Hope and Help for  YOU  when Your Loved One Has Mental Health or Addiction Issues

(This book was initially titled, Happy After All.)

Discover the 2022 CIPA (Christian Indie Publishing Association) award winner that can rescue your marriage and change the way you feel about your situation.

There are many books for those who have a mental illness or addiction. But less common is the book for those who live with someone with mental illness or addiction, particularly from a Christian perspective.

Imagine waking up tomorrow with a new sense of hope and direction because you understand the secrets to living successfully with an unstable spouse.

What if you felt more confident, more in control, and less confused and frustrated?

How good would that feel?

I craved all of that for over twenty years and it eluded me. Now, you can discover the way there through our easy-to-read recommendations—from a husband-and-wife author team who beat all the odds to find happiness in marriage despite multiple mental illness diagnoses. In spite of family members and friends persuading us to call it quits, we found power in our Christian faith and scripture and developed new skills recommended by world-renowned mental health and marriage researchers—now neatly interwoven in this groundbreaking volume—for you.

Best of all, regardless of your spouse’s choices and struggles, this book will teach you how to thrive with fresh insights and skills that can help you feel better and start healing today.

Find relief from the relentless mental ping pong, doubts, resentment, fear, and helplessness:

• Care for yourself first (and see what God thinks about that).
• Feel your feelings the healthy way (which most spouses are not doing).
• Connect to godly power that comforts, guides, and lifts through Jesus Christ.
• Understand how your spouse may want to be loved differently than you think.
• See which of your efforts may be wasted (or doing more harm than good).
• Feel understood—perhaps for the first time ever—as you see yourself in the stories.
• Be at peace with the decision to stay in the marriage or to separate (and learn how).

See why book critic BlueInk Reviews called it “. . . an invaluable resource . . . a must read.”

Readers love the format. Chapters are named by the most common, bedeviling frustrations that spouses of the mentally ill and addicted experience, such as:

• It’s not fair.
• Can I survive this?
• My needs are not being met.
• My spouse is walking all over me!
• My hopes for my life are unraveling.
• Our life is so chaotic I can’t plan anything!

Both mental health professionals and Christian, spiritual advisors contributed to the design and contents of this meticulously reviewed resource with one objective, stated in the book:

“If spouses of the mentally ill or addicted can be spiritually strengthened and learn practical things they can do independently, more marriages can be saved.”

 

(You can learn more about our story through this post, Happy After All: Our Harrowing Story of Hope and Healing)

You’ll find that you’re not alone as you relate to the super-transparent access into our inner lives—from each spouse’s perspective—as we experienced the gut-wrenching anguish and exhausting effects of mental illness on our thirty-five-year relationship.

Relief, understanding, wisdom, and happiness came gradually. Today, extreme pain is rare but it’s still there from time to time. Back then, peace was rare.

Healing and peace could have come much sooner had I understood what is neatly documented in these pages.

This simple, hopeful, practical, and at times comical, self-help resource seamlessly blends secular research with spiritual wisdom.

Find out why critics and readers are saying: 

 “. . . for Christians dealing with the challenges of mental illness in their spouse, this is a must-read. (BlueInk Reviews, starred review)

“A moving work . . . practical and kind . . . a warm and comprehensive guide.” (Kirkus Reviews)

“. . . empathetic . . . relatable . . . practical . . . a warm, inviting faith-based self-help guide for married couples seeking to understand and overcome their respective challenges and remain together.” (BookLife Review)

“Addresses some of the most difficult problems a marriage can face with a resounding, positive note . . . exemplary for being a cooperative effort, which is unique in the field of marriage self-help” (Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★★)

“. . . highly recommended . . . neatly wound into Christian beliefs in a way that psychological perspectives alone can’t fully address” (Midwest Book Review)

“So thrilled that a book like this is available. Coupling marriage and mental health, with a lens of faith, is a gift for newlyweds to forty-year partners.” (Ganel-Lynn Condie, bestselling author, video host, suicide prevention advocate)

“What a profoundly helpful and moving book! . . . full of hope and wisdom for any marriage in an easy-to-read format. . . practical, spiritually sound recommendations. The author and his wife’s transparent stories of their struggles provide rare windows into the complexity of these challenges and illustrate how spouses can rise above through Christ. Highly recommended” (Robert Reich, synod leader and pastor)

“. . . opened my eyes about ways to improve my own marriage of 41 years.” (Mardie, reader)

Learn More

Learn more about our story and resources for gaining spiritual strength through these posts:

Happy After All: Our Harrowing Story of Hope and Healing

What You Didn’t Know about My AMAZING Wife

Hope for Families Who Suffer with Borderline Personality Disorder

Help from God for the Hurting: A Life-changing Bible Story

When Your Mentally Ill Spouse or Family Member is Draining You (This Works Miracles)

For a bit my own drug addiction/recovery, read My Story: God Never Gave Up On Me, which describes why I devoted over twenty years to writing the #1 Amazon bestselling book, Jesus Christ, His Life and Mine.