The Marriage Ark: Review & Giveaway!

Are you single seeking a relationship, dating, engaged, or married? If you fall into any of those categories, The Marriage Ark is relevant for you. Author Margaret Phillips, a licensed marriage and family therapist, uses Noah’s ark as a metaphor for building a marriage that will last.

The preparation, choosing a foundation to build, applies to any reader, single or someone with a significant other. She makes the case that before we can do anything else to ensure a strong, healthy relationship, we must first examine ourselves. She says, “When I think of preparing the ground for marriage-the building site-I find the site is YOU. Yes, you and the heart you bring. You, consisting of body, soul, and spirit. Marriage starts where YOU are.”

I couldn’t agree more. When I was single, I had a Sunday school class teacher once tell me, “In order to find the right person, you have to BE the right person.” In other words, are you personally ready for a relationship? For example, have you forgiven anyone who has wronged you, dealt with any “secrets” in your past, and addressed any sins or addictions in your life that could damage a relationship? Phillips includes a personal inventory checklist to help readers survey the “land” where they plan to build a relationship. These questions are poignant and so very important to ask BEFORE the ceremony.

As with a relationship, there are stages. Preparation is the first, and then Phillips extends the metaphor to the other phases of building the ark. She talks about the “Pitch” or the covenants, vows, and commitments that will hold a marriage together. From there, she discusses the building tools or your family background, the nuts and bolts of communication and conflict, an honest look at intimacy, differences between the sexes, and more.

The length of the book is also achievable for those who love reading and those who don’t. Something my Sunday school class laughs about is that, more often than not, one partner loves reading resources to help their marriage while the other views reading as torture. At just over 100 pages, broken down into nine chapters, this book won’t overwhelm the partner who doesn’t find reading enjoyable so both partners can appreciate it.

Enter to Win Your Copy

I’m grateful to the Blog About Blogger Network for hosting this giveaway and providing the opportunity for me to give away one hardback copy of The Marriage Ark.

To enter, you can do several things:

1. Comment on this post and share why you think this book would be an encouragement to you or someone you know.
2. Share the tweet below on Twitter.
3. Share the related Facebook post on my author page. Be sure to tag me!
4. Subscribe to my newsletter to learn about future giveaways and posts that will encourage you in your daily life.
5. Do more than one to be entered multiple times. The winner will be announced here on the blog next week.

One of my favorite takeaways from this book (and there are so many good ones) is that we are responsible for our actions. No matter what our family background or “blueprint” looked like, whether it was a broken home or a beautiful one, we get to “create a new ark for ourselves as adults,” as Phillips says. I love that idea, because so often, people make excuses for themselves based on what happened to them. But that’s a wrong perspective. The past may have shaped us, but it doesn’t define us.

Husbands and wives, we get to choose how strong our marriage arks will be. With God’s help, they can withstand any storm that comes our way.

~ Kristen

And the giveaway winner is …

Congratulations to Linda for winning The Marriage Ark giveaway and thank you to everyone who participated!