Book Review: Real Marriage by Mark and Grace Driscoll

From the back cover:  "While a wonderful wedding day is important, it's the last day of marriage that really counts.  Will the last day of your marriage come prematurely through divorce?  Will it be filled with regrets as you sit at the funeral of your spouse?  Or, by God's grace, will the last day be a day to rejoice in the life you lived together? 

Marriage is such a wonderful gift from God, but it is also perhaps one of the most difficult relationships into which a man and a woman can enter.  That being said, we all need encouragement.  In the 11-week DVD driven study "Real Marriage: the Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together," Mark Driscoll and his wife Grace delve into these topics and many more providing just such encouragement.  Each session is done in a conversational style between the two, who are sitting comfortably on a love seat together in a large church's sanctuary discussing their own marriage and the many things God has taught them over the years. 

The DVD-based study presupposes the participants are either currently reading or have already read the book of the same name.  Each session in the Participant's Guide is broken up into several parts:  Introduction, Video Response questions, Scripture passage for reflection, Group Discussion and Prayer during which the group breaks off into men's and women's (most weeks), Homework for the Husband, Wife, and Singles (there is a  men's and women's section), Connect during which those who are married would come together and discuss what they've been learning, and lastly Experience during which the couple (or single) will have something to do together, a date night, dinner with a mentoring couple, writing letters to one another, etc.  There is also a comprehensive leader's guide providing additional guidance in leading a small group.

All-in-all this study is one I'm not sure I would recommend, there are quite a few others out there providing more 'meat'... though some young-in-the-faith believers who are single wanting-to-get-married, engaged couples, and younger married couples might enjoy it.  

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.*