Devotions For Dating Couples: Building A Foundation For Spiritual Intimacy

If you are like most dating couples, you are looking for more than just a companion - you want a soul mate! The essence of a true soul mate relationship is that of deep spiritual connection and a shared commitment to God. This dynamic book will help you discover how to make your most important love relationships-with God and your potential mate-strong, lasting, and radiant.Relationship experts Ben Young and Samuel Adams, authors of The Ten Commandments of Dating and The One, give user-friendly tips for nurturing your personal walk with God and enhancing your spiritual connection as a couple. As you read through the devotions each day, you will:Become a great lover by learning to love God firstDevelop the essential disciplines of a lasting relationshipFocus on the important things in lifeDiscover a sense of spiritual purpose and meaningUnderstand that grace is not just for "beginners" - it is for you, every day Whether you are dating seriously or engaged to be married, these daily personal devotions and weekly couple's devotions will help you discover the way to lifelong love. From Publishers WeeklyYoung, host of the syndicated radio show The Single Connection, and Adams, a clinical psychologist, present a nine-week course of daily devotionals for committed Christians involved in long-term relationships and aiming toward marriage. Weekly "disciplines" focusing on foundational spiritual themes-love, prayer, simplicity-are divided into daily mediations meant to be read in solitude. On Saturdays, suggest the authors (The Ten Commandments of Dating), couples should spend the day together and discuss their thoughts about the week's theme; Sundays they ought to attend church. The Monday-to-Friday anecdotes, which often use the prosaic to illustrate the profound (the shame of a messy dorm room, for instance, teaches the importance of "healthy self-talk"), can feel a bit judgmental and preachy. But each week's summary questions will help partners reconnect with their spiritual selves, and may even settle questions of compatibility. Successful relationships take work, the authors remind us. Their somewhat didactic approach, however, might turn off some readers, and the length and intensity of the course may mean that others lose steam partway through.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.About the AuthorSamuel Adams, Psy.D., is a licensed psychologist. He earned his master's from Western Seminary and a doctorate from George Fox University. He maintains a full time counseling practice in Austin, Texas.