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Customer Reviews for Bethany House Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
Bethany House Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
Draw closer as a couple by talking about the things that are important to you, especially as it concerns your Christian faith. If read together once a week, these 52 devotionals will help you grow in intimacy as a couple. Each devotion includes discussion questions and practical application suggestions, sure to bring you closer together. Just 30 minutes a week can revitalize your relationship!
Average Customer Rating:
(9 Reviews) 9
Rating Snapshot (9 reviews)
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Customer Reviews for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
Review 1 for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
Overall Rating:
Year-long devotional for Christian couples
Date:December 31, 2010
Quality:
4
out of
5
Value:
4
out of
5
Meets Expectations:
4
out of
5
Closer by Jim & Cathy Burns is a year-long devotional for couples looking to strengthen their marriage. Broken down into 52 easy to read lessons, the authors tackle many of the issues that strain and break marriages in this age when divorce is common and living together before marriage even more so. From finances to kids to sex, the Burns discuss it all in a encouraging and conversational tone. Each lesson has questions at the end for spouses to ask each other to deepen the lesson as well as exercises to keep the conversation going. The most important lesson the authors have for readers is that God must be in the center of a marriage for it to be successful, and that when we seek to change our partner, it's often we who need to change ourselves. The lessons are quick and easy to read in just a few minutes weekly, so it will work for even the busiest couples. Closer is an excellent tool for couples looking to have a better relationship in 2011.
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Review 2 for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
This review is fromCloser: Devotions to Draw Couples Together.
Overall Rating:
Date:May 26, 2010
Every couple needs a little extra help with getting closer and getting to know each other. There are fifty-two devotions in this book and each is appropriate for a weeks worth of communication and reflection. I like Jim and Cathys writing style. They share a lot of personal experiences from their marriage which helps to open up the dialogue for the couple reading the book. Some of the exercises in the devotions felt like a bit much, especially for my husband and me. Neither of us likes to get too in-depth and overanalyze things, so some of the faith conversation questions got overlooked. But there is a lot of good advice and guidance and couples can emphasize the areas that work for them.Overall, Closer is a pretty good devotional. It is particularly good for couples who really want to take time to deeply explore their marriage. It covers all the important topics that can cause couples to drift apart and brings them back together.
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Review 3 for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
This review is fromCloser: Devotions to Draw Couples Together.
Overall Rating:
Date:February 13, 2010
Jim and Cathy Burns put together an excellent weekly devotional for couples. Their format is very helpful (scripture, personal thought, faith conversations and a step closer). Not only the format, but the topics they discuss are very timely and helpful (trust, attitude, forgiveness, etc.). This is an excellent book for any couple no matter how long they have been together. One of my favorite chapters is titled "The Happiness Effect." I really like the reminded that our circumstances do not dictate our happiness, but our happiness comes from within. This book is full of these kind of helpful reminders and it is well worth the reading.
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Review 4 for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
This review is fromCloser: Devotions to Draw Couples Together.
Overall Rating:
Date:January 29, 2010
The Burns' concept for this new devotional is to simply have each couple invest 30 minutes per week reading a short devotional and then talk together, spurred on by the topic of that short chapter.Each 2-4 page chapter's devotion is introduced by a short Scripture quote. "Faith Conversations" and "A Step Closer" assignments are two sections which complete each chapter and encourage conversation designed to build your marriage, with the "A Step Closer" sections involving practicing specific steps--usually writing assignments--to build your marriage (perhaps writing an apology to your spouse, writing your life goals or writing what you want others to say about your marriage).I found the short chapters highly readable, thought-provoking and often moving. Some of the discussion and writing assignments are more challenging than others. Occasionally a topic might even prove a little uncomfortable for one or both spouses. Yet since all marriages have strengths and weaknesses, the perceived most challenging discussions may in fact be the most helpful to your own marriage. Indeed, the strength of this devotional lies in its emphasis on communication.The intent of this devotional is obviously to strengthen a marriage, and with some time, patience and thoughtful discussion I believe this book could be a useful tool to accomplish this. My husband and I have read a number of these devotions together and have decided to continue to use this devotional together, committing to spending one evening per week together in hope of growing "Closer."This book was provided for review by Bethany Housee.
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Review 5 for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
This review is fromCloser: Devotions to Draw Couples Together.
Overall Rating:
Date:January 9, 2010
janelleshillito@yahoo.com
I had received a free copy of the book from Bethany House publishers to review. My husband and began working through this and found that it had some great discussion points at the end of every chapter. There are 52 chapters and each chapter is about 3 or 4 pages long. They are very easy to read and contains many thought provoking questions that make you think and dig deeper. I personally found that after starting the book with my husband, that it had me asking questions about myself and my husband that I wouldn't normally have asked and really enjoyed the time we had discussing the book together. I give this a 5 star rating. It doesn't matter if you have just gotten married, or if you have been married for years. This book will help you to know your spouse more and how to truly enjoy each other.
