Sunday, June 12, 2011

My Review of Praying for Your Future Husband

Here's a description of the book from Waterbrook Multnomah:

"Have you ever thought about praying for your future husband?
Will it make a difference?
There's only one way to find out…

From when we were small girls, most of us dream of “The One,” our future husband. We think about what it would be like to be a bride. We wonder who that special guy is and when we'll find him. The great news is that what you do now can make a difference in your life and the life of your future husband!

Authors and good friends Robin Jones Gunn (Christy Miller series) and Tricia Goyer (author and former teen mom) believe God answers women's prayers for husbands—even husbands they may not meet for years. They invite young women to pray boldly for their future mate … while also asking God to prepare their own hearts.

In Praying for Your Future Husband, Robin and Tricia share their two vastly different experiences, including the things they did right and the mistakes they made on the path to meeting and marrying their husbands. Each chapter includes helpful Bible verses, prayers, and practical application, along with true stories of women who prayed for a husband and how God answered in remarkable ways.

God has a beautiful romance prepared for you. Prayer is the key to unlocking the love story … with your future husband and with God, the lover of your soul."

My Rating: Summer

My Review:

Before reading Praying for Your Future Husband, I thought the cover was pretty with its bold but soothing colors and the peaceful image of a girl soaking in the sun. But it wasn't until I read the book that I realized just how fitting the cover really is.

For you see, the feelings portrayed by the girl on the cover matched my own. This book caused me to look up, to soak in the comforting and life-giving Light of the Son of God. In these pages I wasn't told that I needed to pray hard for a man to enter my life. I was told that with or without a husband, I can live an abundant life filled with the hope of God's sovereignty and love for me.

Praying for Your Future Husband is a book of true love stories, mainly from the lives of author Robin Jones Gunn and Tricia Goyer. It is a book designed to encourage the reader to trust in God's plan and timing in regards to her own love story, as well as to use one's season of singleness (whether that season last for a few short years or a lifetime) to seek God.

I love how this book is organized, with chapters that include anecdotes, prayer suggestions, and discussion questions--all wrapped up in a lovely package. And I love how there are prayer suggestions not only for a girl's future husband, but also for the girl herself to grow in love for God, patience, understanding, trust, loyalty and faithfulness, strength, character, contentment, and commitment.

This is a wonderful, inspiring book that has much to offer any woman who longs to seek God's best for her life and the life of her husband, whether she is already married or hopes to be married someday. From cover to cover, Praying for Your Future Husband is beautiful!

*With thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest opinion.*

Would you consider ranking my review? Thank you!

6 comments:

Vince said...

Hi Amber:

I think the subtitle to this book is more important than the title: “Preparing Your Heart for His.”

I think that finding a lasting love is not so much a matter of finding the right person but more of being the right person. “Can I be the right person for this person?” That is the question. Yet I think many people think: “Can I change this person to be the right person for me?”

The premise of the book seems a little odd to me however. Just to think that there is a woman out there praying for me and that God is listening and planning to deliver me to her: well, it all seems so arranged. As a man, I would like a little more say in the arrangement.

Vince

Keli Gwyn said...

I gave this book to my college daughter, and she's loving it. She likes the way the stories from Robin and Tricia are used and the lessons she's learning. She plans to finish the book and read it a second time. I appreciate having a book like this to give her as she looks to her future and prepares for the someday when the Lord brings the right man for her into her life.

Casey said...

Great review, Amber. I completely agree with what you said. Looking forward to any discussion we can get together. :)

Amber Holcomb said...

Vince,

Yes, the subtitle really says it all, doesn't it? :)

I've often been told that you should never marry a person with the expectation that you can change them, so I think you have a very valid point there. Love requires giving, patience, perseverance, etc., as 1 Corinthians 13 says. No one except God is perfect. But at the same time, I believe that you should feel comfortable with the person you marry.

Anyway, as to your note about the premise, from reading the book I don't feel like they're trying to tell you to pray for a certain person to be your husband--so I don't think it's meant to be an arrangement in that sense. Rather, I believe the idea is that if you are to be married someday God knows who that person will be, and you can pray for God to watch over that person and draw that person closer to Him.

However, I confess to being a little turned off by the premise, as well. I guess what confused me was the idea that I don't know if I'm ever going to get married or not. What if I'm going to be single all my life? Then I wouldn't have a future husband to pray for. Or what if my first husband dies and I marry again? Which one am I praying for?

But by focusing on those questions when reading the book I think I would be missing the point. I believe the main point of the book is to seek God's will, to trust in His timing and plan, and to pour out our hearts to Him with our concerns about everything and our desires to be closer to Him.

Hope you don't mind the long response, and thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts! :)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Keli,

That's great! As a college girl myself, I found this book to be very encouraging, and I think with all that it has to say it would be a good one to re-read. :)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Casey,

Thank you! :) And I'm glad to be a part of the discussion group, although I apologize for not contributing to the group yet! Hopefully I can jump in off and on with some thoughts. ;)

~Amber