Bayside Baptist Church

Jason King: Does anybody else hear that voice and think that we should build our marriages to be Ford Tough? Does anybody hear that? Do y'all hear that same voice? It just occurred to me that that's what we're doing.

We've been in a series the last few weeks that is called Stronger Together, how to build a marriage that lasts. We've been learning that whether you're dating and hope to be married, engaged and tracking towards that, or you're newly married or been married a long time, or even if you're on the other side, maybe you're widowed or you're single, we've been learning what it looks like to build a marriage that lasts.

I would say to you that if you're dating or maybe hope to get married one day, take some notes and lean into what God's picture for marriage is. If you're engaged, it's coming close. If you're married, this is what God has for you. If you're single or widowed, this is what you can pray for those who are married and for the people that you know in your life that are.

We've been learning to build a marriage that lasts to be stronger together. Today I want to talk to you about what is one of the greatest challenges I think that you face and that you will face in a marriage relationship. It's learning to communicate with each other. Sometimes that's one of the toughest things, not just to talk, but to learn to understand one another.

I heard about a businessman who was on a flight one day and he moved over slightly to let a young man in the seat row who was seated next to him. As they got to talking, the business guy asked the young guy if he was traveling for business or pleasure. He said, "I'm traveling for pleasure. It's actually my honeymoon." The business guy said, "That's awesome. Where's your wife? Is she not sitting with you?" He said, "The flight was super full, and so we couldn't get a seat together, so she's a few rows back."

The businessman said, "We're not taking off yet. Let me move and trade seats with her that way y'all can sit together." The young guy looked at him and he said, "Nah, I'm good. I've been talking to her all week." Isn't that sometimes how it is even on your honeymoon?

It doesn't stop the longer that you're married. Even though marriage is one of the greatest things in the world, it can be difficult. It's like the man who shared with his friends that he and his wife were going through this new season of life as empty nesters. He said that as they went through empty nest syndrome together, it was almost like his wife reverted to treating him like a child.

He said, "We go to the grocery store, for example, and I reach for a box of cereal, and she slaps my hand and says, 'We're not getting that this week.' What wouldn't you know, the next aisle I'm reaching for some potato chips and she slaps my hand again. I get so frustrated, I get out of the shopping cart and I go and I walk to my car and wait on her to get done."

We've been learning the last few weeks what it truly means to grow stronger together. That's my heart, that is our heart for this series. Look no matter where you are, whether you're dating or engaged or whether you're newly married or been at it for 50 years plus or even if you're single or widowed, there would be some things that God would deposit in our lives to help one another.

The first week we talked about how there is a real enemy to your marriage, and it's not your spouse. It feels like it sometimes. Sometimes that angst starts to rise up and over time as you drift apart, you can begin to think that your spouse is the enemy, but there is a real enemy and he is trying to steal and kill and destroy you in your marriage, but your spouse is not the enemy.

A couple weeks ago we talked about how God has a specific role inside the marriage for the husband and for the wife. When we operate as God has intended, it unleashes the blessing of God in our relationship as the husband leads the family. You remember last week our guest Ted Cunningham taught us that our spouses are not the grind of life, but instead our spouses are our companions and they're to bring joy. We're to have joy together as we walk in the grind of life.

Today I want to continue in that and talk about communication and what that looks like. If you have a Bible you can turn to page two of your Bible. Genesis chapter two is where we're going to be and we're going to look at the very first marriage, the very first relationship that God brings together between Adam and Eve. You may remember that all of God's purpose in this moment was to bring a helper that was suitable for Adam. He tried a lot of different things, nothing fit, but he created woman.

This is what the text says in Genesis chapter 2, verse 23. As he looked at her and he brought her to him, he said, "At last! This is it!" the man exclaimed. "This is bone of my bone, or bone from my bone and flesh from my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken from man." Verse 24 continues and says, "This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife and the two are united into one."

In the very first marriage, this picture is given to us of God's intention. There's a lot in this passage just for you and me today when we think about marriage. Number one, I would say to us in a day where marriage is devalued and it's like, "We're as good as married" or "We consider ourselves married," there is this reality of the covenant of marriage that you make with one another and before God that God recognizes of your relationship being brought together.

This is the first marriage, and it's His intent and His design for marriage. After Adam named all the animals, he did not find a helper that was suitable for himself. God creates Eve, and when Adam meets her, His reaction is like, "Oh baby girl, you it." Maybe that's what it says. That's what I think Adam was saying in the middle of that.

