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Marriage Forecasting: Changing the Climate of Your Relationship One Conversation at a Time
What's the forecast for your marriage? Marriages are as variable as the weather, and every marriage has a climate. Some are chilly and lack intimacy. Others are stormy and filled with conflict. But while the weather outdoors is beyond our control, the communication climates within our homes can be changed--for the better. Communication specialist Tim Muehlhoff offers simple strategies for improving the climate of a marriage. Our individual words and actions always take place within an overall atmosphere of expectations. Without a healthy climate of trust, we are prone to miscommunication and misunderstanding. Muehlhoff shows how to take an accurate climate reading of a relationship and explains what causes climates of poor communication. With current research on marital communication, listening skills, empathy and conflict resolution, Marriage Forecasting provides practical ways for couples to rebuild a warm relational climate. Don't just talk about the weather. Break the cold front, clear the fog, and change the extended outlook for your marriage.
192 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2010
About the author
Tim Muehlhoff
15 books26 followersTim Muehlhoff (PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is a professor of communication at Biola University in La Mirada, California, where he teaches classes in family communication, interpersonal communication, persuasion, and gender. He is the author of I Beg to Differ and Marriage Forecasting, and the coauthor of The God Conversation: Using Stories and Illustrations to Explain Your Faith and Authentic Communication: Christian Speech Engaging Culture. Muehlhoff and his wife, Noreen, are frequent speakers at FamilyLife Marriage Conferences, and he has served with Campus Crusade since 1986. They live in Brea, California, with their three boys.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 18, 2011
I have to admit that "self-help-y", "relationship-y" books and studies just don't appeal much to me. I've read my share in the past and have found the vast majority of them to be mostly fluff and pop psychology, if not downright contrary to the Bible. So I can't say that I was super thrilled about reading Marriage Forecasting: Changing the Climate of Your Relationship One Conversation at a Time by Tim Muehlhoff. In fact, I put it off for several weeks after it arrived. It seemed like it would be just more of the same.
Yet once I finally picked it up, I was pleasantly surprised! It's packed with practical application based on sound Biblical principles. I found myself actually enjoying the book. Dr. Muehlhoff's premise is that marriages are a lot like the weather. Some marriages enjoy a stable climate, some have an unpredictable one, and many are somewhere in between. When it comes to communication in a marriage, knowing how to communicate and use the right words is only part of the battle. Knowing the climate that the conversation is taking place in is just as important is what is said and how it's said. Sometimes postponing important discussions to work on improving the marital climate is wise.
What exactly is a communication climate? It's "the overarching sense of value and satisfaction individuals feel as they interact with each other and go about daily activities." (p. 20). According to Dr. Muehlhoff, the four key elements of a communication climate are acknowledgment, trust, expectations, and commitment. He goes on to unpack these elements in the context of marriage, discussing how to "take a reading" of your marital climate, improve the climate, and deal with conflict and disagreement productively and Biblically. He wraps up with an excellent chapter on forgiveness, a brief chapter on abuse, and another on our most important communication climate: the one between us and God.
I found the book clearly written, biblical, and full of grace and humor. The many personal examples helped bring the concepts home. The last half, which focuses on conflict, forgiveness, and our communication climate with God, particularly spoke to me. Throughout, there are plenty of nuggets of wisdom and biblical principles that can apply to any relationship, even though the focus is on marriage.
It's incredibly refreshing to find a book that takes solid biblical principles and applies them to relationships and communication rather than taking pop psychology techniques and proof-texting to support them.
Of course, if your marriage is in serious trouble or you're in an abusive situation, neither this book nor any other is going to be able to solve your issues...you should seek counseling. For most of us who are dealing with the normal ups and downs of relationships, though, Marriage Forecasting will be very beneficial.
So in the end, I must say that this is one "relationship" book that I can recommend!
IVP Books provided a review copy of this book to me but all opinions expressed are purely my own.
Yet once I finally picked it up, I was pleasantly surprised! It's packed with practical application based on sound Biblical principles. I found myself actually enjoying the book. Dr. Muehlhoff's premise is that marriages are a lot like the weather. Some marriages enjoy a stable climate, some have an unpredictable one, and many are somewhere in between. When it comes to communication in a marriage, knowing how to communicate and use the right words is only part of the battle. Knowing the climate that the conversation is taking place in is just as important is what is said and how it's said. Sometimes postponing important discussions to work on improving the marital climate is wise.
What exactly is a communication climate? It's "the overarching sense of value and satisfaction individuals feel as they interact with each other and go about daily activities." (p. 20). According to Dr. Muehlhoff, the four key elements of a communication climate are acknowledgment, trust, expectations, and commitment. He goes on to unpack these elements in the context of marriage, discussing how to "take a reading" of your marital climate, improve the climate, and deal with conflict and disagreement productively and Biblically. He wraps up with an excellent chapter on forgiveness, a brief chapter on abuse, and another on our most important communication climate: the one between us and God.
I found the book clearly written, biblical, and full of grace and humor. The many personal examples helped bring the concepts home. The last half, which focuses on conflict, forgiveness, and our communication climate with God, particularly spoke to me. Throughout, there are plenty of nuggets of wisdom and biblical principles that can apply to any relationship, even though the focus is on marriage.
It's incredibly refreshing to find a book that takes solid biblical principles and applies them to relationships and communication rather than taking pop psychology techniques and proof-texting to support them.
Of course, if your marriage is in serious trouble or you're in an abusive situation, neither this book nor any other is going to be able to solve your issues...you should seek counseling. For most of us who are dealing with the normal ups and downs of relationships, though, Marriage Forecasting will be very beneficial.
