God's Successful Marriage

  The Seasons of Marriage Key Verse: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”   — Ecclesiastes 3:1 When my bride and I exchanged our vows, we promised to love one another for the rest of our lives. What we could not have fully understood that day was how many different versions of life those vows would have to carry us through. We knew we would grow older together, but we did not yet know exactly how parenthood would change us. We did not know what responsibilities would eventually rest on our shoulders, what trials would test us, or which prayers would seem to go unanswered. We did not know how success, disappointment, illness, loss, exhaustion, and the passing years would shape the people we were becoming. We promised to love each other for a lifetime without yet knowing everything that lifetime would contain. That is one of the beautiful—and sometimes difficult—truths about marriage: marriage has seasons . Some seasons feel full o...

  God at the Center Was Never Just a Theme God’s Successful Marriage — Series Wrap-Up: God at the Center Key Verse: “ And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. ” -  Colossians 1:17 “God at the center” is one of those phrases Christian couples can agree with quickly. It sounds right. It belongs in a marriage conversation. It fits well in a wedding message, a Bible study, a counseling session, or a devotional thought. Most Christian husbands and wives would not argue against it. But agreement is not the same as surrender. Over this series, we have not simply been repeating a Christian catchphrase. We have been asking what it actually means for a marriage to be brought under the loving authority of God. Not God as decoration. Not God as the emergency contact when everything falls apart. Not God as the One we mention on Sunday, but quietly ignore when making decisions on Monday. God at the center means our marriage is under Him. It means our attitudes, words, pri...

  Welcome to the World, Genevieve Leann - A Special Family Reflection from God’s Successful Marriage “ Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” — Psalm 127:3 There are moments in life that seem to stop time. For several hours, a family waits, prays, watches the clock, and hopes for good news. Then, in one beautiful moment, everything changes. A child takes her first breath, a mother and father meet their daughter, and a family grows larger. Today was one of those moments for our family - our third grandchild, Genevieve Leann, entered the world. As her grandfather, I find myself looking at her name and thinking about everything that name will one day represent. Today, she is a newborn daughter resting in the arms of her parents. In time, she will develop her own personality, her own laughter, her own interests, her own questions, and her own story. For now, however, she is simply Genevieve. She is precious, small, newly arrived, and already dee...

  “The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.” — Psalm 138:8 There is something in most of us that wants to fix whatever is broken. When something in the house stops working, we look for the right tool. When a plan falls apart, we begin making another one. When someone we love is hurting, we search for the right words, the right answer, or the right action that will make everything better. That instinct is not always wrong. Marriage requires effort. Difficult conversations should not be avoided. Apologies should not be postponed. Wounds should not be ignored, and unhealthy patterns should not be allowed to continue simply because addressing them is uncomfortable. But there are moments in marriage when effort does not seem to be enough. You have prayed, but the situation has not changed. You have talked, but the conversation keeps returning to the same place. You have apologized, forgiven, served, w...

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” Colossians 3:16 There is an atmosphere in every home. Sometimes we notice it the moment we walk through the door. We can tell when a home feels peaceful. We can tell when it feels tense. We can tell when laughter has been normal there, and we can usually tell when everyone has been walking on eggshells. There is something about the tone of a home that speaks before anyone says a word. That is true naturally, but it is also true spiritually. Every marriage creates an atmosphere. Every husband and wife, over time, help shape what the home feels like. Not just by what is hanging on the walls, not just by what music is playing in the background, and not just by whether a Bible is sitting on the coffee table, but by how Christ is welcomed into the ordinary places of life. A home can have Christian decorations...