14 Practical Resources You Need For A Thriving Marriage
Marriage is an incredibly beautiful relationship. There is no closer connection than the intimacy between a husband and wife. But, it takes a lot of work to maintain that close of a
Having a strong, thriving marriage requires forgiveness, grace, kindness, selflessness, and a lot of other things that go against our natural desires. It means putting the other person first, choosing to love them even when you don’t feel it, and holding fast to your commitment in hard times.
There are a number of wonderful resources out there to help you take steps to improve your marriage and make it a thriving, fruitful reflection of the Gospel to the world.
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Tools to Strengthen Your Marriage
The Together Marriage Journal is one of my favorite tools for helping couples slow down and be intentional with their marriage. It’s designed to encourage open communication, prayer, and thoughtful encouragement—without feeling overwhelming or rigid.
What I love most is how flexible it is. You can use it together during a weekly check-in, or on your own as a way to intentionally pray for and encourage your spouse. The prompts walk you through reflecting on the past week, sharing struggles, talking about what God is teaching you, and planning how to support each other in the week ahead.
There’s also a sweet Love Notes section that creates space for intentional encouragement—something every marriage can use more of. If you’re looking for a simple, faith-centered way to strengthen connection and communication in your marriage, this journal is a beautiful place to start.
Beating 50 Percent Marriage Journal
If you’re looking for a weekly, interactive way to grow closer as a couple, the Marriage Journal by Jeremy and Audrey Roloff is a beautiful option. This one is structured around six weekly questions designed to spark meaningful conversations and help you intentionally connect with your spouse every week.
What makes this journal stand out is that it’s built around a shared rhythm: you use one journal together, take turns writing your answers each week, and even plan your week ahead with a simple calendar page. Each section includes a bit of devotional encouragement to gently focus your hearts before you dive into your conversation.
Compared to other marriage journals that might focus on daily reflection or individual prayer prompts, this one feels especially great for couples who want a consistent weekly practice that blends communication, faith, and planning into one place.
My husband and I love how this journal keeps us connected and on the same page while we are in an incredibly busy season.
Praying Scripture for Marriage Journal
If you and your spouse want to deepen your prayer life together while anchoring your marriage in Scripture, the Praying Scripture for Marriage Journal is a beautiful tool worth exploring. Unlike more conversational or reflection‑based journals, this one is centered specifically on praying God’s Word for your marriage each day. It includes Scripture passages printed right in the journal, thoughtful commentary, guided prayers, and questions that help you pray the Bible together with intention.
What sets this journal apart is its focus on Scripture‑driven prayer rather than general check‑in questions. It’s designed to help couples move beyond surface conversations and into heartfelt prayer rooted in God’s promises. At the back there are lined pages you can use to pray through any passage you choose, making it both structured and flexible.
It also feels lovely to hold and use—the leatherette cover with gold foil accents and quality paper give it a special, enduring feel that makes it more than just a notebook.
If your goal is to strengthen your marriage through prayer and Scripture together, this journal offers a simple, faith‑filled way to do just that.
This tool is actually one that I personally created to help our date nights be as effective as possible. I want my marriage to remain fun and deeply connected so I created a tool to help us do that.
Using date night questions gives you specific topics to discuss and takes the extra brain work out of the date so you can focus on having fun and spending quality time with your spouse.
These questions also bring up
This link is to a post I wrote about how the Enneagram personality framework improved my marriage. The Enneagram helps you to discover
Knowing more about yourself and your spouse helps you to better communicate, connect and forgive one another. I highly encourage you to read the post and explore the books and resources linked there.
The 5 love languages test tells you which of the 5 ways you receive love the best. Knowing how you receive love and knowing how your spouse receives love helps you both to show love to one another better.
My husband and I do not speak the same love language but we didn’t realize how much this affected us until we read the book and took the test.
My love language is Acts of Service and Quality Time while
If we aren’t intentional about speaking the other person’s language, we each can start to feel neglected and unloved, which couldn’t be further from the truth! We love our spouses, but for them to feel it, we have to speak their language.
