The Beautiful Wife
By Sandy Ralya
Published at Kregel Publications
About the books
The Book
There was a time when author Sandy Ralya’s marriage was in trouble. She needed help but she was afraid to ask for it. At the time, she didn’t know that hundreds of other wives were struggling with the same issues she was. Though Sandy eventually sought guidance from godly mentors and Christian counselors, other women remain silent. Many churches lack ministries and resources to reach out and help these women.
Sandy Ralya founded Beautiful Womanhood in 2003 to provide the same nurturing and mentoring that changed her life and her marriage and began to speak to hundreds of women each year. Hearing the stories of women like herself, Sandy realized the need for resources based on practical teaching, sound research, and real-life experiences. The Beautiful Wife uses these inspiring stories along with biblical principles to guide and encourage any wife looking for God’s best in her marriage. The Beautiful Wife answers serious questions women have about their roles as wives. Discussing everything from romance and money to beauty, communication, and sex, Sandy challenges women to open up and share their journeys so that together they can see God’s plan for their marriages. “It is my passion to help women discover God’s heart for their marriage, just as other women helped me,” writes Sandy. “When women share with each other the details of their journeys with God as wives, it’s a beautiful thing indeed.”
The Prayer Journal
Beautiful Womanhood is a nonprofit Christian ministry whose mission is to strengthen marriages by equipping marriage mentors, encouraging women in their role as wives, and helping women build loving, godly, and supportive relationships with other wives. Since 2003, women have been coming together through Beautiful Womanhood small groups, where they gain insight from Sandy Ralya’s teaching, personal guidance from a marriage mentor, and support from a loving community of women in order to realize God’s plan for them. In each small group, a marriage mentor meets with small group members and leads the group through a discussion of the book.
Each member of a Beautiful Womanhood small group is encouraged to journal their thoughts through their study. The Beautiful Wife Prayer Journal offers Bible verses, prayer suggestions, and dedicated space for journaling that small group members are encouraged to read and use between group sessions.
Beautiful Womanhood Seminars Churches or community groups are invited to host a seminar or retreat led by author and speaker, Sandy Ralya. Specifically and individually designed to each church’s needs, the seminar can train incoming mentors, excite new mentees, offer breakout sessions to discuss specific issues, and encourage the development of small group communities for wives. For more information, visit www.beautifulwomanhood.com.
The Mentor Guide
Beautiful Womanhood is a nonprofit Christian ministry whose mission is to strengthen marriages by equipping marriage mentors, encouraging women in their role as wives, and helping women build loving, godly, and supportive relationships with other wives. Since 2003, women have been coming together through Beautiful Womanhood small groups, where they gain insight from Sandy Ralya’s teaching, personal guidance from a marriage mentor, and support from a loving community of women in order to realize God’s plan for them. In each small group, a marriage mentor meets with small group members and leads the group through a discussion of the book.
The Beautiful Wife Mentor’s Guide offers:
-instructions on how to implement Beautiful Womanhood small groups
-guidance on becoming a confident marriage mentor
-hostess tips to simplify hospitality for God’s glory
-chapter summaries to highlight main discussion topics
-discussion icebreakers and cues to keep the conversation focused and lively
-directions on how to incorporate free resources found on www.beautifulwomanhood.com
Beautiful Womanhood Seminars Churches or community groups are invited to host a seminar or retreat led by author and speaker, Sandy Ralya. Specifically and individually designed to each church’s needs, the seminar can train incoming mentors, excite new mentees, offer breakout sessions to discuss specific issues, and encourage the development of small group communities for wives. For more information, visit www.beautifulwomanhood.com.
Who is Sandy Ralya?
Sandy Ralya is the founder and director of Beautiful Womanhood and speaks to hundreds of women each year at MOPS groups, women’s retreats, and church leadership conferences across the country and in Canada. Sandy and her husband, Tom, have been married since 1980 and have three grown children and and growing number of grandchildren. Sandy bases her ministry near Grand Rapids, Michigan.
My Thoughts
I had the opportunity to review the three books as part of this blog tour. I first receive and pre-release galley for each one of them and recently I have received the books in the mail. Let me tell you that I really like the picture on the cover of the books. It’s simple and represent purity to me.
The Book
This book will bring you on a journey to become the wife God intended you to be. With topics like self-care, romance, sex, communication,money, beauty and so on, there is always something we can learn on how to become a wonderful wife for our husbands.
One of the chapters that touched me particularly was the one about being genuine. It got me thinking about the fact that I might be wearing a mask which hides the true me behind. When thinking about this particular chapter, I think that many of us wear masks – whether in our private life, with friends, or with strangers. True that with a spouse chance are that we might not be as hidden as in other situation but still there might be a possibility that a mask is used.
