This year
I challenged myself to read twelve different books from twelve different categories over the course of twelve months.
In February the challenge is to read one book on relationships. As promised, I want to share with you some book ideas for this category in case you need some inspiration.
6 Books on Building Relationships:
Relationships: A Mess Worth Making by Timothy S. Lane & Paul David Tripp
Family Driven Fatih by Voddie Baucham Jr.
When Sinners Say “I Do”: Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage
by Dave Harvey
The Peace Maker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict by Ken Sande
Peacemaking Women: Biblical Hope for Resolving Conflict by Tara Klena & Judy Dabler
Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
What books on Relationships have you read? Share about it in the comments so I can add it to my list!
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Love & Respect- We read this when we were dating/engaged. I think this book has altered the course of our marriage. He talks about how not to jump into a cycle of fighting interaction and instead those things that help. I’ve learned through it that I don’t need to defend myself when I feel wronged..from any relationship. In turn, there is no fight. My husband & I notice when the other chose to react kindly to the others ugly & that appreciated that later. It also talks about an “energizing cycle”.
5 Love Languages – (There is one for love relationships, one for our God relationship, one geared toward recognizing your kids’..) We don’t all express & feel loved the same ways, and if you and your spouse don’t have the same love languages, all your/their giving in a wrong language won’t have the desired effect on the other. (My husband & I are fortunate to have the same language, quality time, but we know when we have family in town for awhile or busy times we’ll probably end up fighting & not wanting to be near each other half a week after that because we are feeling disconnected. It’s nice to be mindful to plan quality time after a crazy spell or to know that really the solution is not getting time away but time together.) (We knew a couple who divorced & after one read the book and a light went off- he said he finally got it.. He’d work hard & come home to a messy house. That made him feel unloved because his language is acts of service- he felt special when she did things for him & he gave love by doing things for her. He saw his hard work at his job as loving his family enough to work hard for them. She wanted a kiss when he got home, her language was touch, but since it wasn’t his and he was feeling unloved that she didn’t love him by having the house look good or doing other things, which she didn’t know was his way to feel loved, he would withhold his touch. Not unlovingly, just that he wasn’t feeling it or realizing how important that was to her.)
The book sleeves would probably explain better, but I wanted to share why I felt they were useful.