He's no longer alone. This is key in understanding marriage because the two, two people, become one flesh. Marriage as defined by Scripture is a covenant where a man chooses to leave his father and his mother. He leaves them behind and he shifts the focus of his life, the loyalty of his life to his wife.

As he grew up, his parents provided the emotional bond and attachment most likely, but when he gets married, his focus, his devotion and everything else about him, his loyalty turns to his wife above everyone else. A married man is to cling to his wife. That means his primary identification in all of life is now with her, and then she follows him to do the same thing with her family.

The man and the woman become one flesh together. It's a fully shared life between a husband and a wife. To become one flesh means that your relationship with your spouse overrides even existing blood relationships. Some of you need to hear that today. That means that you listen to your spouse before you listen to your mama or your daddy or your brother or sister or a friend.

It means that marriage is the deepest bond between two people that can exist. Within the marriage relationship, as the two become one, it means that you are breaking down every dividing wall between the two of you and you become one flesh. According to the Word, every other relationship, whether it be parents or children or work or friends, is placed on a shelf lower in priority than your relationship with your spouse. To become one flesh means that there's a lifelong, exclusive joining together of one man and one woman in one life fully shared.

I've heard it said before that marriage puts a boundary or a barrier around the husband and wife that are joined together and knocks down every barrier between them. But there's a problem. If you keep reading the very next chapter in the book of Genesis, things change and they change very quickly. What God has intended, this relationship that God has intended you and your spouse to have and He's designed you to experience, it begins to be distorted in the very next chapter of the book of Genesis.

In chapter three, what happens if you begin to read, things change and they change quickly. Satan in the form of a serpent appears and he talks to Eve and he convinces her to do the one thing that God said, "This is off limits." It's kind of like the natural human tendency we have today. Wherever the line is, we just want to go just a little bit past it.

You want to go just a little bit beyond the speed limit, just a little bit beyond what you're supposed to do and press the envelope. In dating, it's like, "How far is too far?" We try to press the limit. God said, "There's one tree over there. You can have the whole garden, but stay away from that. You need to trust me here." What did Adam and Eve do at the serpent's direction and tempting? They chose to do what God said, "Don't do."

The result of that is it changed everything. Several things happened in that moment that affect you today and me today. Number one, sin entered into the world. It became a reality for all of us. You were given, inherited, a sinful nature just by being born. We're not good people that screw up at some point and then something's wrong with us. We are born with a blood disease. Our sinfulness runs through us. It doesn't start at a certain point; we're born that way.

Because of Adam and Eve's choice, sin has affected all of us. Now when you're joined together with your spouse, you don't just have your own sin to deal with. Your spouse has their sin and you come together in this relationship. Most of us are quick to dismiss our sin. It's not that big a deal; it's just how I was raised; it's how I feel; it's what I've done. But we're quick to point out the sin in our spouse's life. Neither of us thinks that our sin is a big deal, our own sin, but the reality of it is sin is significant in your life and mine.

Sin, the Bible teaches us, is born in our lives from temptation. Temptation is very real for you and for me today, which is a second passage of scripture I want to look at in just a moment. You can flip over to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and that's what I want to talk to you about is learning to apply this passage of scripture in your marriage and specifically, the temptation I want to address today is the temptation to never really learn to communicate with your spouse.

It's a journey to learn to communicate with one another, but what I want you to see in this text from the apostle Paul is some realities that are shared in the human experience that we all have, that your marriage shares with other people's marriages, that your life shares with other people.

Look what Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13. He says, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. And when you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure."

Now what I want you to hear more than anything, you're married or not, temptation is a reality in your life. There are all sorts of temptations, but the apostle Paul says right here, in the midst of the things that you're facing, the enemy is going to try to convince you that you're the only one, that your marriage is the only marriage dealing with that, that you're the only one with that problem. Paul says no, no, no. The temptations, that word can also be defined as tests or trials that you are dealing with, are no different than what other people are experiencing.

You know what that means? It means you're not alone. You see, the enemy wants to isolate you. He wants to divide you between one another, divide you away from other people, and isolate you. He wants you to believe that you're the only one that's facing this temptation, you're the only one that doesn't know how to communicate with your spouse, you're the only one, but it's not true.

So no matter what temptation you face, whether you're married or not, no matter what it is, you're not the only one facing it. Paul also says in that passage, did you notice that, he says God is faithful. In other words, God doesn't give up on you just because you're in the midst of temptation. He doesn't give up on you when you fall into temptation.

It says He's faithful, and He wants to help you in the midst of even the most severe temptation, the most severe test that you can walk through, the most difficult circumstance where you're just thinking, "You know what, I want to give up" or "I want to get out of this." He wants to help you in the midst of that. He wants to help you find the way out.

