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It Happens Every Spring

by Gary Chapman and Catherine Palmer
© 2006 Tyndale House Publishers

Anyone who has been married very long understands the seasons in relationships—cycles you move in and out of over the years. It Happens Every Spring addresses one such season. Though it is spring, Steve and Brenda Hansen’s marriage is experiencing a chill. Many changes have taken place—they are new empty-nesters as their youngest child goes off to college; Steve’s booming real estate business in the Lake of the Ozarks means he is rarely home; and Brenda is left alone, feeling abandoned by both her children and her husband.

Enter a ruggedly handsome handyman whom Brenda has hired to help her remodel their basement. Nick’s animal magnetism initially attracts Brenda, and she is further drawn to him when he compliments and flatters her—in short, he gives her the attention her husband doesn’t.

Though Brenda resists Nick’s advances and never sees him again once the remodeling is done, the simple fact that she was attracted—a fact that Brenda, to her credit, confesses— infuriates Steve and he threatens divorce. But at the same time, it is a much-needed wake-up call to both Steve and Brenda. The Hansens’ own daughter, when hearing about her parents’ troubled marriage, tearfully tells Steve, “Mom is lonely, Dad.” That simple statement resonates with Steve, and he agrees to a “trial period” of reconciliation during which he promises to come home for dinner every night, and actually take Sundays off. Though at first he blames Brenda for the breakdown of their marriage—even recommending she receive counseling from their pastor, but refusing to go himself— he begins to realize that he, too, is culpable.

The Hansens eventually forgive one another and enthrone God in their marriage once again. I pray that, as you read this book, you will examine your own marriage and how perhaps you have taken your spouse for granted—or how the two of you have struggled to keep up with changes in your lives, and consequently have grown apart—and, like the Hansens, you will turn to God.

PATTY KENNEDY is assistant web content editor for the national Women’s Ministries Department. She also writes book and music reviews for Pages and Tunes, a free e-newsletter provided by the national Women’s Ministries Department.

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