I first came across Unveiled Wife and her new book, Wife After God through Simply Clarke. I knew I right away that I wanted to look into this devotional that came from this genuine little blog. It’s obvious that Jennifer (the author) is truly experiencing the power of Christ, and desires to share with everyone around her the beauty of marriage that is centered on Him. So I set off to Starbucks to start my journey of drawing closer to my God and my sweet husband.
So who is this devotional for?
Jennifer’s devo speaks equally to marriages where both husband and wife are Christians, as well as to marriages where the wife is a Christian and the husband is not. It focuses on what you as the wife can do to encourage, love, and support your husband and how to embody Christ to him and center your marriage upon the Lord. While it is written for women of all ages and marital stages, I would recommend this to newlyweds, younger wives, or new believers that are looking for a positive feel good devo that is a bit sugarcoated. It is indeed a very heartfelt devotional, meant to encourage wives to be a wife who follows after God, but it is a bit juvenile as well. Overall, it seems to have a very simplistic and sometimes a bit too limited view on topics. While I think you could go through it alone, it would be better suited in a small group setting. I can envision great depth of conversation in a tiny coffee shop where wives are pouring into one another and venturing from the pages, rather than just going though the questions on your own.
So what’s it all about?
It’s obvious that Jennifer wrote this out of an authentic and intense experience with God, and a true desire to share what she has learned with others. She puts it best,
“This devotional is designed to walk you through an intense journey of experiencing God, specifically tailored to one of your most important ministry roles–being a wife!”
Each devo leads off with a Focus Verse (or few actually), then a Thought, which is about 2-3 pages of writing from Jennifer that provides scripture as well as stories supporting the topic of the day. She ends with a Prayer, a Challenge (personal), a Status Update (for Twitter), and a few Journal Questions. The prayer is certainly heartfelt, and I love the idea of the challenge & the questions, and I believe they are best suited for a group conversation and accountability of those joining in with you, but they are a bit more surfacy than I would care for. For me, I could do without the status update, as I thought it was a bit silly, and that while it’s meant to cultivate community, personally I would encourage being in a group (whether online or in person) for such accountability and encouragement.
Jennifer states that “As a Christian and as a wife there is a responsibility to nurture both your relationship with God and your husband” and I couldn’t agree more. While I would recommend this devotional to those seeking to center their marriage on Christ and think it truly hits home on the fact that we should daily be searching for an intimate relationship with Christ first, then our spouse, I would caution those in search of a truly challenging devotional that hits on deeper issues, controversial topics within marriage, and looks to historical context for scripture reference, as many verses are taken out alone, and not viewed within the context of the entire passage. While I was not as impressed with this devo as I had hoped, I was excited to see Wives After God: Encouraging Each Other in Faith & Marriage and would recommend this route of the study, to be in a small group and join together in community for this devotion, rather than on your own. We are all at different places in our journey, and while perhaps I am in different spot on my journey, I certainly see this devo speaking to women and guiding them on how to be a wife after God.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book to review and I was not financially compensated in any way for this post. All opinions expressed are my own and are based on my observations while reading this devotion.
Also linking up with Wifessionals & Cheers Y’all for the
Wife After God: Thoughts & Reflections {Link Up}
