Find Your Way to Something Beautiful in Your Marriage

This couple figured out how to have a healthy marriage. They worked through it with communication, forgiveness and love. Three things that are most important to a "healty marriage. Thanks John & Stasi

Honest...candid...no soft soap. Hopeful...thoughtful...warm embrace. Stasi and John Eldridge have shared with real intimacy, the marriage committment. This is a gift that everyone needs to receive. Read it alone then read it with your spouse. Share it with your friends. Give it to your children when they prepare to marry. Marriage can succeed and this book offers real hope and help.

It is amazing to find a book with Christian values yet speaking a language that people can relate to! In our fast paced, anything goes world of today, John and Staci boldly address the issues faced in marriage with truth and practicality. This book can change any marriage and make it what you desire it to be.

I found this book to be realistic, honest and encouraging. While the authors shoot straight, being upfront that marriage is hard, the material in here is extremely helpful. This is no retinue of steps to follow for a good marriage but I found the premise of the book deeply satisfying and the hope and advice given personally really useful. I love the analogies used, the personal stories and examples from their own and other people's lives inspiring. Would love to attend one of their seminars for more of the same!

Wow! Give me more! This book is for anyone interested in relationships(and who isn't?) The way John and Stasi Eldredge convey the heart of God has changed the way this single girl relates to everyone!

I've read a dozen Christian marriage books or so. This was okay, but there are others better. I disliked that in the case of these authors, the husband is often "calming down" his wife and in my opinion often telling her that her thoughts are wrong and getting carried away. Perhaps in THEIR case this is true, but if a spouse often tells you that you're over-reacting or that your thoughts/feelings are wrong that would really be a problem for a lot of people. I also had a big problem with a few statements towards the end. One that really stands out is when John calms Stasi down about something that is really bothering her and then he takes the opportunity to try and have sex with her afterwards. This would be so offensive to me as a spouse. If she initiates, that's another thing, but this really did not hit me right.
If you are looking for a good marriage book, first try Love and Respect or Boundaries in Marriage.
This book of Love and War wasn't terrible, but it isn't as good as others if you can only get your spouse to read one or two books.

A marriage that bears the signature of God's heart is an incredible gift, and it is worth fighting for.

In their book, Love and War, John and Stasi Eldredge walk the reader into the larger story that God has for us in marriage. With wisdom and transparency, they encourage the reader with the heart of Scripture and the stories of life. This is a book of hope that draws us to step out of the small stories and battles that often fill our lives, and into the more that God has for us in marriage.

Don't expect tips and techniques in this book that make it seem up to us to "do it right". Expect instead the courage to step into the larger, wonderful story of hope and love; expect also a call to be authentic with your heart and your life. From that place, God's love is compelling and can bring deep healing and new life.

The hope that is found in this book is not only for those who have lost hope in their marriage, though it is for them. It's also for those whose marriages are strong and for those who are just beginning on the journey. Perhaps also for those not yet married, because what this book does is to let us see and know more of God's heart of love for us all.

Don't miss this book, and after you've read it, don't hold onto it. Give it away -- everywhere you can. 20 years in ministry/23 years in marriage and I say "It's time" for this book and the access to life it brings.

A marriage that bears the signature of God's heart is an incredible gift, and it is worth fighting for.

In their book, Love and War, John and Stasi Eldredge walk the reader into the larger story that God has for us in marriage. With wisdom and transparency, they encourage the reader with the heart of Scripture and the stories of life. This is a book of hope that draws us to step out of the small stories and battles that often fill our lives, and into the more that God has for us in marriage.

Don't expect tips and techniques in this book that make it seem up to us to "do it right". Expect instead the courage to step into the larger, wonderful story of hope and love; expect also a call to be authentic with your heart and your life. From that place, God's love is compelling and can bring deep healing and new life.

The hope that is found in this book is not only for those who have lost hope in their marriage, though it is for them. It's also for those whose marriages are strong and for those who are just beginning on the journey. Perhaps also for those not yet married, because what this book does is to let us see and know more of God's heart of love for us all.

Don't miss this book, and after you've read it, don't hold onto it. Give it away -- everywhere you can. 20 years in ministry/23 years in marriage and I say "It's time" for this book and the access to life it brings.

The book is okay, but the video session that came with it (we used it for our small group at church) was too repetitive of every word they wrote in the book. After the first week, my husband and I decided to skip the reading, since the hosts were going to read it to us again during the video. It was disappointing. Also, since we have only been married a few months, the was discouraging, since they assume that all married couples will end up having serious trouble.

"Epic" taught us about the great adventure story God is writing daily. "Wild at Heart" explored man's role in it. "Captivity" helps us understand woman's role. Now "Love & War" puts it all together with a brilliant look at marriage.

"Love & War" first helps us understand what God planned for marriage to be. John and Stasi Eldredge weave tales of Eden with stories of their own marriage to help us see what God intended, what marriage often becomes, and how God can help us recover. Life is all about learning to love; marriage is the school where God can teach us the most!

Spiritual warfare is an on-going theme in this adventure. The Eldredges teach us that our marriages have an enemy, someone who wants to destroy our love. They reveal some of his strategies and teach us to prayerfully fight together against him instead of turning on one another in ignorance. They include an appendix of prayers in the back of the book to provide a model of this, along with stories of their own experiences.

Along with the metaphor of a great adventure story and the lessons in spiritual warfare that teach us to depend on God together is quite a bit of practical advice and encouragement for getting along day by day: how to love, how to fight, how to put up with petty annoyances, dreaming, playing, trusting, and weathering life's storms. The Eldredges close with ideas on where to go from there, next steps for making and keeping a marriage healthy and strong.

Because there are few marriage books I trust or recommend, I laughed at the beginning of this book, when John said he and Stasi found reading marriage books to be a lot like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. But these two know what they're talking about. Whether you're just starting out or celebrating your 25th anniversary like the authors just did, this book will be worth your time.