Giving 110 Percent in Your Marriage : A Book Review

This post is part of the Choosing Him Blog Tour which I am delighted to be a part of along with nearly one hundred other inspiring Christian bloggers. To learn more and join us, CLICK HERE!

When I was asked to review Choosing Him All Over Again at first I dismissed it. I mean really. I have a perfect marriage. God is good and has blessed me with a wonderful husband. There’s nothing I need to learn. Hmph!

So I closed the email and didn’t even plan to respond. Really. Truthfully. My time is limited. My marriage is good. I had no need. I had never even heard of Juana . Although I’m not sure why because really her story SHOULD have crossed my path and if not my path then at least my mother’s who reads a fair bit. And then I thought the book may just be a bunch of fluff. Not really deep and not really relying on God but on her own set of steps.

Then something tugged at me. I thought, “What if this is a good book and I’ve passed on the opportunity? What if there IS something for me in this book?” I love to read and the thought of missing out on a good book just makes me cringe.

Looking back it could have been The Lord giving me a nudge.

So I opened the email message up again, reread and decided to give Choosing Him All Over Again a try.

But then I didn’t want to be put on the blog tour. I didn’t think I would that get much out of the book.

And then after receiving my ebook version I forgot about Choosing Him All Over Again for a few days (I’m laying it all out now) until I recalled I had a book review to do!

So I gave myself a nice timely schedule with which to read it so that I would get it done. I imagined that I wouldn’t like the book much so I committed to reading at least chapter a night during my reading time, before I got to my more fun fictional reading.

 

Choosing Him All Over Again is Juana’s story about how she found Christ and listened to His leading to repair the marriage she had been instrumental in destroying.

Juana was not a Christian when she married her husband but after leaving him she found Christ and a new way to live. Trusting completely in him.

Juana fell into the age old of trap of serving self first instead of what the Bible tells us…

So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

~Ephesians 5:28

Although this scripture is speaking to the husbands the wives would do well to heed the same.

Juana’s reasoning for leaving her marriage sounds self centered and common in today’s world. She was lonely and he wasn’t paying enough attention to her.

Or she felt the grass was greener on the other side and she wanted OUT!

Truthfully what Juana is explaining as her reasoning for wanting out of her marriage sounds much like what another Christian friend told me was happening to her as she read romance novels. She wanted what she was reading (which isn’t reality) and was deciding her husband wasn’t it. Luckily she headed God’s warnings and put down that particular style of book and is still happily married today.

And lucky (although not luck but God had a plan) for Juana

Interspersed in her tale Juana urges the reader with scripture, some interviews with women who contemplated divorce, and stories from her past to trust God for your marriage and listen to what the Bible says.

Juana bares all and takes us on her journey from satisfying only her needs to living only for God. Through a series of events that happened shortly after she moved out of her home Juana is guided by the gentle hand of the Lord into a saving grace and onto a path to heal her marriage. Following Him each step of the way Juana is able to re-win her husband’s heart and build a marriage that is a great testimony to Christian living.

I really enjoyed Choosing Him All Over Again. I would read it late at night when I was supposed to be sleeping. It was like a wake up call for me to give as much to my marriage (if not more) as my husband.

Early on in this post I told you my marriage is perfect. And do you know why? Because of my husband. He has already learned what Choosing Him All Over again remind us, to give 110%.

What exactly does that mean, giving 110%?

Well I’ll give you a few examples of what my husband does…

• He gets up early to do the dishes I was too tired to do the night before.
• If there are only 2 pieces of dessert and 3 of us he will split the smaller piece with our daughter so I can have a whole piece.
• If I’ve been too lazy to fold the laundry overflowing in the laundry basket he will quietly take care of it without uttering a sound.

These are just a few of the many ways my husband has gone the extra mile. Can I say I do the same? Or do I think of self first?

Choosing Him All Over Again is good reading for new brides, and old married women alike. It is more than just an autobiography of one woman’s marriage. It’s like having your own Titus 2:3 woman at home. Juana has a way of slipping in words of deep wisdom that speak to the reader and remind us of the way God meant marriage to be.

If you would like to go deeper with the book there is even a free study guide to use along with the book. You can find that here.

Juana Mikels wrote her own story of how God saved her marriage along with practical teaching on faith and marriage written out of her own failure, pointing us all to Jesus Christ who has the power to change lives and marriages. You can get a copy here HERE, or on Kindle HERE.