10 Lifesaving Principles for Women in Difficult Marriages

This book saved my life!! After 18 years in a verbally and emotionally abusive marriage. This book is helping me cope. Update: I just read this book again. The advice in it is amazing! I am glad I reread it more than a year later and can focus on somethings that I forgot. It will further help my healing. Other books I recommend: Books that would help a women that has been or is being abused: The Dance of Anger By Harriet Lerner Not to People like us By Susan Weitzan Why does he do that? By: Lundy Bancroft Codependent No More by Melody Beattie The Verbally Abusive Relationship by Patricia Evans Next Time, She’ll Be Dead by Ann Jones The New Codependency by Melody Beattie Better than boundaries Victory Over Verbal Abuse by Patricia Evans When Love Goes Wrong by Susan Schechter and Ann Jones Too Good for Her Own Good by Claudia Bepko and Jo Ann Krestan Controlling People by Patricia Evan The Emotionally Abused Woman by Beverly Engel The Verbally Abusive Man- Can He Change? By Patricia Evans It’s My Life Now by Megan Kennedy Dugan and Roger R. Hock Wounded by words by Jeenie Gordan, Karen Kosman, & Susan Osborn 2nd half going back to abuse may be dangerous Angry Men and the Women Who Love Them by Paul Hegstrom Sweet Suffering: Woman as Victim by Natalie Shainess Emotional Vampires by Albert J. Bernstein The Sociopath Next Door by Martha Stout The gift of fear by Gavin de Becker Emotional Blackmail by Susan forward, Donna Frazier & Susan Frazier Men Who Hate Women and the Women Who Love them by Susan Forward and Joan Torres It’s my life now by Meg Kennedy Dugan & Roger R Hock

This book can be a real life changer. It gives real advise for real situations. It helped me to see that my marriage was not salvable; but my friends' marriages have either been saved or improved. I am thankful to have read this book and recommended it to my friends.

There's not much I can add about the content of this book that hasn't been described already. I do want to say that this book was life changing for me. I'm sure that I would have given up on my marriage by now if it wasn't for the author's wisdom and experience that make up this wonderful book. I don't spend ALL my energy and time thinking that I can change my spouse. By applying the common sense advice that Karla dishes out and other principles in this book; my marriage has done a 180 degree turnaround. I was lucky enough to meet Karla last week at a convention in Atlanta. It was thrilling to be able to personally let her know how much her book changed my life for the better. If you are at all thinking of buying this book, don't hesitate - it is without a doubt worth the money!

It was nice to read the advice in this book from someone having lived it. Karla Downing is honest without being too specific about her own trials in her marriage, so that the book can be applied to a variety of situations. Short, simple, and broad spectrum. I loved her chapter re: setting boundaries. If nothing else, this book made me feel that there are others like me out there, alone and hurting, suffering and silent, embarrased and ashamed. Gave me some tools I needed to detach from the situation at hand. Would definitely recommend for anyone in a marriage marked by addiction, financial irresponsibility, and hardship. The marriage may not change, but through Christ, YOU can.

& #65279;An extraordinary enlightening honest look at many of today's marriages and the problems most people refuse to address until they become critical issues. Not only a book for womenexperiencing the situation but also for men who really want to understand how women think and react to life altering events in their marriages. A down to earth manual for the Christian and non-Christian. After you finish this book you will use it again and again as a reference manual. Vivid instruction to both men and women on how to begin a respectful dialogue and conflict resolution for many of life's tough issues. You can relate that the author has walked the walk and is just not talking the talk. Two thumbs up

There is no other book that I know of that deals with these issues. It gives practical, sound, and helpful advice for women, specifically Christian women, in difficult marriages. The author talks about the problems women face and how to deal with their spouses in a loving way, yet not get walked on or become a doormat in the process. This book will help you to learn new ways to communicate better with your spouse, face your fears about your marriage, and how to take care of yourself emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I am only touching on a small portion of what this book has to offer for women in difficult marriages. If you are a woman mourning the loss of what you thought your marriage would or should be, this book is for you. The author also gives many examples throughout the book about what other women in difficult marriages have gone through and how they have overcome their marriage problems. The author talks about accountability for one's own actions and is NOT a book about male bashing. The book will help you to learn how and when to stand up for what's right around people who don't respect you. The author talks about respecting yourself so that your spouse will, too. Again, this book gives practical, common-sense-type advice on how to deal with a difficult marriage. The author writes in a direct way and get's right to the point, not flowery at all. This book will pull you out of the mud and you will no longer be stuck!