Many people who fall in love plan to use that love as the path to lead them, the bricks and mortar to build with, the problem solver and the energizer for their marriage. But after you get married, you quickly learn that love alone is barely enough to get by. It’s like packing for a long journey with two delicious candy bars to sustain you and nothing more. Once those candy bars are ate up, you are left with questions and confusion and wondering what do we do now?
Wife After God by Jennifer Smith is an excellent 30-day (one chapter per day) devotional explaining how developing a good relationship with God and with prayer and using His Words can truly sustain and feed your marriage. The day-by-day instructions, from knowing God’s purpose for your marriage to understanding forgiveness and embracing God’s gifts to you, will unveil the answers that you are looking for. The best thing about this devotional is that, like most other devotionals, it doesn’t just stop at a short explanation and scripture for the day it goes on to encourage journaling, in depth prayers to pray, and additional Bible scriptures to help you continue to meditate on what you’ve learned after you’ve read your chapter for the day .
The foundational scriptures from the devotional are the anchor and the strength behind learning, improving and making your marriage last. These scriptures are James 4:8 “Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” Hebrews 10:22 “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” And Colossians 2:23 “Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” These scriptures being the theme scriptures are very unique when dealing with marriage, most marriage devotionals and pastors don’t use these when teaching on marriage and yet Jennifer Smith clearly teaches the meaning of these scriptures and how they apply to improving your relationship with God and with your husband.
Besides being a writer, I am a wife of 13 years and mother of 7. We both married young (I was 20 and he was 23) and I was one of those people who went into my marriage blind while only using our love as my guide. We went through many growing pains and fortunately we were Christians from the very beginning and many times when I wanted to give up I trusted in Jesus saving power and restoration. But out of all those years and tools I had sought out, I have never read another devotional as thorough and full of promise as this book, Wife After God. I can truly say that even though I originally read this book for this review, this devotional ended up blessing me and my approach to my husband immensely.