Books For A Christ-Centered Marriage
Boundaries in Marriage: Understanding the Choices That Make or Break Loving Relationships by Henry Cloud & John Townsend
Boundaries in Marriage is a trusted Christian resource that helps couples understand how to create healthy emotional, spiritual, and relational limits within their marriage.
Drawing from biblical principles and real-life examples, Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend guide spouses through the importance of protecting their hearts, communicating needs clearly, and honoring God in how they relate to each other. This book equips couples to recognize where boundaries are needed, how to set them with grace, and how doing so can strengthen trust, reduce conflict, and deepen connection.
Whether you’re newly married or have been together for years, Boundaries in Marriage offers practical, faith-based insight for building a healthier, more respectful, and Christ-centered relationship.
Husband After God & Wife After God by Aaron and Jennifer Smith
These books are separate, one written for husbands and one for wives, but are wonderful resources for Christian couples.
Husband After God and Wife After God are beautifully paired devotionals designed to help couples grow in a Christ-centered marriage. Written by Aaron and Jennifer Smith, these books guide husbands and wives in deepening their personal walk with God while fostering greater unity in their relationship.
Each devotional includes short daily readings, Scripture, reflection questions, and prayers that encourage both spouses to seek God first and invite Him into every part of their marriage. Instead of focusing on changing your spouse, these books challenge each partner to let God transform their own heart — leading to lasting growth and connection.
Together, these devotionals create a meaningful rhythm of prayer, faith, and intentionality, making them a valuable resource for couples seeking to strengthen their marriage and deepen their connection with God and one another.
My husband and I went through these devotionals together, along with the prayer books in the early years of our marriage, and they were such blessings to us. I pray they are blessings to you or a couple you choose to give them to for years to come.
You & Me Forever by Francis & Lisa Chan
This book is one of my favorite books on marriage because it focuses on this wonderful relationship in the light of the Gospel message. It is not a how-to book or a book on communication or tips for making you happier. It truly is a book that seeks to center your focus on Jesus and not on your spouse.
Marriage is not our most important relationship and can easily become an idol. This book helps to put that into perspective and helps you both to stay Christ-centered in your marriage.
The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller
The Meaning of Marriage is an incredible tool for gaining a deep understanding of Biblical marriage. It combats a lot of the beliefs that our culture perpetuates about relationships including the concept of soul mates, divorce, romance and the role our spouses are supposed to play in our lives.
This book answers the question of why marriage exists and and what it means for everyone,. Whether you are married, single, dating or engaged, this book will bless you and help you understand the true purpose of marriage.
Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas
What if the ultimate purpose for marriage was not to make us happy, but holy instead? Gary Thomas explores this topic in his book, Sacred Marriage. He asserts that marriage is a spiritual discipline
My husband and I also went through the devotional that accompanies this book and some profound conversations about the missional purpose of our marriage. I highly recommend both books to any couple looking to deepen and improve their marriage.
The Mingling of Souls by Matt Chandler
This book follows the relationship from attraction, dating, courtship, engagement, wedding, marriage, and beyond. Told through the lens of Song of Songs, this book covers everything from romance to arguing and hits on topics many church leaders shy away from discussing, such as sex and what to do when there is a lack of romance in a relationship.
This book presents Christians and all people with a Biblical view of true commitment and discusses what it takes to hold fast during the hard times, the poor times, and the times of sickness that marriage vows talk about. Any marriage, new or old, will be blessed by this book.
The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work by John Gottman & Nan Silver
This book was actually recommended to me by a couple in our small group.This book is based on research (which my Master’s degree-holding self LOVES) extensively done by the
This book has practical advice for dealing with issues that plague many marriages including sex, money, religion, work, family, conflict and more. It even covers the main attributes of marriages that do not last and how to make sure yours isn’t one of them.
This book is by far one of the best, most practical books on marriage. Any couple (even strong ones) who reads this book will find something to improve in their marriage.
That’s it, friends! I hope you find them to be blessings and that you return to this post for resources in the future.
Marriage is work, but the more we work the more they bless us. If you know of a married couple who would benefit from any of these resources, would you share this post with them?
Your Sister In Christ,
