Eric Ludy

This book is likely good for someone who is a teenager. For someone who has more life experience much of this book will seem a bit trite and juvenile: feeling lonely for months or waiting for find someone a few years? That's life, it's not a big deal unless you are a teen or young adult. The emphasis on following after God, and letting God direct our lives is an important. I fear though, that the book sets some unrealistic expectations. The book seems to say people who follow God's calling show more will find great romance. I know numerous examples of people who followed hard after the Lord, who let the Lord write their lives with His pen, who desired a spouse and never found someone, or where it took decades. Sometimes we endure hard things in this life for other people's benefit, sometimes God has something else for us. We might not have one special person to share life's journey with. That's not to say we will be alone, thank God for the Body of Christ. While romantic, I was a bit troubled by the idea of living for your future spouse, writing letters, etc. Rather, I see our calling to live in in the present with our future hope being in the Lord. For all my negative comments, I would say this book is a 3 stars for someone younger, but more like a 1 for someone with significant life experience. For more mature folks, I would recommend Dating and Waiting by Bill Risk. show less

My husband and I were married before we were believers, and our relationship very much followed the pattern of a worldly romance. It was only after becoming born-again that we were captivated by the vision of romances conducted in accordance with God’s will.

Rather than seeing God’s limitations on expressions of physical and emotional intimacy we could now see His guidelines as protections for the beautiful, pure love that could spring from a life fully dedicated to Him; a life devoted to show more staying faithful to one future spouse.

Eric and Leslie Ludy beautifully express this “sweeter song” that God has in mind for His children in When God Writes Your Love Story. Without becoming bound to outward forms and stifling legalities, the couple holds firmly to a high goal of emotional and physical purity while waiting for God to work creatively to write a unique love story just for you!

This vision is unfailingly positive and inspiring as the Ludys weave together their own personal journey towards marriage with the insights, principles, and applications that they learned along the way. Alternating between a light-hearted, self-deprecating writing style and deadly serious thoughts about fully dedicating your life to Christ, the Ludys are bang on (in my opinion) in their conclusions.

My husband and I have been married for nine years this fall, but I plan on passing this book along to our daughters as they grow. I can appreciate that waiting for God’s best can be SO difficult when the world continually trumpets its own plan; this book can be a faithful guide through those trying times.

Reviewed at quiverfullfamily.com show less

Eric and Leslie Ludy write about how the Lord showed them what prayer really is: a pasionate communion with God. A passionate communion. Not just passion and emotion, and not just writing up a list of wants and needs to ask God about. They detail prayer that the evangelical world today does not know. It's the kind of prayer that the men and women of past church history demonstrated. The people who spent hours on their knees pleading for the souls of others before the Throne of Grace.

Eric show more writes with passion, the passion given him by a powerful God through the power of prayer. The kind of prayer that doesn't sit back and nonchalantly watch God "allow" things to happen, but the kind of prayer that fights the battle against the spiritual powers of Satan. I love how this book takes many of the Old Testament characters (like David and Joab) and really details the lives of these men. Eric mentions the 37 men who were considered David's Mighties. The men who never gave in to the enemy, who never yielded ground, who would not turn from their commander, and who dared to do the reckless in God's strength. Only 37 of them in the thousands that numbered David's armies, yet they were some of his closest confidants, and they knew how to fight.

Leslie gives three key ingredients for prayer:
1. Praying God-prayers. Praying how God wants us and commands us to pray. Not just how we think or feel that we should.
2. Praying with complete confidence (aka--faith). Doubt, suspicion, fear, and hesitancy are faith-killers. Remember it takes faith as big (or small ;) as a grain of mustard seed to move mountains--except that this culture doesn't exactly expect prayer to work miracles.
3. Praying until the answer comes. This, too, takes faith. And perseverence and tenacity. It takes spiritual fortitude to keep asking when we don't see anything happening. Just because we don't think we see anything changing, doesn't mean that God isn't working. And sometimes your prayers aren't meant to change your circumstances or change the intesity of the battle. Your prayers might be what is necessary to change you.

Like Jacob wrestled with God...

"Most of us have never even come to Peniel. We do our praying and our Christian thing in our own cunning and strength. But Peniel is the place where spiritual things truly get done. It's the place of wrestling, and that indimidates many of us. It's the place of holding on until the day breaks, until the victory is achieved--and that sounds tiresome. But this is the great secret to answered prayer." (Leslie Ludy)

Prayer also takes self-examination, as Leslie and Eric speak of. They knew they could not honestly face a holy God with known sin in their life, and as the Lord brought sin to their attention, they repented. Keeping a clear conscience between you and God is vital in a Christian's prayer life. As the authors put it, our Lord is a fearless Commander who gives no quarter to sin, and if we're going to be named among the mighty prayer warriors then we must be willing--no, not just willing, but desirious--for God's spiritual purging of our lives.

The Ludy's also write about the power of prayer in our physical lives. It is not uncommon for them to spend hours praying through the night. Sometimes praying instead of sleeping. You would expect this to tired them physically and mentally, but prayer fuels their bodies as well as their minds and they would not give in until they were certain of victory through prayer. The Lord blessed them for their perseverance and gave them strength above and beyond what they thougth they had. They gave no ground to their flesh, and the weapon of prayer yielded a mighty victory. show less

The first 90 days of marriage are often the toughest, as both of you bring your own set of expectations into the mix, and you have to learn to do things as a team, instead of just however you’ve always done them.

This book goes through several facets of marriage — teamwork, dealing with trials, creating a sanctuary in your home, etc. — and offers very practical advice (complete with lists) for how to tackle each of them in a selfless and godly way.

I especially liked the chapter on show more creating a sanctuary — sacred space in your home, and sacred time — as the authors constantly remind that you don’t have to have a ton of money, or a lot of space to make your home a “sanctuary”; you just need a little imagination and creativity. That is one of the things that I’ve often struggled with in my own marriage — how to make my home feel welcoming and relaxing, despite not having a ton of cash to make it (as I heard it put the other day…) “Pinterest perfect“.

As usual, with the books written by this husband & wife duo, there are sections written by Eric, and sections written by Leslie, and each gives their unique perspective on the topics at hand. I like their way of writing, as it’s very down-to-earth, but you can tell that they have a great marriage, and that they really put a lot of effort into making it work for both of them, equally.

Definitely a good book. Recommended.

ETA: This book is also NOT just for those who are "newly married"... I've been married for 13 years, and found the book to be extremely helpful, offering new insights on how to handle things, and giving me insights into other things I hadn't thought of! show less