Now that doesn't mean that you will be able to avoid temptation. No, it doesn't mean you're going to be able to avoid trials. It means that He wants to help you through it. He says He wants to help you endure, He wants to help you walk through. You don't have to fall, you don't have to give in, you don't have to succumb to the temptation. You can count on the Lord to help you in the midst of every temptation, including the temptations that you face in marriage.

If you were here last week, you know that we share an experience just as people that we laughed about. I mean, who left here last week talking about which way you put the toilet paper roll on the toilet paper holder? I mean, we all know that it's supposed to go to the outside, not the inside. We all know that, but we all laughed about that because we can all identify with that. We can all identify with who squeezes the toothpaste a certain way, who rolls it up so real nice and tidy, and who just slops it everywhere. We laugh about those things because it is a common experience for us.

So you need to know that whatever you're walking through today, whatever temptation it is, whatever trial you're walking through, you are not alone. Whatever challenge you're walking in your marriage today, you're not alone. The apostle Paul's saying look, what you're facing today, you're not the only one. It's a part of the human experience, it's common to man, but God is faithful also in the midst of it to provide a way out of the temptation you face. You can endure. You can find a way through.

You do not have to give into temptation even if you've given into it before. God promises to help you. Now I do feel like I need to make a public service announcement right here. When we're talking about getting out of temptation, please don't go fishing for validation thinking, "This means I can get out of my marriage. It's temptation; I'm going to get out." No. We can meet afterwards and talk about that a little bit if you have further questions, but that's not what he's talking about.

He's not talking about the temptation that you can get out of it means you just get out of your marriage. No, no, no. He's saying, man, God will see you through it and give you the strength that you need to be able to live and honor your spouse in that relationship. You can resist, you can overcome, you can make it through temptation. Now as a married man or woman, you're going to face a lot of different temptations. No matter your age, no matter the season of life that you're in, the enemy is looking to steal and kill and destroy you. The enemy is constantly lurking, looking for an opportunity in your life.

So I want to talk for the next few minutes specifically about one of the greatest temptations that I see as a pastor in the lives of people. It's the temptation to avoid learning to communicate with one another in your marriage. I'm not sure who said it first, but somebody said that the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.

Temptation is everywhere, and you're going to be facing the temptation of learning to communicate with one another or to avoiding that. Communication is not just talking to each other or at one another, but to really understand one another, to be vulnerable, to let them in and to open up and be real with your spouse, especially about other temptations and tests and trials that you face together as a couple.

You see, if you're not intentional to develop and cultivate this kind of relationship with your spouse, it can be very difficult to invite your spouse into some of the places that you need to be vulnerable. I would say to you, no matter how long you've been together, if that's a struggle for you, the best thing that you can do is begin to take a step towards that to invite your spouse in, to open your heart and to open your life to them in this way.

Now I know very few of us are comfortable with putting ourselves out there in such a way that it leaves us vulnerable. Fellas, we don't want to talk about our struggles and our battles or our insecurities or our fears or our failures, but can I say this to all of us? We need to learn to communicate with each other the good, the bad, and the ugly.

You see, the goal is not just to say a lot of words to each other. It's to genuinely understand one another. Did you know that married couples spend on average 27 and a half minutes per week talking to each other, according to a speech communication expert? But they also spend 46 hours a week watching TV. But that was in 1989.

Now you have this little thing in your pocket or your purse that if you look at your screen time, it's probably significantly more time that you invest looking at a screen, and yet there is the need to learn to communicate in a real way with your spouse. You see, oftentimes when there's a gap of understanding between you and your spouse, inevitably it leads to conflict.

Do you know what human nature is when we don't have information? Do you know what we do? When you don't have information, when I don't have information, we make something up. I mean, come on, right? You don't get the information you want, you make it up, you come up with something, your perception, your sense of whatever leads you to just make something up in the absence of information.

So it's important in a marriage to make sure that you communicate with one another because if you don't, it leads to a gap between the two of you and you don't automatically assume the best about why your husband didn't take out the trash, do you ladies? You don't assume the best about why she did what she did, do you fellas? No, we assume the worst, and when conflict is unresolved, when we don't communicate with one another, it bubbles up higher and higher until eventually it explodes, which opens the door to the work of the enemy in your life and in your marriage to divide and to conquer.

It's okay. In a marriage sometimes we're kind of like two porcupines, right? Two porcupines got cold one day and so they moved together to get warm and they kept poking each other so they'd have to pop apart, right? And then they get cold again and they come back together and poke one another.

