Making Marriage Beautiful: Lifelong Love, Joy, and Intimacy Start with You

by Dorothy Littell Greco, Christopher Greco, Gary Chapman (Foreword by)

Overview

Because a wedding joins together two imperfect people, all couples experience disappointment, conflict, and pain. How husbands and wives respond to these challenges determines the kind of people they will become and the kind of marriage they will have.

Making Marriage Beautiful reveals how the pursuit of Christ results in profound transformation for both the individual and the marriage. Rather than offering clichés and formulas, the Grecos rely on candor, humor, and real-life stories to bring encouragement and wisdom to all couples, regardless of whether they have been married four weeks or forty years.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781434712226
Publisher:	David C Cook
Publication date:	01/01/2018
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Dorothy Greco and her husband, Christopher, have spent their entire twenty-five-year marriage helping men and women create and sustain healthy marriages. They have served numerous churches in the Greater Boston area for thirty years. Dorothy's writing has been featured in Relevant Magazine, Christianity Today, Sojourners, and Her.meneutics. She is a regular contributor for Gifted for Leadership, Today's Christian Woman, and Start Marriage Right. The Grecos have three sons and live near Boston.

Table of Contents

Foreword 11

Introduction 13

1 Marriage Will Change You: What Do You Want That Change to Look Like? 21

2 Not Your Mother's Lasagna: Legacies, Wounds, and Unrealistic Expectations 33

3 Beyond Pink and Blue: Creating Christ-Centered Gender Expectations 51

4 An Unlikely Blessing: Mining Disappointment and Anger 75

5 Tuning In: Why Good Listeners Make Better Spouses 99

6 Unmasking Counterfeits: How Disordered Attachments and Addictions Thwart True Desire 119

7 Nonnegotiables: Confession and Forgiveness 141

8 A Paradox: How Suffering Leads to Love 159

9 Choosing Joy: God's Secret Weapon 179

10 It's Not Good to Be Alone: The Complex Gift of Community 201

11 Made Beautiful: The Redemptive Power of Sacrificial Love 223

Acknowledgments 245

Notes 247

About the Author 256

Editorial Reviews

11/14/2016
The Grecos, who have been married for more than 25 years, help couples of faith better understand how their own pasts, presents, and views of the future affect the strength and stability of their marital bond. The Grecos are very frank about their marriage struggles. Dorothy, whose voice primarily directs the text, eloquently describes how she and her spouse have chosen to work through life’s difficulties together. She and her husband are both strong-willed and determined, but rather than allowing themselves to chart separate courses for their own individual well-being, the Grecos opt daily for a joint position of selflessness and sacrificial love. The authors also highlight other couples whose personalities, divergent backgrounds, and childhood experiences cause ongoing strain and stress in their marriages, and discuss the strategies that have worked for getting through the tough periods. In this wise, winsome book, readers will find practical tools for understanding themselves and their partners, and learning how a robust faith in God can equip couples to face whatever life throws their way. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"I tend to avoid marriage books. Often, their idealism sends me into the sloughs of 'guilt' and 'despond.' Not Greco's book. She offers an honest, literate, and biblical marriage playbook that is as inspiring as it is doable. Because of this lovely book, I'll be looking for outbursts of beauty in marriages everywhere. Even in mine."

Leslie Leyland Fields

"With careful precision, Dorothy Greco examines the complexities, pain, and beauty inherent in our marriages and guides us chapter by hope-filled chapter into the wisdom needed to cultivate marriages that overflow with love and beauty."

Marlena Graves

"A remarkably honest and profoundly wise road map for real marriage-the kind that survives relational ups and downs, twists and turns, disappointments and doubts long enough for even a 'mismatched' couple to become a beautiful reflection of the life-changing, love-giving Christ. Greco paints this real-marriage landscape with uncanny skill, deft insight, and fearless power. Five stars!"

Patricia Raybon

"With wise and winsome words reflecting decades of ministry experience, Dorothy Greco offers deep yet extremely practical ways to build a Christ-honoring, thriving relationship. This book will speak life-changing truth straight into the heart of your marriage."

Jeffrey P. Bjorck

"Making Marriage Beautiful is full of goodness and truth, and is one of the wisest and most comprehensive books on marriage I've ever read."

Karen Swallow Prior