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Review 6 for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
This review is fromCloser: Devotions to Draw Couples Together.
Overall Rating:
Date:January 6, 2010
My husband and I have tried other couples devotional books before but always found them to be kind of shallow. Usually you just read a page or so together and go on your merry way. What I really enjoyed about this book was the emphasis on communication. Although the chapters are very short, it asks good questions that help you really work on your relationship with each other and God. I liked the practical application too. The assignments are simple, helping you grow in your relationship step by step so it doesn't feel like another overwhelming item to add to our to do list. Although I did receive a free copy for reviewing purposes from Betheny House, my husband and I have started going through it together and are really enjoying it! (I read the whole thing alone for a more complete review)
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Review 7 for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
This review is fromCloser: Devotions to Draw Couples Together.
Overall Rating:
Date:December 9, 2009
Tristan Rowlee
I have never read anything by Jim and Cathy Burns before, so when I received their book Closer: Devotions to Draw Couples Together I was not sure what to expect. I was interested in the idea of a book of weekly devotions for couples. The book consists of an introduction and 52 chapters. In the introduction I learned that each devotion is set up similarly, with these parts:A scripture. A story this is related to the weeks theme and the scripture. This is kept short and easy to read.Faith Conversations an average of 3 questions that can get you and your spouse talking to each other related to the weeks theme.A Step Closer this section in each devotional gives you and your spouse specific challenges to do to strengthen your marriage. What did I think? Closer has some great material to get a couple talking and growing spiritually together. Like any tool, though, you have to put the time in to use it. I liked that it was only once a week so even a busy couple could make use of Closer with a small time investment. While I have not used it with my husband yet, I have already enjoyed just reading through some of the stories on my own and thinking about the themes. (Disclaimer: I received one copy of the book Closer for free from Bethany House Publishers for the purpose of this review. I received no other compensation and the opinions in this review are my own.)
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Review 8 for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
This review is fromCloser: Devotions to Draw Couples Together.
Overall Rating:
Date:November 20, 2009
Today it is hard to connect, with your spouse, with your kids, with your extended family. Everyone is busy, on the go. Appointments, meetings and life rush us around like crazy. Jim and Cathy Burns have given us a Devotional book with fifty two devotions designed to draw couples closer together. There is no huge list of how to do this devotional, you can work at your own pace, they do suggest committing or investing thirty minutes a week to each other and to do this devotional book. Each devotion has a scripture it is based on, then a commentary to go with it, then it is followed by a section called faith conversations, which is starting lines for a conversation to have to build your faith in each other and in God. The final section of the devotion is called A Step Closer, and usually includes a written assignment or a discussion assignment for you to do. A very appealing and easy to follow devotional lay out. They cover topics vital to keeping a marriage strong topics such as romance, love, how to handle a high maintenace marriage, and many more. These devotions are interesting and you will enjoy sharing this book with your beloved. A great marriage tool. This book was provided for review purposes only, no cash or payment was received for this review.
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Review 9 for Closer: 52 Devotions to Draw Couples Together
This review is fromCloser: Devotions to Draw Couples Together.
Overall Rating:
Date:November 10, 2009
Finally, a devotionally that's realistic and easy to use. Being a mother with three kids and hardly ever seeing my husband, it's hard to ever complete devotions together. I've purchased many for us to do. But with his work schedule, being in the military, and often being deployed, it's near impossible to do anything together in the way of devotions and growing closer. Well, Jim and Cathy Burns have created a great solution. Like us, most couples out there aren't able to find the time to do daily devotions together. This couple came up with the idea of doing a once-a-week devotion. The very first devotion begins with discussing and writing out the beginning of your relationship. How romantic! Isn't it nice to look back at how it all began? What a perfect way to begin a devotional book together to recap on those first moments that brought a couple together. And an added bonus is that they suggest for those who have children to gather them around and "read your story to them." Children can benefit from hearing where it all began from their parents. I loved that idea!Continuing on throughout the book, couples can read through the 2-3 page "realistic" devotionals, each one ending in questions and ideas to draw a couple closer together. A plus for my husband and I is that when he's deployed, we can still attempt to keep this up if each of us owned a copy of this book. We could realistically go over them once a week when we have a chance and it doesn't take long. Yet, it's long enough to draw us closer together. I'm truly impressed with this book!
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