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105 pages

English

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A Wife After God's Own Heart reveals how you can have what every married woman desires--a wonderful marriage filled with mutual love, friendship, romance, and joy. No matter what the state or season of your marriage, this book is for you. Join bestselling author Elizabeth George as she shares the keys to having a great marriage, including...communicating to your husband more effectivelyunderstanding how to best support your manhaving more fun as a coupleenhancing or rekindling marital intimacyhonoring God together in your relationshipWhen it comes to making a marriage the best it can be, you'll find this book a practical help--including the many "Little Things That Make a Big Difference" in every chapter! Start now on the path to a stronger and more fulfilling relationship. Includes study guide.

Informations

Publié par	Harvest House Publishers, Inc.
Date de parution	01 janvier 2004
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9780736933742
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0646€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Elizabeth George
12 Things That Really
Matter in Your Marriage

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Verses marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible , Copyright 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved.
Verses marked NIV are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION . NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.
Italicized text in Scripture quotations indicate author s emphasis.
A WOMAN AFTER GOD S OWN HEART is a registered trademark of The Hawkins Children s LLC. Harvest House Publishers, Inc., is the exclusive licensee of the federally registered trademark A WOMAN AFTER GOD S OWN HEART.
Cover by Garborg Design Works, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Cover photo Denis Boissavy/Getty Images
A WIFE AFTER GOD S OWN HEART
Copyright 2004 by Elizabeth George
Published by Harvest House Publishers
Eugene, Oregon 97402
www.harvesthousepublishers.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
George, Elizabeth, 1944-
A wife after God s own heart / Elizabeth George.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 0-7369-1167-7 (pbk.)
1. Wives-Religious life. 2. Christian women-Religious life. 3. Marriage-Religious aspects-Christianity. I. Title.
BV4528.15.G46 2004
248.8 435-dc22
2003018696
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means-electronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any other-except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 / BP-KB / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
For Jim-
Thank you for being
a husband after God s own heart
so that I could grow into
a wife after God s own heart!
Acknowledgments
As always, thank you to my dear husband, Jim George, M.Div., Th.M., for your able assistance, guidance, suggestions, and loving encouragement on this project.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Becoming A Wife After God s Own Heart
1. Growing in the Lord
2. Working as a Team
3. Learning to Communicate
4. Enjoying Intimacy
5. Managing Your Money
6. Keeping Up the Home
7. Raising Your Children
8. Extending Love to Family
9. Tending Your Career
10. Making Time for Fun
11. Serving the Lord
12. Reaching Out to Others
Notes
A Husband After God s Own Heart
A Wife After God s Own Heart Growth and Study Guide
A Woman After God s Own Heart Study Series
Books by Elizabeth George
Becoming

A Wife After God s Own Heart
A wife after God s own heart . What wife wouldn t want to be this? And what wife doesn t yearn for a happy marriage that is satisfying and exciting? If you are like most women (and like me!), you can always use a little help, motivation, and wisdom for improving and refreshing your relationship with your husband. To help make your desires for your marriage a reality, I ve written this honest and helpful book-after 38 years of marriage-to share what I ve learned along the way about building a better marriage, a marriage after God s own heart! This instructive and encouraging book
covers 12 areas of your life as a wife- What the Bible says about the areas that really matter to the health and vibrancy of your marriage.
includes a list of little things that make a big difference in your marriage at the end of each chapter. These little things are designed to stimulate and guide you to work out the many little ways you can practically fulfill your role as a wife.
I ve also written a companion volume- A Wife After God s Own Heart Growth and Study Guide -just for you. This companion volume will further embed God s desires for you as a wife into your heart and daily life. As you work through the practical insights, scriptures, and helpful hints included in this wonderful growth guide, you ll find your heart-and your marriage!-being miraculously transformed. Don t miss out on taking this additional step to becoming a wife after God s own heart! You ll be glad you did and so will your husband!
Join me now on a journey down the path of comprehending and implementing God s desires for us as His wives. And to make this journey even more enjoyable, ask your husband to join you by reading the companion book, A Husband After God s Own Heart , by Jim George.
Dear friend, no matter what your age or what state your marriage is in today, and regardless of what season of marriage you and your husband have entered, A Wife After God s Own Heart is for you. It presents God s timeless guidelines for you as a wife. As you ll hear me say throughout the book and in each of the 12 areas of your marriage, God s Word works!
So read on! Explore with me what God, the Creator of marriage, has to say about your relationship with your husband. And share your journey with others. With this book in hand, you can
read it before you marry
read it alone to enhance your marriage
read it together with your husband
read it along with a friend or small reading group
read it in a women s or couples Bible study
read it in your women s Sunday school class
read it in your couples Sunday school class
May God richly bless you as you continue growing in Him, growing in your faith in Him, and growing in your understanding of His plan for you as a wife after His own heart!
1