Going through this book (and using the prayer journal) will definitively help you to focus on Christ and improve your marriage. I am looking forward to discover what will happen in my own marriage when I finish this little book. Before I prefer this material for a possible bible study, I want to complete it myself. Each chapter finishes with some reflective questions that will help you to process what you have just read and reflect on yourself, your husband and your marriage. You will also find some First Steps suggestions on how you can apply what you have read in your life.
At the end of the book, the author is suggesting you how you can bless other women in your environment as well as other resources you can decide to explore to grow in your role as a wife.
The Prayer Journal
The prayer journal is definitively the perfect companion for the book. This marvelous tool will help you jolt down your journey while reading The Beautiful Wife book. Each chapter of this journal corresponds with the chapters of the book and includes prayers for you, your husband and your marriage. You will be asked to respond to the questions included, pray the Scriptures fashioned on your own situation , records your prayer request as you journey in this adventure of becoming the beautiful wife of your husband. This journal can be used if you are reading alone or if you are part of a small group going through the Beautiful Wife book. You don’t have to use the journal if you are part of a group but I find that the journal will help you to prepare yourself for the discussion period. I’m the kind of person who loves to prepare herself completely before going to a Bible Study. At the beginning of the prayer journal, you are also asked to discover God’s attributes while going through the alphabet and list Scripture verses attached to this attribute. I think it is a marvelous way to discover who God is and how wonderful He is.
At the beginning of each chapter you will have a prayer that you are requested to pray every day of the week as you journey toward becoming a beautiful wife. Each day you can journal any thoughts that the Holy Spirit is telling you as you reflect on the words. I think it is a powerful way of becoming more like God and less centered on yourself.
My only negative comment that I would like to make is that I find that the space planned for the answers is a bit small for people who writes bigger – like me… *grin* I will have to make an effort to write smaller and be concise in my journaling with this particular book.
The Mentor Guide
The Mentor Guide is the perfect resource for building a marriage mentoring ministry in your church or community. In this little book you will find everything to support you in mentoring other wives. This book contains instructions on how to implement a small group, guidance on how to become a confident marriage mentor, tips on simplify your hospitality as well as week-by-week leader’s materials. Prayers, discussion points as well as optional activities are included in this little book.
The book is specifically written for mentors and will guide you to become a great one. For each chapter there is a section called Before You Meet which will give you a prayer to pray, an introduction on the chapter as well as ideas on how to prepare the meeting before hand. You will also find a While You Meet section which will help you to recap what has been covered so far, which points need to be emphasize, share Scripture that you find have been meaningful during the week for you, your husband and your marriage, as well as an optional activity that will help the women to continue to pursue a great marriage. For example, one of the optional activities suggested is to offer a mini spa treatment like a hot paraffin was for the hands. Having one such machine at home, I would have no problem whatsoever to prepare for this in advance…
Inside this little book you will also find some mentor stories in the mentor instructions chapter. I find it nice to read such stories and learn from others at the same time. This particular chapter will provide insights on how to lead and control the discussion.
If you are thinking of starting a small group and lead it to go through the Beautiful Wife book, I would strongly suggest that you get the Mentor’s Guide as well. I know that I am pleased to have this book in my hands as I am considering the possibility of offering this small group opportunity for the women in our church.
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In conclusion, I think that this resource will be a tremendous blessing for many women everywhere – no matter if you are a newly wed or married for 20 something years. I find that there is always place for improvement and having a book like The Beautiful Wife can only help you – even if only one chapter speak to you it is worth it. A strong marriage requires constant work in it and this book is a wonderful tool to help you strengthen it.
The Beautiful Wife books are available at your favorite bookstore, even amazon.ca.
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Celebrate with Sandy by entering her Kindle Touch Giveaway and coming to her "Beautiful Womanhood" Facebook Party {3/8}! One beautiful winner will receive: - A Brand new Kindle Touch with Wi-Fi
- The Beautiful Wife By Sandy Ralya
- The Beautiful Wife Prayer Journal and Mentor's Guide
Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends 3/7/12.
Winner will be announced at Sandy's "Beautiful Womanhood" Facebook Party on 3/8.
Sandy will be hosting an evening of chat, laughter and encouragement - bring your friends! She'll also be giving away some GREAT prizes: gift certificates, books, prayer journals and a live chat with Sandy for your Bible study or small group!
So grab your copy of The Beautiful Wife and join Sandy and friends on the evening of March 8th for an evening of fun.
Don't miss a moment of the fun. RSVP today and tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on March 8th!
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Disclaimer: Thanks to Kregel and Litfuse for sending me the products for review purpose. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.
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