24/40: The Power of the Praying Wife by Stormie Omartion

The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

From Goodreads: The trials and pressures of modern life can make the prospect of a fulfilled, meaningful marriage seem impossible. In The Power of a Praying Wife, popular Christian author and speaker Stormie Omartian pinpoints common marital struggles and reveals the miraculous way that disciplined prayer can alleviate heartache and sustain unity. According to Omartian, a marriage's success depends upon "laying down all claim to power in and of yourself, and relying on God's power to transform you, your husband, your circumstances, and your marriage." Omartian attributes the success of her own 25-year marriage to dedicated prayer for every area--however specific--of her husband's life; from his finances and his work to his integrity and his temptations. Each chapter offers insight into areas that are especially important to men, followed by "power tools" (inspiring, topical Scripture) to guide one's prayer life and transform a woman's mind with regard to her husband. This practical read will encourage women to trust God to change their spouse, and undoubtedly refocus one's perspective on God's power rather than one's own personal predicamen

Julie from Book Hooked Blog and I did a Bible study together and this was the book we chose to start. We are both married, no kids. Both God-fearing Christian woman whose faith plays a big part of their life. We both struggle with our faith at times as do most people. We figured doing a Bible study together would help us out. Get us thinking, reading the Bible, praying more and thinking about God first. There are thousands of miles between us, so our weekly (sometimes not so weekly) meetings were done through Skype. I feel like I have gotten to know her more than email and chat could over the past 8 months and thankful that we got it in our heads to take on this journey together. Thanks Julie!!

I think this book is definitely directed at a wife who has more marital experience than either of us do. I also think it's directed at a wife who struggles to keep her faith in check while caring for her kids and husband and working a 9-5 job. That said, I did find a lot of useful chapters and a lot of questions that really made me think, pray and talk about them with my husband. There were a few chapters were far more into a dark place than either of us have been in our marriage. It's hard to think about what we would do if put in those situations. The answers to all our questions was always, pray about it, but we both admitted honestly that it would most certainly NOT be our first response, or second, or even third.

I found that chapters like His Future, His Family, His Faith, etc that were very general and something that no matter husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, single, are something we can all relate to on some level.

I felt that there was a lack of actual Bible study in it. There were readings, yes. But only two or three verses in each chapter. I would probably not classify this as a Bible study and more as a Faith study. There was a lot of time spent on prayer, which was great, and thinking about situations that one may have or need to deal with. The readings were great, what little there was.

It was a good first bible study, but I don't think I'll read any of her other books in the series.

Rant: It's very frustrating trying to find a Bible study for women that isn't "You're Single" or "You're married, which also means you have kids. Because being married without kids is a unthinkable". If anyone knows of a Bible study for the "Double Income, No Kids (yet)" people, let me know!! The two churches I've gone two don't have anything either. What happened to taking care of the faithful that are getting their life together so they can provide for their future children? There are those of us out there that want to have Husband and Wife time before a family; That want to enjoy their relationship just the two of them and have a rock foundation to build a family on.

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