Marriage

Sacred Marriage: What if God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy  by Gary Thomas / Zondervan
Is happiness the ultimate goal of marriage, or is there a greater purpose? Thomas helps you understand the Lord's intention for matrimony-for husband and wife to reflect the character of Christ. See how God wants to use your marriage as a spiritual discipline to draw you closer to Him, who is happiness.   Sacred Marriage has done more for my marriage than any other book except for the Bible.  My deepest thanks to Gary Thomas for this insightful and profound book! 

Devotions for a Sacred Marriage By Gary L. Thomas / Zondervan

By popular demand, the author of Sacred Marriage returns to the topic of how God uses marriage to expand our souls and make us holy. Using all new material, Devotions for a Sacred Marriage will help you to explore how God can reveal Himself through your marriage and help you to grow closer to Him as well as to your spouse. From the process of two becoming one, to the sharing of our lives as Christian brothers and sisters Devotions for a Sacred Marriage will challenge couples to embrace the profound and soul-stretching reality of Christian marriage.

Sacred Influence: What a Man Needs from His Wife to Be the Husband She Wants  by Gary Thomas / Zondervan
You've pleaded, badgered and nagged, but your husband still won't listen to you. How can you help him become the man God intends him to be? Applying the concepts from his bestseller Sacred Marriage, Thomas gives you a man's eye view of how to positively motivate your spouse and cultivate a deep and true relationship with him.   

Parenting

Child Training

Sacred Parenting: How Raising Children Shapes Our Souls
By Gary L. Thomas / Zondervan
Instead of the typical instruction manual on child rearing, Thomas's inspiring and affirming book demonstrates how God uses kids to profoundly change their parents. Through scriptural insights and encouraging real-life stories, you'll learn how others handled difficulties and challenges---and how it transformed their walk with God. Discover the spiritual potential in your parent-child relationships! 231 pages, softcover from Zondervan.  Another gem from Gary Thomas, who tells it like it is!

The Shaping of a Christian Family: How My Parents Nurtured My Faith
by Elisabeth Elliot / Baker
Elisabeth Elliot tells the story of her childhood to share valuable insights on raising godly children. She talks candidly on parental expectations, emphasizes daily Bible reading and prayer, and shows the benefits of practicing such scriptural principles as trust, discipline, courtesy and teaching by example. Complete with eight pages of treasured Elliot family photos, this is a book of ideas and inspiration for new parents, experienced parents, and all who have come to trust Elliot's wisdom.  How did Elisabeth Elliot get so much good common sense?  Here is the answer!

Hints on Child Training  by H. Clay Trumbull / Great Expectations Co
Can parenting advice from 1890 be relevant today?  This little classic of old-fashioned advice still works in today's hustle and bustle world. Trumbull will teach you how to train your child's will and offers sensible advice on countless other issues you face every day.  The author is Elisabeth Elliot's great-grandfather -- which means it lays the foundation for the title above

 

For The Family's Sake  by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay / Crossway Books & Bibles
For many of us, the word home brings warm thoughts and happy memories-far more than the dictionary's simple definitions of "a place of birth or one's living quarters." It is the secure environment that allows our hearts to develop. A haven of growth, quiet and rest. The place where we love and are loved. Sadly, though, this kind of home is beginning to disappear as our busy society turns homes into houses where related people abide, but where there is no "heart." With Jesus Christ as the foundation, using tools such as commmon sense, realism and traditions, you can build a secure living environment where every member of your family can flourish.  I find so much down-to-earth and flexible wisdom in For the Family's Sake.  It is both a comfort for where I am and an inspiration to aspire higher.

 

Defuse: A Mom's Survival Guide for More Love, Less Anger 

by Karol Ladd / Thomas Nelson

In this timely survival guide, Ladd offers practical steps to help mothers identify hidden anger in their own lives and in the lives of each members of their family. When tempers flare, they need to know how to respond quickly to defuse the situation and to, instead, create a more loving atmosphere where anger has no place. With anger being a major issue in every home, Ladd's positive plan offers vital solutions that will not only deactivate anger but strengthen the bonds of love.  This book can be very helpful to moms who struggle with anger. 

Shepherding a Child's Heart, Revised and Updated by Tedd Tripp / Shepherd Press
Many parenting books are based on hit-or-miss theories steeped in secular thinking. This one draws from Pastor Tripp's seasoned experience as a father-and from God's Holy Word. Grounded in the Bible's divine plan for parenting, this guide defines your goals as a parent and provides the Scriptural methods for accomplishing them.  This is a classic in child training

 Romancing Your Child's Heart, Revised By Monte Swan / Multnomah
Good parenting isn't only about controlling your kids' behavior-it's about winning their hearts for God. Blending practical advice with real-life child-rearing scenarios, Swan shows how to move beyond parent-child power struggles toward genuine "heart teaching." Discover creative ways to shepherd your kids toward a transforming relationship with Jesus and build their resistance to evil.

The Heart of Anger: Practical Help for the Prevention and Cure of Anger in Children
by Lou Priolo / Calvary Press
Do you have an angry child? Do you know someone who does? In today's age of rage, it's critical that you recognize and address this concern before a child becomes habitually motivated by hostility. Priolo, an experienced counselor, offers practical, biblically based help for correcting or preventing the development of unhealthy external behavior.  This is another book I resisted buying, but I'm glad that I eventually did!

 

Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes . . . in You and Your Kids!  by Scott Turansky, D.Min. & Joanne Miller, R.N., B.S.N.

It's no secret that selfishness is a major contributor to family break-down. But according to Joanne Miller and Scott Turansky, every form of selfishness has an honor-based solution. After studying hundreds of familes, the authors have concluded that when honor is a valued virtue, families are healthy, happy, and functional. Based on this research, this book offers a variety of biblical teachings, intriguing insights, and practical solutions to help parents and children better honor one another.  

 

Don't Make Me Count to Three  by Ginger Plowman / Shepherd Press
Do you find yourself threatening, repeating your instructions, or raising your voice in an attempt to get your children to obey? Are you discouraged because it seems you just can not reach the heart of your child? Through personal experience and the practical application of Scripture, Ginger Plowman encourages and equips moms to reach past the outward behavior of their children and dive deeply into the issues of the heart. Her candid approach will help moms move beyond the frustrations of not knowing how to handle issues of disobedience and into a confident, well balanced approach to raising their children.

 

Parenting From the Heart: Practical Parenting From A Mom of 14 Children  by Marilyn Boyer / The Learning Parent
Nationally respected homeschooling speaker and author Boyer shares her wisdom---and wit---from 30 years' experience as a mother. Filled with advice about crying babies and screaming shoppers, turning problems into projects, moving from sorrow to joy, setting up "school," standing alone, and letting your children grow and go. Includes lots of family photos! 164 pages, softcover from The Learning Parent.  Marilyn Boyer is the mother of 14, and she sure has tucked a lot of wisdom into her years, whether it is about nursing a baby, training a preschooler, or losing a teen to cancer.

 

Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends: How to Fight the Good Fight at Home  by Sarah, Stephen & Grace Mally / Tomorrow's Forefathers, Inc
Can brothers and sisters really be best friends? Yes. Co-written by real-life siblings Sarah, Stephen and Grace (ages 22, 16, 12) and illustrated by their cartoonist dad, this lighthearted volume offers perceptive insights and practical tips on how kids in the same family can forge lifelong supportive relationships as God intended.