One of the best things I have done for my marriage is to read excellent books on the subject. Reading quality books on Christian topics is a way to be discipled by people you may never meet. You get to learn from their failures + successes and implement those lessons in your own marriage.

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, I thought today would be an excellent day to share 9 books to build your marriage.

1. Creative Counterpart is one of the first books I ever read about being a wife. I wrote a detailed review here. I’m always especially convicted by the chapter on being my husband’s greatest cheerleader.

2. Jonathan & I read The Meaning of Marriage with another couple last year. We learned a lot from reading it as a couple – and even more from going through it with friends. Keller gives an excellent view of marriage from God’s perspective.

3. I made this book the largest because it’s my favorite. When Sinners Say “I Do” is a book I have recommended to my single & married friends. It’s a book on how the Gospel should affect marriage. But really, most of it can be applied to any relationship. I wrote a more detailed review along with some of my favorite quotations here. Also, I just noticed the kindle version is on sale for $1.99. Not sure how long that deal will last, but that’s an excellent price for a great book!

4. Written by John Piper, This Momentary Marriage explores marriage in light of eternity. Jonathan & I read this book together in 2013 and he kindly agreed {after a bit of cajoling & bribing with lots of $$$} to write a review. kidding about the bribery. I didn’t give him any $. just food.

5. What Did You Expect? by Paul Tripp. So I should offer the caveat that I haven’t read this book yet. It’s on my list for 2015. But judging from all of Tripp’s other material & the reviews I’ve heard/read on this book, I’d say it’s a pretty safe bet that this is a good one. I’ll try to review it for you after I’ve read it to give you my thoughts.

6. Preparing for Marriage God’s Way is a book especially for engaged couples to use before & after marriage. Jonathan’s parents got 2 copies of this workbook for us to go through and I loved them. If you’re engaged or know someone who is, these would be a great gift to get them. Or if you’re not engaged but would like to be, you could always give this to the person you’re interested in as a little nudge.

just kidding. don’t do that. that would be weird. and probably extremely funny.
but really, don’t do it.
{but if you do, tell me how it went.}

7. What’s It Like to Be Married to Me? is another book by Linda Dillow. I read this a couple years ago with some friends and reviewed it here. In my humble opinion, it wasn’t as good as Creative Counterpart, but was still a challenging read – especially for the first half of the book.

8. My aunt & uncle gave us The One Year Devotions for Couples a few years ago. I love reading daily books like this with Jonathan. It takes less than 10 minutes to read and pray together, but it’s amazing how connected I feel when I start my day with my husband like that.
This year we’re working through a different book.

9. You and Me Forever, written by Francis & Lisa Chan just arrived in the mail a few weeks ago from my sister. She’s nice. I haven’t read it yet, but am excited to dig into it! In fact, just yesterday I learned that you can get the audio version FREE if you sign up here. <<deal ends 2/12/15. So, listen away!

You know, with Valentine’s Day coming up, there’s a lot of marketing from stores about what your spouse really wants for Valentine’s Day. And I’m all for upping the romance in marriage relationships by doing special things – whether it’s February 14 or March 14.

But one of the best gifts we can give our spouses is to love them in the same way Jesus loves us. So here’s an idea for you. Pick 1 book from this list and commit to “read it & heed it.” If your spouse wants to read it with you, great. But even if you read it alone, I guarantee you’ll be encouraged to strengthen your marriage for God’s glory.

Happy marriage building!