Crazy Little Thing Called Marriage

12 Secrets for a Lifelong Romance

By: Greg Smalley, Erin Smalley

Narrated by: Jon Gauger

Want a marriage filled with passion and adventure? Capture the whimsical sense of excitement and romance you shared at the very start!

Learn to navigate life's twists and turns to find God's best for your marriage with the help of Dr. Greg and Erin Smalley. They'll lead you and your spouse to discover true love as described by God in the Bible. With candor and grace, these beloved marriage experts share the secrets of a strong marriage that yield a lifetime of adventurous and cray-zee love.

These relationship-renewing secrets will strengthen your marriage at its very core:

• Appreciate your "sole" mate and, in the process, discover your soul mate
• Understand that marriage is a battle - but it's a battle against selfishness, not your spouse
• Quit striving to get your spouse to love you...and learn to strive to love your spouse better
• Realize that in marriage, the small stuff is often the big stuff and that dealing with tiny details can net big returns
• Avoid chore wars and instead join forces to establish a home with respect and reciprocity
• View sex as a delightful dance in which you put the needs and interests of your spouse ahead of your own

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2017 Focus on the Family (P)2017 Oasis Audio

Insightful,soulful, brilliant

I loved every chapter. Well written. Excellent lessons and scripture throughout with good life lessons.

Great book!!

I 100% recommend this book to all married couples, in fact, I would suggest it to those engaged too.

More practical than anything, feels like

I thought the suggestions in some of the chapters were practical and helpful. This audiobook helped me think more deeply about marriage as a selflfess institution.

However, I find that the theology is dubious at times. At one point, the book stated that marriage is modeled after Christ's relationship with the Father. I listened to that segment again to make sure I heard it right. It's still possible I misunderstood what it was trying to say, but if not, the book struck me as being in significant error. Marriage is modeled after the relationship between Christ and the church (Ephesians 5, which the book did mention later on). There were a few other times where I don't think the book's quotations of Bible verses are accurate considering the verses' context. The book also occasionally quoted from the Message, and I think the NLT, which are really more like paraphrases of the Bible.

I did not listen to every chapter of the book--mainly the first few chapters, and one or two selected otherwise. A majority of the chapters I skipped after I became skeptical of the book's usage of Scripture, so take my review with a grain of salt.

Most of the book's suggestions seem to be traits a Bible-obeying Christian should be seeking after anyway (e.g., cherish one's wife, have endurance, etc.).

To conclude, while practically helpful, I think a growing Christian seeking a Biblical understanding of marriage should buy a good study Bible like the ESV study Bible by Crossway and do some serious study oneself. I think just praying for the Lord's help in having love for one another (1 Corinthians 13) would be more helpful. But if you are a young Christian or not a Christian at all, this book may be helpful for you. Though my review is negative the book did provide some valuable teaching for me. I just want more/better than this book seems to provide.