FamilyLife

I enjoy a good love story ... but after having the privilege of hearing Joni Eareckson Tada share hers at the NRB closing banquet, I knew immediately that this was like no other love story I've heard before.

As most of us know, Joni has been confined to a wheelchair since her diving accident nearly four decades ago.  She has been a champion in raising awareness, and making changes, for the disability community.  But after hearing her talk of her 30 year marrige to Ken with such vulnerability and transparency ... acknowledging their trials and struggles ... it was clear to me ...

According to a survey of church leaders, the #1 issue impacting their congregation is pornography, with 5 out of every 10 men in the church struggling with this addiction.  Even more startling is reading that 20% of all Christian women battle with the same addiction. 

Those statistics alone seem hopeless but Dennis Rainey says there is hope for the Christian marriage ... "It's totally different than any other kind of marriage.  With Jesus Christ as the builder of your home, the builder of your marriage, there can be forgivenss extended ... it may not be instant, but it can occur."  Yet ...

Serving as FamilyLife's Weekend to Remember^® promotions coordinator affords me the opportunity to witness God in the midst of broken and healthy marriages.  Some of the most remarkable stories though are hearing of couples on the brink of divorce who attend a getaway weekend and come away from the conference leaving divorce papers behind (literally!).

Last week I experienced firsthand another kind of remarkable story.  Ellen, who won a much-needed Weekend to Remember^® registration, shared with me her struggles of being newly married following 10 years of single parenthood.  She admitted her greatest challenge was being a wife, a ...

The application for rekindling romance in marriage is this: Express your love to him in the same way you want him to express it to you.  -Barbara Rainey

As a woman eager to be the wife God has called me to be, I always appreciate advice from women who aren't afraid to share from their heart about their own marriage--both the good and the bad, and the uncomfortable.  Recently Barbara Rainey did just that in one of FamilyLife's "Marriage Memo."  Here's a nugget of truth she shared that you might consider sharing with your listeners:

"In the ...

Recently I asked several couples this same question.  Here's how they responded:

• Yes, I believe we do.  We've been married for 21 years!  But I admit our focus is primarily on the kids. 
• We hope so ... we've read every marriage book there is.
• No, we don't.  But after 26 years of marriage I don't know what more we can do.  Neither one of us is going to change anyways.

Likely many of your listeners (or someone they know) would respond similarily.  Whether they have marriage figured out or not, the bottom line is ... marriage takes ...

"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."  (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

As FamilyLife has often noted, "our homes are living testimonies of our values."  It would seem ...