New Year’s Marriage Book Giveaway

It’s the New Year. There’s talk of resolutions in the air. I’m not one to declare New Year’s resolutions. If I have a goal or ambition, I can’t wait until the beginning of the year to pursue it! Plus there’s that whole setting-your-self-up-for-failure thing.  Anyway, I didn’t come here today to rant …

Rather, I’m here to announce the LiveSimplyLove New Year’s Marriage Book Giveaway!

Last month I entered a giveaway for a KitchenAid Mixer {Yes! I’m a newlywed and don’t have one! We didn’t register for a mixer because we didn’t think we’d need one. I’ve obviously been rethinking that decision.}

While I didn’t win the mixer {sad face}, I was inspired to run a giveaway on LiveSimplyLove in order to share some of the resources I’ve found helpful in preparing for marriage, managing my expectations, and learning how to manage conflict in the midst of living, breathing, and sleeping every day next to the one I love.

Blogging has taught me that if I want something I should just ask! So that’s what I did. Every prize in this giveaway was donated. Let me tell you, I was FLOORED to receive emails that said “Yes, we’d love to donate a book [or two]!” and then even more excited when they began arriving in the mail. All for you, dear readers!

I want to confess another motivation for doing this as well. Along with the hope that you’ll walk away with a book that will really help your marriage {or help you prepare for your future marriage} I’m hoping this giveaway will give you reason to tell your friends, family members, Facebook friends, Twitter stream, next door neighbors, long-lost relatives, hair stylist, and dog walker about LiveSimplyLove.

I’m not looking for a flash in the pan of new readers just for the sake of flashing {that sounded weird}. Instead… I would love to attract more readers who are truly interested in the topic of marriage. So, thanks for whatever you can do to help me spread the word.

Without further ado…here’s a brief description of the books that are up for grabs in this giveaway. {Before you enter be sure to read the brief rules below as well as the Official Sweepstakes Rules.}

A Lasting Promise: A Christian Guide to Fighting for Your Marriage by Scott Stanley, Daniel Trathen, Savanna McCain & Milt Bryan

The book is the foundation of most of the communication and conflict management skills we’ve learned in marriage. My Make-Up-Monday series on How Not to be a WENI is based on content in this book about the damaging effects of negative communication styles.

A Lasting Promise provides practical examples of how to work through conflict, deal with unmet expectations, forgive one another and then restore intimacy, and protect your marriage from divorce. This book is helpful, whether your marriage is great and you want to ensure it stays that way or if you’re struggling and aren’t sure where to turn next. And, married or not, the communication tools are crucial for any relationship. Many thanks to Scott Stanley for his encouragement and for donating this book and several other resources, including a prayer journal, which will be paired with this book for the giveaway.

Sacred Marriage Gift Edition by Gary Thomas 

Believe it or not, I read almost all of Sacred Marriage on our honeymoon!! The tagline for the book is: What if God Designed Marriage to Make Us Holy More Than to Make Us Happy? It’s certainly not the perspective of our culture today, right? And that’s one of the reasons I liked it so much.

Thomas tackles the way we’ve romanticized marriage and turns it on its head. He talks about what it really is to LOVE another person even when it hurts, forgive, and treat one another with respect. He shares what it is to really serve another person; and he highlights that marriage is the perfect laboratory for exposing our sin and understanding our true need for God and His forgiveness in our own lives. This is NOT an emotionally easy book to read, especially if your marriage is difficult, but it is a good book to read. Gary Thomas autographed and donated this hardcover Gift Edition which also includes 52 devotions to enhance spiritual intimacy with your spouse. Thank you Gary!!

Sacred Influence by Gary Thomas

Other than glancing at a few chapters, I haven’t read this one but it looks just as good as Thomas’ book Sacred Marriage. The subtitle is: How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands. So this one is specifically for wives and includes practical applications to help you bring about positive change in your marriage. Thomas writes an especially interesting chapter on how brain chemistry differs for men and explains why “talking things out” may take more time and is a bit more challenging for the average male. {The Husband and I thought that was fascinating!} I’m grateful to Gary Thomas for autographing and donating this book, which I didn’t even think to request, to be given away!

The Love & Respect Experience by Emerson Eggerichs

This devotional comes with the subtitle: A Husband-Friendly Devotional that Wives Truly Love. The book Love & Respect, upon which this devotional is based, was one of those eye-opener books that helped me begin to understand the differences between men and women. It helped me see why some things I said or did ACTUALLY communicated disrespect to my husband {even if they seemed totally neutral to me} and why some things he did or said didn’t feel loving to me {when, in fact he wasn’t trying to be unloving at all}. Love & Respect literally helped translate things I didn’t understand about my husband.

Eggerichs writes about the Crazy Cycle that’s common in male/female relationships {based on mutual misunderstandings}, helps you figure out what to do when you’re there and, more importantly, how to avoid getting there in the first place. If you feel like you and your spouse {or significant other} are totally missing each other when you try to talk things through, this is the book for you! This beautiful leather-covered devotional book was donated by PR by the Book and Love & Respect Ministries, Inc.

