Book Review: Love and War

Have you ever found yourself thinking, "Is marriage really worth it? And if it is, then WHY does it have to be so hard?" If so, then you will enjoy Love and War.

In Love and War John and Staci Eldredge candidly and openly discuss their marriage and it's ups and downs. Out of their own experiences, they explain what they feel hinders and helps create a good marriage. Two of their main points are that a good marriage takes work and that we have an enemy, Satan, who is out to destroy our marriages- hence the reason we need to work so hard. They also emphasize that we are sinful, fallen people and that too affects our marriage.

I really appreciated how the Eldredges focused on how important commitment is, how we need to strengthen our marriage by facing our own issues instead of trying to fix our spouse and also their emphasis on how God designed marriage to bring us joy.

One of my favorite quotes in the book is this: "There is no such thing as the perfect spouse... the best husband for you is the husband you have; the best wife for you is the wife you have." That pretty much sums up a lot of what this books focuses on.

Overall I appreciated and enjoyed Love and War and found it encouraging and helpful. There is some language usage that I didn't care for (didn't feel like it was respectful of God) and there is quite a bit of emphasis on "father wounds" which I believe are very real, but I don't believe are good for us to use as an excuse for our behavior. At times I felt like the Eldredges made it seem like if you were wounded in your past (and weren't we all?) then you have the right to act a certain way. Because of that, I give Love and War 4 out of 5 stars.
Go here to read the first chapter of Love and War.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.