Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Before You Tie the Sacred Knot Blog Tour with Dr. Angela B. Chester

Before You Tie the Sacred Knot
By Angela B. Chester
Publisher: Lulu.com
Published: June 17, 2014
ISBN: 978-1304303349

Amazon Synopsis:

Before You Tie The Sacred Knot (workbook) is for Christian couples serious about beginning their marriage on a solid foundation. This premarital counseling workbook isn't just filled with compatibility test questions, but questions about real world issues. Christian point of view exercises included for both bride & groom. Before You Tie The Sacred Knot the 2nd book in the series on premarital counseling, provides a do-it-yourself, counselor-guided alternative to office counseling. Before You Tie The Sacred Knot provides framework by reinforcing your relationship foundation. Its' interactive 
format with space for journaling makes it a great reminder for you and your fiancée - to remind you of what you worked on in planning for your marriage.

Book Links

My Thoughts:

Before You Tie the Sacred Knot  is a premarital  workbook meant to help prepare couples before marriage to help them avoid some of the disagreements that can occur in marriage by getting couples to talk about all aspects of marriage before they encounter these common areas of disagreement.

Before You Tie the Sacred Knot is divided up into several sections such as Relationships (including friends, in-laws and intimacy), Education and Career, Finances, Home and Housekeeping, Children and Parenting, Social Activities and Red Flags. Approximate time lengths are given so the participants will know how much time each section will take. Within some of these sections there are sections for the bride and groom to do separately and then to come together and discuss.

This version of the book is the Christian version, and has included in it Bible verses related to marriage for the bride and groom to study and discuss. However, there is no information or commentary to assist the couple in interpreting the verses or to provide insight into them.

The areas covered and the questions contained within each section of the workbook are quite thorough, providing the pre-marital couple with much to discuss and sort out before the topic becomes an issue in marriage. This should certainly help to prevent disagreements once the couple is married.

However, what I did find lacking was any sort of guidance or suggestions or words of wisdom. This workbook is simply that - framework of topics for the couple to discuss, with no suggestions on how to resolve issues or how to have a fair discussion or disagreement or any kind of guidance whatsoever. Couples who have difficulty communicating may have difficulty working through the issues that this workbook brings up not because of the workbook, but because they do not have the skills to work through the communication necessary to work out the issues.

I really liked the thoroughness of the questions and the range of topics in Before You Tie the Sacred Knot, but I was a little disappointed in the lack of guidance it provided once the questions were broached. I gave this book 3 stars out of 5.


Thank you to the author who provided a copy of the book in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

About the Author:

Dr. Angela Butts Chester, is a Professional Speaker, Author, Pastoral Counselor, Wife, Mother and Breast Cancer survivor. Behind her charming smile is a story of perseverance and triumph. She has dedicated her life to empowering others by transforming marriages and families. As a family strategist, she shows others how to overcome various circumstances and obstacles and how to discover their unique plan. 

Author Links

1 comment :

  1. Thank you so much for taking the time to include us on your review page.

    ReplyDelete