When Bad Things Happen to Good Marriages

Book excerpt: No matter how good your marriage is, it's not invulnerable. Bad things happen to the best of marriages. The question isn't whether you'll face struggles as a couple, but how you'll handle them when they come. When the going gets tough, what does it take to preserve--and in the long run, even strengthen--your union? Relationship experts and award-winning authors Les and Leslie Parrott believe the same forces that can destroy a marriage can become the catalyst for new relational depth and richness--provided you make wise choices. You can even survive any of the four most heartbreaking crises a marriage can endure: infidelity, addiction, infertility, and loss. The stories and insights of couples who have made it through the worst will encourage you that your marriage is worth fighting for, not just because quitting is so devastating but because the rewards of sticking it out are so great. The Parrotts explain why every marriage starts out good but inevitably bumps into bad things. Then, drawing on their wealth of professional and personal experience as a married couple, they discuss: Three Good Things That Turn Bad for Some Couples One Bad Thing Every Marriage Can Make Better Six Bad Things That Sneak Up on Good Marriages Four Bad Things That Jolt Good Marriages to Their Core How Good Marriages Battle Bad Things In the next-to-last chapter, the Parrotts take you inside the very soul of your marriage--why it so often aches and how a vital connection with God can join your hearts together in ways you've never imagined. Designed for use with its accompanying, individual workbooks for husbands and wives, When Bad Things Happen to Good Marriages could be a life saver for your relationship. It can make the difference between a marriage that founders on the shoals of circumstance and one that grows through hardship to release undreamed-of goodness and blessing in your lives.