Marriage Fitness: 4 Steps to Building and Maintaining Phenomenal Love

Reader Reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) When I am giving premarital coaching to young couples, or marriage coaching to married couples, they often want to focus on their problems or potential problems. Of course these issues are of great concern to couples so its not always easy to direct their focus to the solutions, not the problems. Problems are unimportant. Solutions are what is important and with his book, MARRIAGE FITNESS, Mort Fertel has given a simple, yet effective four step plan to marital solutions. I can't tell you how refreshing for me it has been to read a book by someone who understands and teaches what marriage is really all about. Love. I often use the analogy that love is like a fire. Even an out of control wildfire will eventually run out of fuel and burn itself out. To keep the fire of love alive, we must continually stoke the embers and feed it fuel. This book teaches it differently but essentially says the same thing, and shows couples how to provide the fuel their marriage must have to survive. The book is very well written and contains some excellent projects for couples. Certainly intended for couples working together, there is also definite help here for one with an uncommitted spouse to help get things back on track. Part 1, the first two chapters, give couples a deeper understanding of love. This may sound ridiculous, but most people confuse character traits with what I term "soul conscientiousness". Fertel deftly explains why character love makes you role mates, not soul mates. If you really want to take your marriage to a higher level, it is critical that you come to understand the differences between what I call outward love (loving the character traits of a person) and inward love (making the choice within your soul to love a person on the inside, regardless of their character traits). Once you fully understand this concept, your marriage (and innerhappiness) will be changed forever. Part 2 is Fertel's 4 step program for building and maintaining love in your marriage, as well as his twenty exercises. Mort Fertel has certainly given my some new ides on how couples can enrich their marriages and take them from ordinary to extraordinary. This is one of the best books you'll find on building a strong marriage. Highly recommended. Pastor Monty Rainey