So in the end, I must say that this is one "relationship" book that I can recommend!
IVP Books provided a review copy of this book to me but all opinions expressed are purely my own.
April 7, 2020
Insightful strategies to successfully communicate
I’ve read this book more than once. The idea of creating a more effective emotional environment to communicate in has served me in many kinds of relationships ! Well worth the read!
I’ve read this book more than once. The idea of creating a more effective emotional environment to communicate in has served me in many kinds of relationships ! Well worth the read!
September 18, 2024
I heard the author speak at a marriage conference and he was one of the stand outs. I person randomly gave me a bag with two of his books in it. I’m thankful for their generosity because this is one my favorite marriage books I’ve come across.
June 21, 2019
I found this book to be a difficult read. Comparing a marriage to the weather did nothing to help me with communication.
January 21, 2011
MY REVIEW:
Marriage Forecasting is all about the conversations you have, and how you have them, as a married couple. Tim will guide you through some of the biggest troubles that we encounter when trying to talk with our spouse and show you some great ways to improve your conversations - the easy ones and the hard ones.
I appreciated this book for how Tim challenges us to look at marriage through the lense of Scripture and understand that a marriage is not a stepping stone but a one-time commitment. Muehlohoff writes with clarity, humor, and reality. I found this book easy to read and easy to understand. It contained some great practical application along with his philosophy rather than bore you with just another opinion.
Most couples who have a "good" relationship will both enjoy and learn from this book and be able to change the climate of their conversation and communication skills for the better. However, I recommend caution in that if you are part of a marriage that is struggling at the moment to seek the counsel of a Biblical Counselor before reading this book. While this book can help with some great principles, it is important to first correct the foundation of your marriage before trying to fix more "cosmetic" issues.
BOOK OVERVIEW:
What’s the forecast for your marriage? Marriages are as variable as the weather, and every marriage has a climate. Some are chilly and lack intimacy. Others are stormy and filled with conflict. But while the weather outdoors is beyond our control, the communication climates within our homes can be changed--for the better. Communication specialist Tim Muehlhoff offers simple strategies for improving the climate of a marriage. Our individual words and actions always take place within an overall atmosphere of expectations. Without a healthy climate of trust, we are prone to miscommunication and misunderstanding. Muehlhoff shows how to take an accurate climate reading of a relationship and explains what causes climates of poor communication. With current research on marital communication, listening skills, empathy and conflict resolution, Marriage Forecasting provides practical ways for couples to rebuild a warm relational climate. Don’t just talk about the weather. Break the cold front, clear the fog, and change the extended outlook for your marriage.
You can download a excerpt of this book by clicking here.
* * * * *
This review copy was provided courtesy of IVP Books but the opinion expressed is strictly that of my own.
Marriage Forecasting is all about the conversations you have, and how you have them, as a married couple. Tim will guide you through some of the biggest troubles that we encounter when trying to talk with our spouse and show you some great ways to improve your conversations - the easy ones and the hard ones.
I appreciated this book for how Tim challenges us to look at marriage through the lense of Scripture and understand that a marriage is not a stepping stone but a one-time commitment. Muehlohoff writes with clarity, humor, and reality. I found this book easy to read and easy to understand. It contained some great practical application along with his philosophy rather than bore you with just another opinion.
Most couples who have a "good" relationship will both enjoy and learn from this book and be able to change the climate of their conversation and communication skills for the better. However, I recommend caution in that if you are part of a marriage that is struggling at the moment to seek the counsel of a Biblical Counselor before reading this book. While this book can help with some great principles, it is important to first correct the foundation of your marriage before trying to fix more "cosmetic" issues.
BOOK OVERVIEW:
What’s the forecast for your marriage? Marriages are as variable as the weather, and every marriage has a climate. Some are chilly and lack intimacy. Others are stormy and filled with conflict. But while the weather outdoors is beyond our control, the communication climates within our homes can be changed--for the better. Communication specialist Tim Muehlhoff offers simple strategies for improving the climate of a marriage. Our individual words and actions always take place within an overall atmosphere of expectations. Without a healthy climate of trust, we are prone to miscommunication and misunderstanding. Muehlhoff shows how to take an accurate climate reading of a relationship and explains what causes climates of poor communication. With current research on marital communication, listening skills, empathy and conflict resolution, Marriage Forecasting provides practical ways for couples to rebuild a warm relational climate. Don’t just talk about the weather. Break the cold front, clear the fog, and change the extended outlook for your marriage.
You can download a excerpt of this book by clicking here.
* * * * *
This review copy was provided courtesy of IVP Books but the opinion expressed is strictly that of my own.
July 13, 2023
I clearly found the book biblically written, full of grace as well as humor. It entails a practical guide to different approaches that you can realistically apply to your marriage. For most of us who are dealing with the normal ups and downs of relationships, this book will be very beneficial for you too.
February 27, 2011
Much of what the author wrote was good and a few chapters in particular [2, 3, 8, 9, 12] were great!
This has much information that is valuable to any marriage and especially to those that want to remain happily so. Written in such a way that men will not feel it a burden to read.
This has much information that is valuable to any marriage and especially to those that want to remain happily so. Written in such a way that men will not feel it a burden to read.
July 19, 2014
I enjoyed this book. Muehlhoff gives great tips on how to improve the climate of a marriage using effective and well-timed communication. His illustrations were helpful in reinforcing the points he was making.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews