Can there be joy in the midst of a painful marriage?

It's a hard reality for some-marriage is difficult, disappointing, and painful. Your spouse is unwilling to change. How do you continue, and not just exist but thrive?

Men and women in difficult marriages will discover the heart's ability to remain alive and joyous in the midst of a continually painful relationship with their spouses. Readers are directed away from their spouses' behavior and brought into a surprisingly free and powerful way to live and to love.

Christian psychologists Michael Misja and Chuck Misja show you how to be free from shame when your marriage is not "successful" by conventional Christian standards. Their practical theology of desire, their explanation of the battlefield of the soul, and their relational process for moving from hoping in your marriage to hoping in God make this marriage book about moving beyond suffering and mere surviving to finding joy and supernatural thriving. Find a basis for joy and learn how to love from godly strength, without asking for a response from your spouse.

Michael Misja, PhD, BCPCC, is a Christian psychologist and cofounder of North Coast Family Foundation in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. He has counseled, taught, and spoken on Christian counseling for more than twenty years. He and his wife, Lin, found God and were married in New York City, where they were active in the arts and in ministry. They have been married twenty-seven years and have four children.

Charles F. Misja, PhD, is a licensed psychologist and cofounder of North Coast Family Foundation in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. He has hosted a Christian call-in talk show on several radio stations and has taught at the college and seminary level. He and his wife, Jackie, are high school sweethearts and have been married thirty-seven years. They have three grown children and six grandchildren.

"Thriving Despite a Difficult Marriage is a book about a well-lived life in spite of an unfulfilling marriage. It is about moving beyond suffering and mere surviving to finding joy and supernatural thriving. In the hands of master soul physicians such as Misja and Misja, the hidden chambers of the heart come alive with wisdom for living. Their practical theology of desire, their explanation of the battlefield of the soul, and their relational process for moving from hoping in your marriage to hoping in God are worth the proverbial price of the book. Thriving Despite a Difficult Marriage is for any spouse who wants to love well, hope endlessly, and rejoice deeply-despite external circumstances and relational disappointments."

~Robert W. Kellemen, PhD, chairman of the master of arts in Christian counseling and discipleship department, Capital Bible Seminary; founder, RPM Ministries

"A profound yet simple message of hope that will enable Christians in difficult marriages to be committed to their spouses but free to live their own lives. It is rare to see such good material that addresses the complex relationship and scriptural dynamics of difficult marriages. Chuck and Mike Misja obviously have a wealth of experience and insight to offer those who feel trapped in their difficult marriages."

~Karla Downing, MA, licensed marriage and family therapist; author of 10 Lifesaving Principles for Women in Difficult Marriages and When Love Hurts

"On your wedding day, you hoped and dreamed of happily ever after. You never imagined that marriage could bring the heartache and regrets you have experienced, and you are now at a place where hope is lost. You've given up trying to fix your spouse or even yourself. If this describes you, you have found the right book. Authors Mike and Chuck Misja will challenge you to see your situation and your spouse through the eternal perspective of how a loving Father desires to refine you even as you experience disappointment and hardship."

~Dr. Juli Slattery, family psychologist, Focus on the Family

"This book does not pretend marriage is easy. But Michael and Chuck Misja have cleared a new path through the thorny issues of marital disappointment, challenging spouses to follow God into the pain and learn to live with radical honesty, transcendent purpose, heroic effort, and unquenchable hope. Their words offer deep and lasting joy to those who will embrace and persevere in a difficult marriage by God's grace."

~Nancy Groom, author of From Bondage to Bonding

Availability: Nationwide by appointment and anytime by phone.
Contact: Kris Wallen at 719.531.3588

Thriving Despite a Difficult Marriage
is available March 15, 2009 at
www.navpress.com or call 1-800-366-7788.
NavPress
PO Box 6000
Colorado Springs, CO 80934


Also available at many online book sellers
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