G rowing in the L ord

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you .
M ATTHEW 6:33
W henever I think about the first 30 years of my life, I automatically think, That s when I did everything wrong!
Why would I say this?
Because, my new reading friend, that s when there was no rhyme or reason for my life. That s when there were no guidelines for my life, no instructions for how to live my life. That s when I wanted what I wanted and did things my way. In short, that s when I did not have a relationship with God which is why I am choosing to begin our book here, with God as the Number One way to make a difference in your life and in your marriage.
And what was it that I wanted for those three difficult decades? I wanted a lot of things, and most of them were things that every person wants. My personal I Want list included happiness, fulfillment, a life of meaning and contribution. I don t remember wanting fame or fortune, or to climb any corporate ladders or shatter any glass ceilings. No, I wanted what I m sure you also want-a life that matters and counts. I dreamed of a life of joy and graciousness. And thrown into my dreams was, of course, a happy marriage that was satisfying and exciting.
I did marry at age 20, as I was beginning my senior year of college. Jim was 22 and entering his senior and fifth year in pharmacy school. There was the usual stir and flutter and frenzy of emotions that accompanies every new budding love relationship. Ours was truly love at first sight as we passed and smiled at each other regularly on our way to and from classes. Then came the blind date in November with a proposal for marriage on Valentine s Day and the wedding on June 1. Wow, what a whirlwind of excitement!
Things went well for a while. And then Well, both Jim and I would tell you that after eight years, things became awfully empty and got pretty rocky, even after two children were added to the makeup of the George family.
Then a miracle occurred, and we became a Christian family. By God s grace, our hearts were opened to the truth of Christ and by God s grace, we responded to that truth. And, beloved, that has made all the difference in the world! Things have never been the same. Before becoming Christians, we were like a couple with a great car only we had no key. We couldn t get the car started. We couldn t make it work. We couldn t use it. We couldn t go anywhere.
My friend, a relationship with God is the key, the key to all of life, including your marriage. And that s what this chapter is all about-growing in the Lord. And that means learning what God, the Creator of all things and of marriage, has to say. You see, God and God alone possesses the instruction book for your marriage, and He s made it available to you. He knows what makes a marriage work. And He s written His divine guidelines right in the Bible. We ll look at what God has to say to you and me as wives in the chapters to come, but for now, let s see why it s important for you as a wife to grow in the Lord.
First Things First
I ve chosen as our theme verse for this chapter a beloved favorite of many Christians. They are the words-and the heart!-of Jesus. They were spoken to His disciples and His followers. And they address the concerns of daily life. After telling His listeners not to worry, Jesus said they should instead seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33).
Now, how does Jesus teaching apply to you and me as wives? Well, married or single, every Christian is to put first things first. Every Christian is to seek the Lord first and foremost. God expects every Christian to grow. For instance
The apostle Peter wrote that we are to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
He also urged you and me to, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby (1 Peter 2:2).
And the writer of Hebrews, in Chapter 5, chastised his readers with this scathing rebuke: By this time you ought to be teachers, [but] you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come