Wow. No book review last Friday and I totally forgot about the Guess a Quote this week. Blame it on Memorial Day. Actually, you may have to excuse me if I go absent without leave once in a while over the next month or so. My mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer (she said she was okay with me sharing that with you guys) so we’ve been in a flurry of doctor’s visits and phone calls. In addition, my brother graduates from high school today, and he and I are preparing for a missions trip in July. So prayers and grace on skipped posts would be appreciated. And if any of you would be willing to write some book reviews for me, that would be lovely. Thanks so much!
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I remember seeing my mom reading Created to be a Help Meet when I was younger. At that time I’m sure I lumped it in with all the other excitements and ideas my parents brought back from homeschool conferences. When I got a little older, though, she produced this book for me. After she pre-read it, she decided it would be best for us to work through together at first. I loved (okay, I still do love on occasion) keeping my poor, early morning mom up late at night with incessant deep questions. If she was offering to read a book with me at nighttime, I was all for it! Preparing to be a Help Meet really grew me in a lot of ways. A meek and quiet spirit does not, unfortunately, come naturally to me. This book helped me to think about and desire to someday be a good help-meet. This book and several others I read around the same time gave me an understanding and respect for not simply being satisfied with who I was at the time. We human being are works in progress. Our tendency is to say things like, “Oh, well, that’s just the way I am.” But a lot of times the way we are is not necessarily the way God wants us to be. This book was one of the ones that made me realize that it’s never too soon to cooperate with God as he works on molding us into the people we will one day be.
I will say that mom and I read it together because she knew some of the content might concern me. For example, author Debbie Pearl and her husband got married just eight days after their engagement. Mom wanted to be able to gauge my reaction and make sure I knew she didn’t think that was necessarily the best way to go about things!
Have any of you read this book? What did you think? What points did you agree/disagree on?
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If time allows, I think I’m going to try to do a theme on “Marriage Prep” books. I’m not sure that’s really the right term for them, but you probably know what I mean. I may even try to rope my brother into doing one or two for the guys in the audience.
Also, what did you think of this review? My normal style is a lost more factual and less personal. This week I read a post on writing creative book reviews that encouraged bloggers to incorporate personal stories in their reviews and let people read the synopsis on Amazon if they’re interested. Which style do you prefer?
Leah E. Good 
So sorry to hear about your mom, Leah! She will deffinitely be in our prayers.
Personally, I prefer the “personal” approach you took this time. It’s just… Better! 😉
Thanks so much! And thanks also for your feedback. I might try to keep doing it this way. 🙂
I like this style! I can see the advantages to both. But it is really nice to know how a book personally affected someone.
Also, have you ever read Boy Meets Girl by Josh Harris? To date, that’s the only “marriage prep”/romantic relationships book I’ve read that has actually helped me.
Sorry about your mom – will be praying!
I actually like your factual style of previous reviews. But I think certain types of books lend themselves well to a more personal style, like this marriage topic.