Book Review: Sacred Influence

I was really excited to read Sacred Influence by Gary Thomas because I read his book Sacred Marriage a few years ago and loved it. Sacred Influence is Gary's response to wives as a result of some questions he received after the first book.This book's sub-headline drew me in: How God Uses Wives to Shape the Souls of Their Husbands. Please, Gary, tell me more!

Not sure I understand the cover art. Who puts a flower in the shower?

The book certainly does have it's little nuggets of truth. My favorite of which is:

"No husband comes in a perfect package. No husband can do it all. Your job as a wife is to fight to stay sensitive to your husbands strengths. Resist the temptation to compare his weaknesses to another husband's strengths, while forgetting your husband's strengths and the other husband's weaknesses. Don't resent your husband for being less than perfect; he can't be anything else."

Oh, how I desire to stay sensitive to my husband's strengths!

Other high points of the book include encouraging wives to look at themselves as sinners who also need help (don't point out the spec in your husband's eye if you have a log in yours) and stressing the importance of gaining our value from the only perfect man, Christ, and not our husbands alone.

Unfortunately, I just couldn't identify with much of the book. A lot of it focuses on husbands who have anger issues, those who are disinterested in the relationship, struggle with pornography, don't believe in God, etc. I'm not saying that I don't relate because we don't have issues, I'm just saying that the author picked the major problems that couples struggle with and neglected some of the common, but subtle issues that can arise in a marriage (think envy, poor communication, spiritual dry spots).

I give the book 2.5/5 stars. It's worth a quick read for the gentle (and sometimes not so gentle) reminders that we as wives should hold ourselves to the same standards we ask of our husbands. If you're someone to can identify with the bigger concerns described above, I would for sure give it a read.