In Hope for Your Marriage, the authors give some good suggestions for improving your marriage. Their advice is told from a biblical perspective and they do give some interesting suggestions. Really, I found it to be very similar to other marital advice books. They gave a lot of the same suggestions that I've seen in a lot of other books. It was an interesting read and I will definitely be putting the suggestions to use. I am very glad that I read it.

Although there are a few good points and pieces of advice in Hope for Your Marriage, I found is pretty much like any other book on marital advice. There is a bit of scripture quoted, but more personal with many stories of other couples and those couples are all counselors or in the ministry at Lakewood Church. I was hoping to find something that would be geared to couples who had been married for quite a period of time, but this seems more geared to those who are seeking marriage or have been married only a short period of time.

I will admit my thinking was swayed a bit when the authors used the illustration of male vs female brain as something of their own concoction instead of giving any reference to where it came from. It was almost word for word as it was presented by Mark Gungor more than 10 years ago on his DVD. Here is an excerpt of that DVD from YouTube that the authors used - especially the boxes and the nothing box:



I ended up wondering what else was not original and with the many discussions about Lakewood Church and Joel Osteen and how wonderful things are there, if it's not more of a plug for the Osteen empire and not so much for really helping couples.

Personally, I felt this book was not as scriptural as it should be, and more filled with "feelings" and human examples. Yes, stories from others" life experiences are great illustrations, but I wanted more about scripture and what the Bible says.

I really appreciated the vulnerability Clayton and Ashlee showed in this book. They shared personal stories from their marriage, and this made them so much more relatable. There is great advice in this book!

Hope for Your Marriage was a really good book on marriage. The authors, a married couple, encourage the reader to work on their marriage and share lots of wisdom from their marriage. They dismantle the illusion that a good marriage just happens and does not need any work and give practical tipps on how to transition from the honeymoon phase to the next phase of a relationship. Also they are very open and honest and share their struggles. The book was easy to read and contained many helpful suggestions for those that prepare for marriage as well as for those that are already married.

There are already many Christian books on marriage out there and I've already read a few, so there weren't many new things in there for me. But this is still a very good one that covers the most important things that everybody struggles with. I think this book would be a good starting point for anybody that wants to prepare for marriage or that doesn't want to read many different books and just wants the basics in one book. Also if you're looking for encouragement, I'm sure you'll like this book.

Hope for Your Marriage by Clayton and Ashlee Hurst . This book is so relatable. You feel like you are having a conversation with the authors. Clayton and Ashlee both share some of their personal stories from their perspective. I found myself smiling and chuckling at some of their stories and comments. They share a significant amount of scriptures that I found very helpful. I highly recommend this book. I think couples who have been married a few years will totally relate… well maybe not to the ‘towel’ story. Haha
I finished this book and would have loved to continue talking to them. I think they would be great for a pod cast.
They share practical tips on how to have conversations about tough topics. They share their personal stories.
At the end of each chapter they share Talking Points which are questions that you and your spouse can discuss. They also mention reading and applying the learnings from the 5 Love Languages.
I don’t want to spoil any of the stories as there are so many good ones. Some that you are going to wonder what he was thinking and roll your eyes (towel, trash can, etc) and some that totally hit home to you and you want to pray for them as you see them struggle through some of life’s toughest situations.

Hope For Your Marriage is a very appropriate title for this book. Clayton and Ashlee provide biblical insights to the principles of marriage coupled along with practical ways to walk them out. They also share their experiences that are very relate able.

When I saw this book on Netgalley, I thought it looked interesting. I don't have what I would call a troubled marriage, but I also am not always as supportive as I could be, so I thought it looked like a good read. The authors share real-life examples from their personal marriage as well as stories from couples which they have counseled. The insight was beneficial; however, at times the book was confusing to follow because it switched between Clayton and Ashlee. I would recommend this book for anyone in a struggling marriage who wants to try to work things out Biblically.