I Do Again by Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs (Book Review)

Title: I Do Again
Author: Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs
Publisher: Waterbrook Press
Genre: Christian Living/Love and Marriage

First sentence: A man I know was walking to his car after a golf tournament when he realized the remote trunk opener wouldn't work.

This is the true story of Cheryl and Jeff Scruggs. When they met, the attraction was instantaneous, but Cheryl would not go out with Jeff as she was in a relationship with someone else. Jeff did not give up though and eventually Cheryl broke up with her boyfriend. So the next time Jeff asked, she said yes.

After about a year of dating, Jeff was being relocated from Memphis to California. He asked Cheryl to marry him and she immediately said yes! They were the golden couple in California - attractive couple, good careers, beautiful home - but they could not have children. Their twin daughters were born after successful in vitro. But still there was something missing.

Cheryl began to feel like their life and relationship was shallow, so unfortunately she began to look outside of her marriage for her emotional needs. As the next couple of years passed - she continued to tell Jeff she was fine, when in reality, she was far from it. She eventually asked him for a divorce. Jeff was devastated - he did not see this coming at all. He begged Cheryl to work on their marriage so they could fix it. They even went to see some counselors, but Cheryl's mind was made up. She wanted out. Eighteen months later, they were divorced.

About this time Jeff started to get more involved with the youth ministry at his church. Cheryl's friends were encouraging her that she needed to find a new church. She couldn't continue to go to the one that her and Jeff had attended. She eventually found one. Cheryl had been raised Catholic and couldn't understand how she had never heard or learned some of things she was learning at her new church. Like the promises and plans God has for us and our marriage in the Song of Solomon. Or that she could have a personal relationship with Him.

I do not want to tell you anymore about the book (but you can probably guess from the title). Please come along and read about how Cheryl and Jeff learned to forgive each other and trust in God and the miraculous changes this made in their lives.

This book was somewhat hard for me to read. I became a believer when I was 13, but fell away from God at 17 when my dad passed away. In the following years I went to college and got married at the age of 21. Eight years and two daughters later I also asked my husband for a divorce - for many of the same reasons that Cheryl did. It was a little scary to read my thoughts and actions in print as someone else's life! It also took us about 18 months to get divorced, as my husband did not want it, and I was content (and couldn't afford it) to just let things stay how they were. I remember when the judge asked me if I felt we had done everything to save our marriage and even though I answered "Yes" - in my heart I knew that I had done nothing. My story takes a different turn here from Jeff and Cheryl's though. God led me to a wonderful man just when I was considering quitting my job and moving back to my childhood home. We have now been married 8 years and have added a son to our mix. I am still very much in love with him!