Title: Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage
Author: Mark Gungor
Website: Laugh Your Way To a Better Marriage
Big Picture:
Mark Gungor is a speaker, writer and pastor who encourages couples to better their marriages. I believe this book is a written version of several of his key points from the “Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage” seminar he offers.
Mark brings a light-hearted but honest approach to helping your marriage. There are some great stories from his marriage – and also some more difficult topics that are covered with just the right amount of seriousness and humor.
In Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage, Mark Gungor lays out the “7 Laws of Marital Physics”:
- Men and Women are Not Created Equal
- Men and Women Think Differently
- Men and Women Communicate Differently
- Men and Women Want Different Things
- Women are Givers; Men are Takers
- The Law of Desire
- The Law of Love
…let me give you some critical advice you will need if you want to get your husbands to do things for you: Despite what you think, you have to! You have to ask him to do things more than once. To sit and stew and get angrier and angriere over the fact that you asked your husband to do something one time, and he didn’t do what you asked, is a testament that you haven’t heard this advice. You need to ask him again. – Mark Gungor
What you can apply to your marriage right now:
One of a couple’s communication goals should be to reduce the negative statements they make to each other…making positive verbal statements–even when you do not totally agree with your own statement –helps you move toward deeper commitment in the relationship. – Mark Gungor
- One of my favorite thoughts comes late in the book in a chapter about “American Idols”. Gungor simply says: “When I do the right thing (though things around me are not right), things eventually change. And I have discovered that in the midst of unhappy situations, God is still there.”
We have to do the right things that the Bible talks about – loving, serving, forgiving, sacrificing when they are tough. And those principles are not for “someone else” – they are for us!
- Guys, if you want more sex with your wife, you need to meet more of her emotional needs. Ladies, if you would like to have more of your emotional needs met, you need to be having sex with your husband.
- Tips for difficult conversations:
1. Affirm your marriage first. When you’re communicating, make sure it is clear to your spouse that you love them and want the best for them.
2. Use ‘I statements’ not ‘you statements’. ‘I feel’ this way about…
3. Encourage dialogue… Talk about it, ask questions about their feelings and desires. Stay pleasant and don’t get offended as easily!!
One of the most intimacy-enhancing activities you can do in a marriage is talk. For most men, the kind of intimacy they are looking for is sexual intimacy. What they fail to realize is that one of the keys to sexual intimacy with a woman is something most guys would never think of: talking. – Mark Gungor
Related Reading you might enjoy:
Love and War by John and Stasi Eldredge
Best Marriage Book List 
The Big Wrap Up:
I read this book out of order. Mark suggests in the book that men might read Part 3 first – the part about sex, but, surprisingly, I read part 4 first. The chapters about not putting things in front of our spouse (work, others, outside family, etc), Cloth diaper marriages (refusing a throw away mentality in marriage), learning how to communicate and fight fairly, the myth of an easy divorce, and the best reset button you can ever have: forgiveness, were terrific.
Yes, I enjoyed the part about good sex, but it’s one of my favorite topics, so no surprise there. 
This book has been inspirational to me – to keep me fired up to continue learning and growing with Lisa, and continuing to learn so I can pass along thoughts to you who might be needing some encouragement in your marriage.
If you would like a great read that moves quickly, is fun and easy to understand, and can lovingly help you through some big time marriage topics – Grab Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage from Mark Gungor – you won’t be sorry.
Some links above are affiliate links and if you click them, we will receive a small commission (thanks!) We like to recommend products or services we have used or read personally and believe will add value to our readers. We disclose this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Stu & Lisa have been married 8 years (together 11) and have a heart to encourage couples in their marriages. They live in Middle Tennessee, have an awesome 6 year old, and a mutt named 'Boo'.
{ 0 comments… add one now }
{ 1 trackback }