God's Successful Marriage

  Key Verse “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” — Galatians 6:2 There are changes in marriage that you see coming. Children grow up. Careers change. Retirement eventually appears on the horizon. You may not know exactly what those seasons will look like, but you know they are probably coming. Health changes can be different. Sometimes there is warning and sometimes there isn't. A diagnosis can arrive during an ordinary week and divide life into before and after . An accident can change what one spouse is physically able to do. Chronic illness, disability, emotional struggles, pain, fatigue, or simply the effects of getting older can begin changing routines that once seemed permanent. And when someone's health changes, the marriage changes with it. That does not necessarily mean the marriage becomes worse. But it does mean that something the couple had learned how to live may suddenly have to be learned again. Roles may shift, the spouse who al...

Key Verse “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” — Galatians 6:9 There are seasons in marriage when serving one another feels almost effortless. You notice something that needs to be done, you do it, and you move on. You make the coffee. You pick something up at the store. You take care of a chore because you know your spouse has had a long day. These little acts of love do not require much thought because there is still something left in the tank. Then there are other seasons. There are seasons when both of you are tired before the day even begins. Work is demanding. The children or grandchildren need attention. Someone is dealing with health problems. Money is tight. Sleep is short. There are appointments, responsibilities, aging parents, household repairs, and all the ordinary things that somehow seem to arrive at the same time. You still love each other. That is not the problem. You are simply tired. And tired people do not always...

  When the Person You Married Begins to Change Key Verse: "And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." — Colossians 3:14 There is a picture many of us carry into marriage without ever realizing it. We stand across from the person we love, make our vows, and somewhere in the back of our minds we assume that the person standing there is the person we are going to spend the rest of our life loving. Of course, we know life will change. We know we may move, change jobs, raise children, lose loved ones, grow older, and eventually trade youthful energy for reading glasses and sore knees. But we do not always stop to consider something much more personal: The person we married is going to change too. And so are we. That sounds obvious when we say it out loud, but it can become surprisingly difficult inside a marriage. The young wife who once seemed carefree may become more cautious after raising children, carrying responsibilities, or walking throug...

  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...