In honor of Valentine’s Day this week, I’m reviewing two books about Christ-centered marriage. I firmly believe that both a strong marriage built on “the rock” (Matthew 7:24-27) and partnership in homeschool decisions is critical for homeschooling success, so I was really excited to review these two recently released books on this topic. Click here for my earlier review this week.
This review is of the Kindle edition of “Empty: A Couple’s Study of Marriage” by Mike & Kim Marquez, a couple who have been married for 23 years and homeschooled four kids for seventeen of those years. I was really excited to see how their point of view as a homeschooling couple might come through in their study on marriage.
This book is designed to be read and discussed together with your spouse, chapter by chapter. As you digest each topic, the authors encourage you to take personal notes and/or journal and then discuss together — privately and in a distraction-free environment — how the marriage principles shared apply to your relationship. The goal of this study is to walk you through biblical principles of God’s love for you and His vision for marriage and marital roles, as well as how to heal past wounds and renew the joy and fulfillment in your marriage.
The approach is very personal and well as practical: Both Mike and Kim share their individual points of view and often tell their “sides” of the story (in first person) within the chapters to illustrate how the transformation took place in their marriage from both the husband and wife’s unique perspective. They are very open in sharing what they each experienced and struggled with as they journeyed together through the process of applying these Biblical principles in their own marriage. Weaved within the telling of their personal testimony, each chapter contains scripture references and statements in bold as starting points to get the conversation started between you and your spouse.
The topics covered include:
- The pursuit of love
- What God has done for us
- Our calling and marital roles
- Christ and the Church: A model for marriage
- Obstacles to a strong marriage
- A path to healing
- Ways husbands and wives can uniquely love one another
- Fruit of a restored marriage
I really enjoyed the authors’ personal approach to what is essentially a Bible study of marriage, telling their own story as they walk you through their journey to restoration step by step. As a homeschooling mom, I especially related to a lot of what Kim shared about how homeschooling challenges affected their relationship as well.
I also found the approach of starting with a better understanding of God’s love, redemption, and pursuit of us individually to be a wonderful foundation for the rest of the principles specific to marriage that are discussed throughout the book. As the title expresses, we’re often “empty” because we aren’t filled by a deep and intimate relationship with the Lord — it’s only by being filled with His love that we can share that love with our spouse and draw closer to Him as a couple.
I recommend “Empty: A Couple’s Study of Marriage” for any Christian couple who wants to strengthen or renew your marriage and draw closer to the Lord together. Whether you’re looking to dig deeper into God’s best for your marriage or you’re in search of a path to healing, you will find what you need in this study and illustrated through the powerful testimony of Mike & Kim Marquez.
“Empty: A Couple’s Study of Marriage” is currently available as a downloadable digital book for Kindle for $5.99.
Review Disclosure: I was compensated for this review post by Educents; however, my opinions are entirely my own and based on a personal reading of the book. We also receive a small commission if the affiliate links on this page are used to make a purchase.