- Cindy Wright – March 13, 2013

“You didn’t learn how to play an instrument well in one night. It will take time to learn how to ‘make music’ with your spouse too.” - J & G Murphy

How much I wish I had known (and so does my husband Steve) that just because you love each other before marriage, it doesn’t mean that you have what it takes to make a good marriage. I thought it would just come “naturally” to build a great marriage —a great life together. WRONG!!!

And after Steve and I said “I do” we didn’t. We didn’t have a clue as to all it would take to keep our promises to “love, honor, and cherish each other, for better or for worse, for richer and for poorer, til death do us part.” We started out loving, honoring and cherishing each other, but as life got more serious, asking more of us than we were prepared for, our relationship started to crumble little-by-little. We didn’t even realize how bad things were getting until one day we looked at each other with contempt and anything BUT love and honor… and forget the cherishing part of what we promised (we did) and we were ready to say, “we don’t.” We didn’t want to continue on being married any longer.

Eventually though, God made Himself known in our lives. And despite our hard heads and hard hearts, He got through to us and let us know that we had a whole lot that we needed to learn so that we COULD have a good marriage —that having a good marriage WAS and is possible. He also let us know that He was willing to teach us, if we were willing to humble ourselves and become students of marriage —marriage as HE intends. Thankfully, we accepted His invitation. We surrendered our lives and our marriage to Him and placed ourselves upon the Rock to go “from that day forward” with Christ as our Lord, God as our loving Father, and the Holy Spirit as our “Wonderful Counselor.” And counsel us, He did! And counsel us, He does! It’s an everyday process of listening, learning, and now loving… very dearly, I might add.

Just a few days away from our 41st anniversary I can say that we love each other now more than ever before. Thank you Lord.

Out of what we’ve been learning along the way to build a great marriage, Marriage Missions was born. And God breathed even more life into it to cause this ministry to have an international presence. We are truly humbled by all of this. We are just ordinary people who participate with an Amazing God and because of it, we witness miracles every day.

But Marriage Missions isn’t the only ministry that is dedicated to helping marriages. As you go through this web site, you will see that we point people to other helpful ministries, as well. And that is what I want to do here.

This week (March 11-15, 2013) The 700 Club, a ministry of CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network), is featuring a series titled, Marriage on the Rock. Every day they show testimonies of couples who have hit rock bottom in their relationships. And yet, when they came to the end of themselves and going along in a “natural” way, which destroyed them, they turned to God as we did (all of them in different ways) and their marriages have been transformed in amazing ways! The Rock of Christ is now their foundation and Cornerstone upon which they build.

I don’t know if you have access to watching The 700 Club within your area of the world. If you can, here’s what you will find:

“When staying together seems unmanageable and forgiveness seems impossible, there is a way through.

• ”Watch stories about couples who overcame fierce battles of marital strife.

• ”Get helpful tips on keeping your marriage together

• ”Discover what the Bible has to say about marriage and how God’s Word can carry us through our darkest trials.”

So, if you can, we recommend you watch the amazing stories of marriages, which have been transformed. They are very inspirational and educational.

Also, here’s a link to their web site page, which gives you the opportunity to view many of the testimonies and helpful information (not all of it, but a good portion of it):

• Marriage on the Rock

Please remember:

“Marriage is designed by God to be a total sharing of life between two people. It is a life-long bond that can be surpassed only by a person’s eternal bond with the Creator. The price is laying down one’s entire life to the one we are covenanted with in marriage.”

“Don’t let fear drive you, let faith lead you” (Jimmy Evans, from his book, Marriage on the Rock)