cousins), I really had a lot to learn about what my husband’s most vital needs were. The premise of the book is that the best way to safeguard your marriage is to meet the essential needs of your spouse. The book talks about the primary needs of husbands and wives and how each spouse can best meet the needs of the other. The book has been updated since we first read it, so I’m sure it’s even packed with more good stuff!

 

The Power of a Praying Husband / The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Ormartian.  Both of these books are great resources to help you pray for your spouse and your marriage. This really helped to guide me in more effectively praying for Fil. Prior to reading this book, most of my prayers were filled with requests for God to make my husband more like I wanted him to be. This book helped to shape my prayers to focus on encouraging Fil to be who God created him to be. The heart of this book is that through praying for your spouse, you will develop a deeper relationship with him/her.

 

Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs by Emerson Eggerichs. I have to share with you that I did not read this book, but I did go through the video series with the marriage ministry at my church. The videos were excellent and I have no doubt that the book is equally stellar.  This book focuses primarily on cracking the communication code in your marriage. If you are in crisis, this is a great book to start the healing process.

 

Happy Wives Club: One Woman’s Worldwide Search for the Secrets of a Great Marriage by Fawn Weaver.  This book offer practical strategies for gaining and maintaining a happy marriage from successful couples all over the world. In addition to offer remarkable inspiration, the book also provides practical insight into how to have a great marriage.

 

Websites:

 

The Dating Divas. This is my #1 go to for fun ideas for dating my husband and keeping the fun alive. There are night out, night in, adventure, romantic and many other ideas for creating great memories with your spouse.

 

Marriage Today with Jimmy & Karen Evans is filled with practical and proven tips to build a lasting marriage. On the website you will find blogs, videos, podcast, and DVD’s, and CD’s that serve to help couples stay together and grow closer together. I have gone back to this website time and time again. They also have a page on Facebook.

 

Stronger Marriages / DaveWillis.org Both sites are run by Dave Willis. Together he and his wife share Christian resources and practical tools for building stronger marriages. The first link will take you to their Facebook page which I tend to read on a daily basis. There posts are often filled with a lot of good humor, too.

 

I hope you will take some time to check out these resources. I am not affiliated with any of these resources. They have served me well and just wanted to share them with you.

 

If you have some other resources that have been of benefit to your marriage, I would love to have you share them in the comments.