"PREPARING FOR YOUR CELESTIAL MARRIAGE," by Mark D. Ogletree, Covenant Communications, $16.99, 226 pages (nf)
In today's society, young adults are becoming anxious about starting a family. Some are putting off marriage until they are better prepared, and others are rushing into marriage without much thought.
"Preparing for Your Celestial Marriage" by Mark D. Ogletree can help bridge the gap between the extremes and ease the anxieties of others, helping them to work toward a better marriage.
As discussed in the book, the choice of spouse is the most important decision of one's life and is not to be taken lightly. This choice will affect the rest of both partners' lives, Ogletree writes.
Some of the topics addressed include the importance of marriage, the best kinds of dates to help ascertain your prospective mate's character, personality traits that can cause major issues in a marriage, maturity level and its effect on relationships, and ways to prepare for marriage.
He draws on his practice as a marriage and family therapist for 25 years as well as his own personal experiences to enrich the book with real-life stories.
Each chapter ends with questions to consider and discuss, in addition to reading references that will help the reader delve into the subject even more. There are also lists of great questions for the reader to consider about their prospective partner and their relationship to give a clearer idea of any potential problems.
Most importantly, Ogletree goes into detail about how a person can receive revelation and know that their marriage choice is a good one that Heavenly Father approves of.
Although the book is primarily for a young adult audience, the insight can be applicable to any age group in the dating scene and give parents help in teaching their children to better prepare for marriage.
Ogletree is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and an associate professor at Brigham Young University in the Department of Church History and Doctrine.
Jennifer Autry has called many states home and is an American military wife with two beautiful girls. She is an aspiring author and blogs at imperfectlymormon.blogspot.com.