Book Review - A Wife After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George

by Teresa^(1,349) Bronze Star

Freelance writer/Speaker

Before she moved, my friend and I met once a week to pray for our husbands; both of them at that time, were professing Christians but didn’t seem to have a hunger for the things of God. What we discovered is that we ended up doing more complaining than praying. So we decided to look for a book that would help us stay on track.

After perusing the countless choices, we settled on “A Wife After God’s own Heart” by Elizabeth George. The title alone caught our attention and we laughed at the realization that God intended to work in our hearts, so that we wouldn’t have time to grumble about what our husbands weren’t doing.

So began our journey:

George lays out 12 areas that play an important role in the life of any wife – here is a summary of two:

1) Growing in the Lord – the focus for this chapter is our own love relationship with God, and finding contentment as a daughter of the King. She deals with the “I want” syndrome, sharing her mistakes and selfish endeavors for the first 30 years of her marriage and gently yet firmly, guides her readers to examine their own hearts and motives, and then challenges them to grow closer to the Lord by following three basic steps – Discover (His word), Discern, and Do.

2) Working as a Team – in this chapter she encourages wives to understand their role as a wife, and gives biblical and practical advice on why it is important to walk in our role, not as inferior to our husbands, but as their helper. When wives are content in their place as a daughter of the King, they have a heart to serve Him, which naturally gives them a heart to give their husbands the freedom to learn to lead by encouraging them instead of nagging them. She points out that it is easy for a wife to know, and remind her husband how he should be treating her, but she quickly forgets how she should treat her husband.

Other areas of discussion are:

* Learning to Communicate

* Enjoying Intimacy

* Managing Your Money

* Keeping up the Home

* Raising Your Children

* Extending Love to the Family

* Tending Your Career

* Making Time for Fun

* Serving the Lord

* Reaching Out to Others

As with the first two chapters, each builds upon the next, giving solid biblical and practical advice.

Mid-way through the book, my friend and I had a renewed sense of appreciation for the tough roles our husbands have. We took our eyes off them, and focused on how we could become better wives. We implemented all of the advice given – not only did our relationship with God grow deeper; our relationships with our husbands did as well. (The thing I found most useful was the advice to pray for my husband three times a day; specifically before work, at lunchtime, and before he arrives home. What a difference this made and continues to make.)

The bonus was our husbands noticed we backed off on the nagging and they were able to relax. Praying for our husbands turned from selfishly motivated needs to a pure heart in wanting what is best for them and lifting them up in prayer so that God will do the work in his timing and not ours.

I am happy to report that both of our husbands in time, grew stronger in their own relationships with Him and now each of us are growing together in Grace and working as a team.

When I find myself slipping back to my own selfish wants, all I have to do is look at the book cover and I am back on track. If you want to see a godly change in your husband, start by making a change yourself. I wish I would have read this book before I married, and I strongly encourage every woman who is thinking about getting married, is engaged, or is already married, to read it. It’s never too soon or too late to become a wife after God’s own heart.

Moving on to another book….

Article submitted Saturday, August 08, 2009 & read 652 times.

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» left by nneka from Nigeria (2 years 290 days ago.)

I need this.The few lines of review has helped me too
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