We're big believers that what you spend time thinking and dreaming about is where your heart lies- so why not spend more of your free time thinking about and learning how to improve your marriage?
The one huge way we set ourselves up for success early on in our marriage and “secret” I tell everyone about is…
READ BOOKS TOGETHER! Crazy, right?! Our 2nd grade selves are shuddering right now... But our favorite reads have helped us with everything from communication, to managing finances, to keeping our relationship centered on what is most important to us. It may require forethought and an investment of time, but it’s one we’ve found to be so worth it.
So, without further adieu, we’re sharing five of our all time favorite marriage books!
Weather you choose just one or read them all- challenge yourselves to make a personal hubs and wife book club and dive in.
1) The Meaning of Marriage- Tim Keller
Our favorite marriage book of all time. We read this book once while being engaged, and then have read it again several times after being married! Tim Keller is a pastor, so if you aren't religious be forewarned that it does include a lot of biblical references. That said, we truly believe that ANYONE can benefit from this book in their marriage. They also just came out with a devotional for couples, if you're interested in that as well. The truth found in this book was transformative for us both personally and our relationship overall
2) The 7 Principals for Making Marriage Work- John Gottman
This book is chock-full of eye-opening information about men, women, and relationships. We love reading books like this because it opens our eyes to things we should know/things we should be doing BEFORE a problem comes up later! Dr. Gottman is pretty famous for his research- it's the real deal. He also has a weekly marriage email list you can sign up for called the marriage minute, which I personally love reading every week.
3) Moments with You- Dennis & Barbara Rainey
We worked through this daily devotional for a year absolutely LOVED it. Some of the questions have to do with children ,which we don’t have yet, but it was still productive for us because we got to do “someday” scenarios. What we liked most of all about this book was just the fact that it centered us for a few minutes every day before bed. It's so easy for us to hop on our phones or pick up our own books and not talk- Many times this led to a longer conversation and really served our marriage well.
4) 31 Day Pursuit- Ryan & Selena Frederick
There are two books in this collection: One for the husband and one for the wife. We actually just went through them together and had a BLAST! The book gives each spouse daily challenges and ways to love on each other, and occasionally there’s time for self reflection and growth as well. It was a really fun way to focus on our marriage consistently for a month straight. It wasn't always easy to stick to- but we love a good challenge!
5) His Needs, Her Needs- Willard Harley Jr.
As a warning.. the sub-title of this book is “building an affair-proof marriage”, which sounds scary- But even if you don't have fear of affair in your marriage, this is a fantastic read! We actually picked up this book because of it’s insanely high ratings and we are SO glad we did. It’s chock full of information on how the minds and needs of men and women differ. All in all it’s one of my favorite books of all time, because we learned so much about how each other’s brains work, but also those of the opposite sex we come into contact with all around us each and every day.
We hope you'll love these books as much as we do, and they will serve your marriage well in it's first few years! Happy reading :)
Warmly,
Ashley & Justin
