Review: Unbreaking: How Giving Up Saved Our Marriage by Jason and Crystal Crawford

Unbreaking: How Giving Up Saved Our Marriage
by Jason and Crystal Crawford

Jason and Crystal Crawford were trapped in a loveless, hopeless marriage. They each believed that the only path to happiness was to go their separate ways -- until God showed them something even better. This true story chronicles one couple's quick descent from courtship into an unhappy marriage, and how God transformed their marriage, turning resentment into love and their pain into joy. You will experience the real, raw emotion of both Jason and Crystal through alternating journal entries that show how the husband's and wife's separate perspectives evolve throughout the first 6 years of their marriage and beyond. This unique memoir, written by a couple who are also life-coaches, includes a Relationship Guide at the end of the book which provides help and guidance to couples in similar situations.

My Take:
This was a raw, uncut narrative on a very dark period in this couple's life. The pain, anger and dysfunction is laid bare for the reader to see. It takes a brave soul to be willing to air past issues like this, but God works through us by relating our issues to similar struggles in those around us, to promote healing.

Satan is in the battle to destroy marriages, which are the foundation of the family, and families the foundation of society. But scripture tells us that "they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimonies." - Rev 12:11

The testimony of Jason and Crystal is a powerful tool they use to promote healing in shattered marriages, and they have used it as life coaches for years to help struggling couples to achieve the marriage God designed. The back half of the book is a workbook couples can use together to heal their brokenness. saturated with scripture, this workbook contains solid, biblical advice on how to allow God to heal your own past wounds, and become what God intended you to be.

As this is non-fiction, I will simply say on content that there are issues of infidelity, pornography, and divorce discussed frankly, but not graphically. The first half, their testimony, has scripture but does not come across as 'preachy' at all. The second half is a workbook, that undergirds all points with scripture. This would be a good tool for a couple to use to make their marriage stronger, even if it's not in the dark and seemingly hopeless condition the authors experienced. Five Stars!

About the Author(s):


Jason Crawford was born in Birmingham, Alabama, but moved to Florida in 2002 to study Communication at Florida College in Temple Terrace, FL. He then continued on to receive a BA in Communication from the University of South Florida, and is currently working on a Masters in Professional Counseling. Jason met his wife, Crystal, while in college and they married in 2004.

Overcoming serious marriage struggles in their marriage led Jason to discover a passion for counseling and life-coaching. After working multiple retails jobs and spending several years as a Sales Manager, and spending his free hours providing life-coaching for his employees. After his first daughter was born, Jason also found himself drawn to helping new fathers, and began volunteering as a men's life-coach for new fathers at a crisis pregnancy center, Jason decided to make the change and focus on counseling as a career. He left the corporate retail environment, and became an entrepreneur so that he could have the freedom to spend more time with his family and to pursue his calling as a life-coach an counselor.

Jason is now a happy father of 3 young kids, and runs his own company, Fierce, Inc., as well as a not-for-profit company, Fierce Fathers. The two companies function side-by-side as part of Jason and Crystal's overall project, We Are Fierce, which utilizes Jason's talents for graphic design, web design, and marketing to bring in income that is then used to support their life-coaching ministry which helps families, couples, parents and young adults in the Tampa, FL area to improve struggling relationships and discover new direction and purpose in their lives. Jason's goal is to complete his Masters in Professional Counseling and open his own practice, and to expand the We Are Fierce ministry to include scholarship programs that would provide free and low-cost counseling to low-income couples and families.


Crystal Crawford was born in Tampa, FL and received a BA in English from the University of South Florida with a concentration in Creative Writing, and attended graduate courses in English at USF in 2007, where she worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant teaching Freshman Composition. She is also passionate about working with animals and animal training, and worked for over 2 years as an assistant manager at a live animal show. Now a stay-at-home-Mom to 3 children under the age of 5, Crystal now works from home as a freelance writer and editor, and works part-time as an English and Animal Psychology instructor at Class Source. In addition to all this, Crystal and her husband own their own company, Fierce Inc., which provides web design, graphic design, content generation, and social media management; as well as a not-for-profit corporation, Fierce Fathers, which has now been expanded into the We Are Fierce program and offers free and low-cost life coaching for families, parents, and young adults.