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Remembering Love: A Reflection on Series One

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Remembering Love: A Reflection on Series One God’s Successful Marriage When we began this series, the goal was simple: to remind ourselves what marriage was meant to be. Many couples enter marriage with good intentions, sincere promises, and genuine love for one another. But as the years pass, the pressures of work, responsibilities, and everyday life can slowly crowd out the habits that once strengthened the relationship. Series One was written as a reminder. Not a list of complicated strategies, but a return to the foundational attitudes and practices that help marriages remain strong over time. Rather than reteaching every lesson, this closing reflection simply walks back through the path we traveled together. 1. What A Godly Marriage Is Really About We began with the foundation: understanding what marriage is meant to reflect. A godly marriage is more than companionship or shared responsibilities. Scripture presents marriage as a covenant designed to reflect Christ’s lo...
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The Power of Blessing Your Spouse With Words

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  Early in marriage, encouragement comes naturally. Newly married couples often speak admiration freely. Compliments come easily. Gratitude is expressed often. There is excitement in discovering the good qualities in the person you married. But over time, something subtle happens in many marriages. Life becomes busy. Responsibilities increase. Children arrive. Work schedules tighten. Bills need to be paid. Stress has a way of crowding the margins of daily life. Slowly, encouragement begins to fade from everyday conversation. It usually isn’t replaced with hostility. Instead, it is often replaced with silence. Yet Scripture reminds us that words carry tremendous power , especially within marriage. Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” (KJV) The Bible repeatedly teaches that our words shape the environment around us. Nowhere is that more evident than within the home. Your spouse hears your voice more than ...
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How to Date Your Spouse on a Budget

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  Marriage has a way of becoming busy. Careers grow, children arrive, responsibilities increase, and financial priorities shift. The early days of dating — when couples seemed to naturally carve out time for one another — can slowly be replaced by schedules, obligations, and fatigue. What once felt effortless can begin to feel like another item on a long list of things to manage. Many couples assume the solution is more money, more time, or fewer responsibilities. Yet after thirty years of marriage, we have learned something different: intentional attention matters far more than financial ability . Some of the strongest moments in our marriage did not happen during seasons of abundance. They happened during lean years — young marriage, military life, tight budgets, and long work weeks. Yet we discovered something that has remained true through every stage of life: dating your spouse is not about spending money; it is about choosing pursuit. Scripture repeatedly warns about small ne...
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Laughter in Marriage: Holy Joy

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  There is a kind of laughter that fills a room. And there is a kind of laughter that fills a marriage. One entertains. The other heals. The Bible speaks more about joy than we sometimes realize. And not just surface-level happiness — but a deep, settled, soul-rooted joy that comes from God Himself. “A cheerful heart is good medicine…” — Proverbs 17:22 “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” — Nehemiah 8:10 “Rejoice always.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:16 Joy is not optional in the Christian life. It is commanded. And that means it belongs in marriage too. Young Couples Need to Hear This There will be seasons when money is tight. Seasons when pride gets loud. Seasons when exhaustion steals patience. We’ve walked through Marine Corps years. Financial stress. Near-divorce tension. Health battles. In those seasons, you don’t survive because everything is romantic. You survive because you remember you’re on the same team. Sometimes that looks like prayer. Sometimes that looks lik...
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Valentine’s Day: The Love We Celebrate… and the Love That Saved Us

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  Valentine’s Day has a way of stirring something inside us. Flowers. Chocolates. Cards with words we wish we had written ourselves. Candlelit dinners. Maybe a little friendly debate over who forgot to make reservations. It’s a sweet day. But if we’re not careful, it becomes only that — sweet. And biblical love is far more than sweet. The Love We Want… and the Love We’re Called To We all love the idea of romance. The butterflies. The surprises. The thoughtful gestures. The “I still choose you” moments. But Scripture paints a picture of love that is deeper than a dinner reservation. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” – John 15:13 Holy Bible That’s not chocolate-box love. That’s sacrificial love. That’s cross-shaped love. And that’s the love Jesus has for us. The Love That Came First Before we ever bought flowers… Before we ever said “I do”… Before we ever got marriage right (or wrong)… God loved us. “But God demonstrates His own l...
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When Marriage Feels Like Work (And Why That’s a Good Thing)

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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...
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What We Forget After the Wedding

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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 ...
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