When I signed up to be a part of Ngina’s (from Intentional Today) launch team for her new book, Blues to Bliss: Creating Your Happily-ever-after in the Early Years, I was {and am} so very excited! I couldn’t wait to get the word out about her book!

You see, I love this bloggy girlfriend of mine and have seen her throughout the years develop and find “her voice” in the blogosphere and in the ministry of marriage. It’s a proud <sniff, sniff> moment for me to see her succeed and move to the next level!

I’ve always been amazed at Ngina’s wisdom, especially since she’s so young and has a lot less “mileage” on her than I do {in more ways than one!}. If I’d have been as wise as she is earlier in my marriage, it might not have gotten quite so messy!

Her book is no exception, as she quickly and practically focuses on the most common issues that trip young couples up especially in the early years of marriage.

She touches on issues like:

• Cultivating a thriving relationship with God
• Healthy expectations
• Communication and conflict
• Submission in marriage {Yikes! That’s a challenging topic, for sure!}
• Intimacy in all areas of marriage
• Sexual Intimacy {including all the things that might go wrong there}
• Money management
• How to keep your love vibrant {because every worthwhile endeavor must be continually cultivated!}

I so appreciate how real Ngina is about her own marriage struggles and reminds us that she is a work in progress too. I rarely give a book high marks where the author doesn’t personally dip into the real torrents of marriage, so I was happy to check off this box as well. We all need to feel like the author gets our struggle and you will feel this in Blues to Bliss for sure!

I also really liked how she approached the many issues that occur in the sexual relationship of our marriages. If you struggle with guilt over premarital indiscretions, or perhaps struggle now to find sex fun and/or more than a chore, or maybe you even struggle with a spouse who has a low-libido, then you can rest assured that these tricky issues and more are tackled with wisdom and candor.

But Ngina doesn’t just handle the sexual issues that come as part of our “intimate relationship” with our spouses, she delves into ALL the arenas where we need to be intimate with your mates—something I’ve not seen done as well as she did in her book.

Some of my favorite quotes from the book are:

“Unless you speak in a language he understands, a language that is devoid of disrespect, accusation and anger, he won’t hear you.”

“God wants me to love my husband the way he is. Not the way he will be tomorrow.”

“Marriage cannot thrive on leftover attention. It has to be the best attention.”

“Intentionally getting yourself in the mood for lovemaking is not faking it. We do it all the time in other areas of marriage, doing things for our spouse and our marriage, not because we feel like, but because we know it’s good for our marriage and it yields positive results. We don’t consider it faking; we consider it love and maturity.”

Giveaway! Yes, please!

Ngina has graciously provided an e-book (pdf) of Blues to Bliss to one randomly selected person who comments on this post between now and Thursday evening (February 5th, 2015) at midnight (CST). But wait . . . there’s more!

Bonus Giveaway
When you purchase Blues to Bliss: Creating Your Happily-Ever-After In The Early Years, during the official Launch week, between February 2nd 2015  and February 6th 2015, you will receive two free gifts (in digital format) as a thank you from Ngina Otiende.

These gifts are
:

1. Her brand new, 7-Day Devotional for Wives
2. A Love Check List – Scriptures on areas of struggle for earlywed wives.

To get the Devotional and Check List, simply email Ngina your receipt on blog@intentionaltoday.com and she will send you information on how to access the gifts. These gifts are only available to those who buy the book between February 2nd 2015  and February 6th 2015 and email their receipts to Ngina.

Tell us what were the issues that most often brought on the “blues” in your marriage during the early years!

Or

Simply offer a word of encouragement to our sweet friend, Ngina on this special occasion!

I’m excited to announce that Erica was chosen by Random Number Generator as our winner of Blues to Bliss! Congrats, Erica! I pray that it is a meaningful resource for your marriage!

Joining with my friends at Giving Up on Perfect, Wifey Wednesday, Coffee and Conversation, and Wholehearted Wednesday.

Now it’s time for Wedded Wednesday …

Check out our new WW button!

Find our other WW button code and guidelines here.

<div align="center"><a href="http://www.messymarriage.com" title="Messy Marriage"><img src="http://i1129.photobucket.com/albums/m502/bethsteff/Messy%20Marriage%20Buttons/WeddedWednesday170.jpg" alt="Messy Marriage" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

And don’t forget to include a link back here, because the easier people can find me, the more traffic I can send your way!

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