The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller

I’ll admit, I just recently got a copy of this one, and I’m not through reading it yet. But I’ve listened to Tim Keller sermons and read his other books and writings over the last decade, and I know that he’s a powerful speaker with a lasting marriage. He has years of experiential research under his belt understanding human behavior, relationships, and perspectives about God. I can only believe that what he has to say in The Meaning of Marriage would be well worth your time. Many thanks to Penguin Group (USA) Inc. for donating a hardcover version of this book.

The Power of Commitment by Scott Stanley

Here’s another one I haven’t read, but I can’t wait to crack it open! A testimonial on the back cover says, “This book should be mandatory reading for dating, engaged, newlywed and not-so-newlywed couples.” Author of A Lasting Promise, Scott Stanley writes about how we can better understand and appreciate the value of commitment with the goal of making it last a lifetime. Countless couples arrive at the alter thinking “Til death do us part” yet end up in what Scott calls a “Maybe I Do” marriage. His hope is that more couples will begin to understand commitment in a world where 50% of marriages end in divorce. Scott Stanley generously donated a copy of this book.

THE PRIZES
{see images above of prize packages} 

1)      A Lasting Promise by Stanley, Trathen, McCain & Bryan
Includes one (1) copy of A Lasting Promise, one (1) copy of Like a Tree Planted by Water prayer journal, one (1) Speaker Listener Technique magnet, two (2) Speaker Listener Technique key chains (all donated by Scott Stanley).

2)      Sacred Marriage Gift Edition by Gary Thomas
Includes one (1) autographed copy of Sacred Marriage Gift Edition (donated by Gary Thomas) and one (1) Speaker Listener Technique magnet (donated by Scott Stanley).

3)      Sacred Influence by Gary Thomas
Includes one (1) autographed copy of Sacred Marriage Gift Edition (donated by Gary Thomas) and one (1) Speaker Listener Technique magnet (donated by Scott Stanley).

4)      The Love & Respect Experience by Emerson Eggerichs
Includes one (1) copy of The Love & Respect Experience (donated by PR by the Book and Love & Respect Ministries, Inc.) and one (1) Speaker Listener Technique magnet (donated by Scott Stanley).

5)      The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller
Includes one (1) copy of The Meaning of Marriage (donated by Penguin Group (USA) Inc.) and one (1) Speaker Listener Technique magnet (donated by Scott Stanley).

6)      The Power of Commitment by Scott Stanley
Includes one (1) copy of The Power of Commitment and one (1) Speaker Listener Technique magnet and two (2) Speaker Listener Technique key chains (all donated by Scott Stanley).

 

GIVEAWAY RULES

The deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m. MST on Friday, January 20, 2012.  The winner will be drawn on or about January 21, 2012 and notified by email.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents age 18 or older.

No duplicate comments.

All entries must be written in English.

You may submit one or more of the following entry options:

 

 

Post a comment below indicating which book you would most like to win and why. {1 entry}

 

You may earn optional entries by doing any of the following: 

• Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL of your Tweet in a comment below. {Here’s how to find your Tweet URL}. Use the sample tweet below or write one of your own. {1 entry}
  SAMPLE TWEET: Enter to win a book on #marriage & #relationships @livesimplylove http://ht.ly/8kLLu #giveaway
• Subscribe to LiveSimplyLove by email {and confirm your subscription}, then leave a comment below indicating you subscribed or are already subscribed {the email address you submit in your comment must match the email address used to subscribe}.{1 entry}
• Blog about this promotion, and leave the URL of your post in a comment below. {1 entry}
• Mention LiveSimplyLove and this promotion on your Tumblr, Posterous, YouTube channel, or any other social networking site and leave a link to your post in the comments below. {1 entry}

All optional entries must be verifiable to be valid. All entrants may have as many as (4) optional entries as well as a mandatory entry {Please make a separate comment for each optional entry}. Without a mandatory entry, optional entries will be invalid.

On or about January 21, 2012, winners will be selected at random from the comments in this post via WP plugin And the Winner Is… and will be notified by email.

Winners will have 72 hours to respond to the notification email.

The Official Sweepstakes Rules are here.  Click here to view a printable PDF of the Official Rules.

 

DISCLOSURE: I received two copies of Like a Tree Planted by the Water for me and the Husband to use, one copy of The Power of Commitment, four additional Speaker Listener magnets and one additional key chain from Scott Stanley.

So, here we go!!!

Which book would you most like to win and why?

Related posts:

• Make-Up-Monday: What Would You Google if Your Marriage Was on the Rocks?
• Reading for Your Marriage
• Happy New Year’s Eve!
• Make-Up-Monday Series: Negative Interpretation

Tagged as: Giveaway, Marriage