You see, if you and your spouse are intentional to communicate with each other, then you're going to poke each other every now and then. Some of the married folk, give me an amen right now? You're going to poke each other every now and then, but you need one another. If you'll learn to communicate as you face the tests and the trials and the temptations that come, you truly will grow stronger together.

So for the last few minutes that we have together, I want to invite you to talk through, to look at six key areas that I believe that if you're tracking towards being married or you are married, that you need to have conversations about and you need to lean into, no matter where you are in the midst of that. Whether you're with every couple that I help prepare to be married, we talk through these things, but I do think that whether you've been married a little while or a long time, you need to come back and have conversations about these six key areas that you need to be together with your spouse in.

So here they are. The first one is money. Let's just jump right in. Did you know that one of the top reasons for marital issues and one of the top factors leading to divorce are finances? We come from different backgrounds, you come from different places, different understandings of money. One is usually the spender, one is the saver.

Heard about a prospective father-in-law that said to his daughter's boyfriend one day, he said to him, he said, "How much money do you have in the bank?" And the young guy said, "Well, I don't know, I haven't shaken it in a while." No matter how much you have, no matter how much you don't have, there's only that much to go around each month and you have to manage what you have.

Most folks do find a way to use every single penny of income. If you and your spouse are not communicating about money, you're not talking about money, it can create stress and pressure. You need to talk about it, not just when things get tight, but you need to talk about money. Can I give you a few suggestions on that to start off?

You don't need to separate your money. Look, the Bible said just a minute ago that the two become one flesh. I think that means that what you earn, each of you, you earn together. I think that means you need to discuss major purchases and decide together before you go forward and agree. Fellas, don't bring home that new truck or that new boat without talking to her. Ladies, don't go book that seven-day cruise with the girls without having a conversation with him, right?

Do you have a budget? If you don't have a budget, you need to sit down together and create one that shows where the money that you have, the income that you have coming in, is going to be spent. If you're engaged or maybe you're early in your marriage, one of the most foundational, challenging questions I was ever asked when Christy and I were walking through pre-marital counseling was, "Do you plan to both of you continue to work after you have kids?"

They said, "If not, live on one income out of the gate. Don't start living on two because it'll be really hard to cut back after you establish a lifestyle." But you need to talk, you need to have these conversations. Most likely one of you is a spender, one of you is a saver, but you need to get on the same page with how to handle money and do it together. Money is one of the top reasons for divorce.

Inevitably, managing money can bring stress. It seems like at our house unexpected expenses happen in threes. Anybody feel me on that? It's like one after another after another, and you can plan as best you can, but there's a reason they call them unexpected because you're not expecting them and it can create stress, but you need to talk about money.

The second area that you need to have conversations about is sex. Now I know we're not supposed to talk about that in church. Or at least that's how it's been when I was growing up, we didn't talk anything about it, but I do think that this is the very place we need to be talking about this because we don't need to be learning from out in the world how this applies to our lives. God says a lot about the topic of sex inside this Word.

The reality is that in our day we're surrounded by sex constantly. Sex drives are strong. God created us with this desire, but the enemy wants to creep in and to distort it in the wrong directions. Few people are immune to this kind of attack. That's why in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 4, the author of Hebrews says this, "Give honor to marriage and remain faithful to one another in marriage."

You need to honor one another by learning to talk with each other about this area of your marriage and your lives. Choose to be faithful to one another. Your bodies belong to one another as well as to yourself. I think that means you need to take care of yourself and make sure that you care for yourself. Don't do the typical marriage thing and let yourself go once you get them, don't do that.

But also I think it means you should respond to one another in this way. Talk to each other about this part of your marriage, fulfill each other's needs, and it greatly reduces the risk of affairs. I want to say to some of you today who are struggling with pornography and it's eating your lunch and you think it's just a deal between you and your phone or you and whatever, it affects your relationship. You don't need to introduce or allow the presence of pornography in your relationship. Get some help. We want to help you if that's where you are, but you need to figure out how to honor your spouse in that way.

Can I just say another parenthetical word with today's day of social media? You need to be careful about connections with other people of the opposite sex, especially past flames or people that you've known from the past. You need to give your spouse access to all of your stuff so that you can honor one another in this way.

The third area is kids. If you're engaged or plan to be married, you need to talk about kids. How many do you want to have? When do you want to start having children? How do you plan to raise them? How will you discipline them? Can I just say, please don't gentle parent. The rest of us are begging you. Good grief, please don't do it.

