God's Successful Marriage

There comes a moment in every marriage when the butterflies settle… the wedding photos fade into frames… the vows become daily life… And you look at each other and think: “Why does this feel so hard?” No one puts that in the wedding cards. We celebrate romance. We celebrate passion. We celebrate the honeymoon. But we rarely celebrate effort. Yet effort is where love becomes real. Love Was Never Meant to Be Effortless The world tells us that if it’s “meant to be,” it will feel easy. Scripture tells us something very different. “Let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” — 1 John 3:18 Love is action. Action requires effort. Effort requires intention. And intention requires maturity. When we wrote about “Love Is an Action” in Series 1, we acknowledged something many couples avoid: feelings fluctuate. But covenant does not. Even the apostle Paul describes love not as a feeling but as discipline: “Love is patient, love is kind… it always protects, always...

The wedding day is unforgettable. The music. The vows. The promises spoken with steady voices and hopeful hearts. Surrounded by family and friends, we declare lifelong commitment in a single moment. But somewhere between the final dance and the ordinary routines of married life, something subtle happens. We don’t break our vows. We forget them. Not intentionally. Not maliciously . We simply stop living with the same awareness we had on that sacred day. Marriage doesn’t fall apart because love disappears. It weakens when we forget what love requires. We Forget That Marriage Is a Covenant, Not a Contract At the altar, marriage feels holy because it is. Scripture reminds us that marriage is not a casual agreement but a covenant before God: “Though she is your partner, the wife of your marriage covenant.” — Malachi 2:14 A contract protects personal interests. A covenant binds hearts, futures, and responsibility. After the wedding, it’s easy to slip into consumer thinking: Am I ...

Today is National Spouses Day —a day set aside to pause, reflect, and give thanks for the person who walks beside us through life. It’s not a day about grand gestures or social media perfection. It’s a day about gratitude. About recognizing the quiet faithfulness, shared burdens, laughter, tears, and commitment that define a marriage over time. Scripture reminds us plainly and powerfully: “He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.” — Proverbs 18:22 That verse doesn’t say finds a perfect wife or finds an easy marriage. It says finds a good thing. A gift. A blessing. A favor from God Himself. Marriage as a Gift, Not an Accessory So often, culture treats marriage as an accessory to happiness—something that serves us as long as it feels good. Scripture teaches the opposite. Marriage is a sacred gift designed by God, not merely for companionship, but for growth, refinement, and shared purpose. Ecclesiastes tells us: “Two are better than one, because...

  When Pain Didn’t Leave, but Joy Still Showed Up I didn’t wake up healed. The pain was still there. The anxiety. The depression. The moral injury. The numbness. PTSD hadn’t gone anywhere. Nothing about my life suddenly became easier. And yet, on that day—at an amusement park with my wife and my 17-year-old daughter—I still had a good day. That alone felt worth paying attention to. Joy Without Conditions I wasn’t chasing happiness. I wasn’t trying to “make the most of it.” I wasn’t pretending things were okay. I was just present. For once, I wasn’t replaying the past or bracing for the future. I wasn’t fixing myself, explaining myself, or carrying everything else I’ve been holding. I was walking. Laughing. Standing in lines. Watching my daughter smile. Holding my wife’s hand. And somewhere in the middle of all that, joy showed up—uninvited, unexpected, and unearned. Scripture tells us: “Though sorrow may last for the night, joy comes in the morning.” — Psalm 30...

Spiritual Intimacy: Praying With My Spouse When It Feels Awkward One of the most common struggles in Christian marriage isn’t whether couples believe in prayer—it’s whether they feel comfortable praying together. Ironically, many couples will pray privately with confidence yet feel awkward, vulnerable, or even embarrassed praying out loud with the person they share a bed with. If that’s you, you’re not broken—and your marriage isn’t failing. You’re simply stepping into spiritual intimacy, and intimacy always requires vulnerability. Why Praying Together Feels So Awkward Praying with your spouse feels different because it is different. Prayer exposes: Our fears Our doubts Our shortcomings Our true dependence on God When you pray with your spouse, you’re not just talking to God—you’re letting your spouse hear your heart. Many couples have shared (and we’ve discussed this before) that: One spouse feels “less spiritual” One worries they won’t “pray the right way” One fears sound...

The Cultural Lie About Love Our culture teaches that love is something you fall into—and just as easily, something you fall out of. Movies, music, and social media reinforce the idea that love is primarily a feeling, driven by emotion, chemistry, and personal fulfillment. But Scripture paints a radically different picture. Biblical love is not measured by how we feel, but by how we act, especially when feelings are absent. If love were merely a feeling, Jesus could never have commanded it. Yet He did. Jesus Redefines Love by the Cross In John 15:13, Jesus gives us the ultimate definition of love—not butterflies, not passion, not romance—but sacrifice. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life…” Jesus spoke these words before the cross, knowing full well what obedience would cost Him. Love, in its truest form, is the decision to put someone else’s good above your own comfort, pride, and preferences. This is not abstract theology. This is the blueprint for ma...