Not even the full blast of heat from the car's heater could warm the bitter coldness in the hearts of Jacob and Marlee Ebenezer. They had started their married life together on Christmas Eve in blissful happiness and now, on their 20th Anniversary, instead of celebrating, they were driving on a lonely road in the middle of a snowstorm to rush to the lawyer's office to sign their divorce papers.

Grappling with the question of how to tell their kids, another set of headlights comes towards them. As Jacob quickly veers away, he loses control of the car. Marlee, recovering from the crash, starts looking through the snow for husband, muttering that you never can find a husband when you need one, and after growing cold and tired, sees a light in a building and starts walking for help.

Taken in by a kindly older gent, Marlee ironically finds herself in a warm and cozy marriage retreat center. With a little help from the old man and time to think, Marlee has a unique chance to look into her heart. She wonders where all that once treasured love had gone. What could she tell the children? What has happened to Jacob?

Developing an interesting variation on the Dickens' classic tale, Chris Fabry and Gary Chapman have penned a lovely message of love lost, hope, and forgiveness that is especially pertinent for married couples. As the story highlights the truth that we remember the anger and pain resultant from hurtful and negative incidents with a far stronger intensity of emotion that the joy and thankfulness received from the love and kindnesses done by our family members, we see, like Marlee, that it is all too easy to lose faith and hope in our spouses, and to want to seek ways to break the commitment once so happily made. A wonderful reading gift for yourself or others!

Book Summary

Jake and Marlee, a typical couple, are about to call it quits. Over time they have drifted apart; the sparks are dead. Marlee is convinced she married the wrong man and Jake feels tied down to the wrong woman. Jake is distant and tired of being controlled while Marlee is tired of being the only one trying to the save their marriage. They go to bed Christmas Eve, in separate rooms, each rationalizing...life is too short to be miserable...love shouldn't hurt like this...their marriage must end for happiness to return.

But their lives are about to take a turn. The ghosts of Marriage Past, Marriage Present, and Marriage Future reveal to Jake and Marlee how past choices, present realities, and their potential future might look if they do not change their "stories".

Jake and Marlee experience a Christmas gift that will radically change their thinking and cause them to look at marriage not for what they can get out of it but for what God can do in and through their marriage.