Thursday, June 11, 2009

Fighting for Your Marriage: A Reminder from Dennis Rainey

Saw this devotional recently by Dennis and Barbara Rainey. I hope it encourages you in your own marriage today - to continue to fight it even when the inevitable challenges come. And also to remind you that other couples you know need encouragement as well. May the Lord lead you to respond as you need to! God bless you all!

Finders Keepers

What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. Mark 10:9 NASB

Research has shown that about two-thirds of all divorces today are occurring in low-conflict marriages. That is, they're ending without a death blow like infidelity or physical abuse. Instead, a couple simply accumulates enough disagreement and disharmony that they begin believing that the best option for doing away with the headaches is just to do away with the marriage.

If you know people in that situation, urge them to fight for their marriage. Tell them not to quit without taking another lap around the track--without stopping to realize that the best marriage to be in is the one they already have.

I received an email not long ago from a radio listener who was convicted by an interview he had heard on one of our broadcasts. He and his wife were divorced, and he was close to marrying another woman. He wasn't sure what he should do. I couldn't get away from his message. I read it and reread it. Finally, I just sat down to call him, and asked, "Is there any possibility of reconciling with your wife before you move on to remarriage? Look, you're still going to be married to an imperfect person, even if you swap one spouse for another. Only now you're going to be bringing all that divorce baggage into your new relationship."

One researcher told me that if a couple can find as little as 20 percent of their marriage that they would call satisfactory, they have a better than 90 percent chance of making their marriage better in two years--if they stick with it, if they keep fighting, if they don't give up and throw in the towel too soon.

Discuss: Do you know a couple who appears to be close to giving up? Talk about what you can do to help.

Pray: Pray hard for the struggling marriages you know.

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