About the Book

Book: Building a Ridiculously Great Marriage

Author: Gil Stieglitz

Genre: Christian Non-fiction

Release Date: November 2019

Building a Ridiculously Great Marriage: Pre-Marital and Marital Habits

It’s no secret that couples in great marriages do different things than couples in bad ones.

But what are those things and how do ordinary folks start doing them? How can couples take a struggling marriage or even one that is “pretty good” to one that is, quite frankly, ridiculously great?

Based on thousands of counseling hours and personal practice, Gil Stieglitz spells out the 15 essential habits found in great marriages that aren’t found in difficult ones. Building a Ridiculously Great Marriage provides the short and dirty version of what it takes to have a marriage that is so great, other couples will stand up and notice—they might even call it “ridiculous.”

This book is a real game-changer for engaged couples just starting out, couples who are struggling, or couples who just want to take their marriage from good to ridiculously great. It is also a terrific resource for pastors, ministry leaders, and counselors who work with couples for pre-marriage and marriage counseling.

About the Author

Dr. Gil Stieglitz is a prolific author, engaging speaker, and insightful pastor who has spent thousands of hours helping, coaching, and strengthening marriages. Gil has written over twenty-five books on marriage, parenting, soul development, and spiritual warfare, including top-seller Becoming a Godly Husband, God’s Radical Plan for Wives, and Marital Intelligence. He speaks to thousands of people each year about the wonders of God’s principles. Gil now serves as Discipleship Pastor at Bayside Church, a dynamic multi-site church near Sacramento, CA. He is on faculty with Principles to Live By, a nonprofit organization that helps people connect to God’s principles in everyday life. He and his wife, Dana, enjoy a ridiculously delightful life in Northern California. For more information, visit ptlb.com.

More from Gil

After thousands of hours counseling couples for marriage and pre-marital issues, I had a few couples who just wanted to know the very basics of what they needed to do differently to have a much better marriage. These concepts, coupled with some pre-marital counseling I was doing at the time, allowed me to develop a quick and dirty list of the top ten habits couples should develop if they really wanted a terrific marriage. I asked them to trust me in what I was telling them, and they did what I requested. The results were amazing.

For the purposes of this book, I have added five more habits great couples do to make the material even more robust and effective, and I included the exercises I used in my counseling sessions for couples to practice and work out. Think of this book as the low down of what makes a marriage “ridiculously great.” This is the kind of marriage that will constantly surprise you with delight, love, growth, energy, longing, and connection. It is beyond the norm—where you feel like you lucked into this great relationship with this amazing person.

If you showed up in my office and asked me to give you the bottom line, these are the things I would tell you to do. Many people know what they are doing is not working, and they just want to know what to do. These fifteen things are what work…no joke.

There are numerous books written on the subject of marriage. They all have different perspectives of what works and what doesn't. I know the number one reason marriages fail is lack of communication. If you don't talk to your spouse and share your feelings, you are living in an empty shell called "faking it til something better comes along." It may be harsh words, but I know from personal experience what a lack of sharing will do to a marriage.

I opened this book ready to see what the author had to offer on the subject of marriages. To my delight the first subject is called "Debrief Daily." I was intrigued and had a dash of hope that this book would speak to couples in a way that was compassionate but truthful. Our spouses come home and usually the wife is cooking dinner, taking care of kids and gives her husband a nod or short greeting and keeps on going. Lets learn from this first chapter to take time to share your day with each other. Ask questions and listen with an open heart so you will know what to pray over your spouse if they are struggling in an area.

The author shares fifteen habits to Building a Ridiculously Great Marriage." Each chapter also includes examples that help you apply the topic to your marriage. One of the chapters I really liked was about praying. I'm sure many of us have our alone prayer time, but do we also have a time where we pray as a couple? This hit hard with me. My husband and I have been really good about praying together until this last year. It hasn't been a good year for us with family deaths, health issues, family problems and other struggles. We seemed to have forgotten God in our daily time as a couple. The enemy came roaring in our lives and we allowed him to take over. We didn't have our covering and we have had attacks after attacks. I loved when the author said, " Another reason why it is great to pray together daily is to hear your spouse's heart." "It is not enough to know why we should pray; we have to actually do it."

I have always said that my best friend is my husband. It is true, but now I realize that I have left him out of prayer time and forgotten to share things that are stressing me out. I will be holding on to this book and begin to apply the chapters to our marriage as a couple. This would be an excellent tool to use in churches for small groups for married couples and engaged couples.

I received a copy of this book from Celebrate Lit. The review is my own opinion