You see, as your kids grow up, they need to learn that there are negative consequences to dumb decisions, and we all make dumb decisions, in the same way that there are positive consequences to wise decisions, and it's your job as a parent to teach them that. Now your kids are an important part of your life, but they're not your life. No matter what season of life you're in, it requires intentionality for you and your spouse to be on the same page, whether you have little kids or whether your kids are adults and have their own kids.

You have to have conversations with one another, and you have to be intentional to prioritize your relationship with your spouse. As your kids grow older, you need to be on the same page about how you're going to let them fail. Yes, I did say that. You need to let them fail and how you're going to let them handle things like when do they need a phone? By the way, it's not eight. I'd say probably 14 or 15 is okay. They'll hate it, but they'll thank you later.

How do you help them navigate social media? You need to be on the same page with dating and a host of other things that are going to come your way. But I also want to remind you that the goal is to one day help them fly out of the nest. Not move in the basement, but fly out of the nest.

So if you have kids or you have grandkids now, you need to communicate with one another and make sure that you're helping prepare them for that day when they're out of your house and make sure that your relationship is appropriate for that stage of their life. Your 21-year-old or 35-year-old doesn't need you speaking into every decision, or really any decision, unless they ask you.

Your relationship changes with your kids as they grow up. Like Ted said last weekend, once they get married, their first call is not to their parent anymore, but it's to their spouse. Even though their spouse won't be able to fix it or won't know what to do, that's still their first call. But you got to talk, because if you don't talk, you don't know how to be on the same page together.

The next area is faith. I want to say to you that this is so important that you keep Christ at the center of your life personally. It's why we have the Life Journal. It's why we put an emphasis on every single one of us being a self-feeder and learning to walk with God because the secret to a marriage that is continuing to grow stronger over time is that you and your spouse are growing stronger in your faith, and that's how Christ stays at the center of your marriage.

Now if you're engaged or dating, I think that means you need to both be believers. You need to both love and follow Christ. There is no missionary dating or missionary engagement. If that's where you are right now, you need to punch pause or maybe even run away from that relationship. You need to be on the same spiritual page as the person you marry. If you're married to an unbeliever, you follow what 1 Peter 3 says and you model your life and live your life in such a way that shows what godliness looks like.

I love Psalm 127, these verses from the Psalms. David says this, "Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted." All the counseling, all the books, all the effort. If Christ is not at the center of your life and your relationship, the work is wasted. But yet the Lord will build a house and it won't be wasted.

"Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries who it will do it will do no good. It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for the food to eat, for God gives rest to his loved ones." What does that mean? It means if you will keep Christ at the center of your life, learn how to walk with God, encourage your spouse to do the same thing, and you'll be fine as long as you stay in that place.

Doesn't mean you won't have problems, doesn't mean you won't have difficulties, but it means if you are growing in Christ and your spouse is doing the same thing as you grow closer to the Lord, you will grow closer together. You need to be on the same page with your faith.

The next area is in-laws. Some of you may remember a late senior adult who was a part of our church named Phyllis Russell. She was in her late 90s when she passed away not too long ago, but Ms. Phyllis always had jokes. If you know Ms. Phyllis, you know what I'm talking about. But one of my favorite jokes that she told me was this: "Do you know what the difference between outlaws and in-laws is?" She said the outlaws are wanted.

Maybe you've heard that before. I would laugh every time Ms. Phyllis told that, and maybe that's how you feel, I don't know. But one of the hardest things for you to realize as you become your own family and get married, and one of the hardest things for your parents to realize, is how that relationship changes. You are leaving your current family to start your own.

You see, when a man and a woman get married, the Scriptures teach they become their own family and now they look to one another. As a couple, you have to make that break, both of you, from the families that you grew up in. If they have not already shifted to that role, your parents now become trusted confidants and advisors, but the relationship changes.

Now we're not there in our relationship with our kids yet, and some of you are living this now, but many of you have told me that one of the hardest stages of parenting is adult children. How do you know how much to be involved and how do you help them navigate the things that are there? To be present but yet keep your mouth shut and let them ask you when they need you, I'm understanding from others, is one of the most difficult things to do.

But you need to navigate this carefully. Parents, don't hold money over your kids and their spouses. If you're going to be generous, bless them. Be generous, but don't use money as a means to manipulate them or to keep them close.

We all know it, but could I say to the parents out there? And I feel this coming, I got four kids, three daughters, and I especially feel it for them, but you probably all feel this way, that nobody will ever be good enough for your child because there's nobody perfect in this world, right? Anybody feel me on that? Y'all know what I'm talking about. There's nobody that you're going to be like, "Yes, they're perfect. I can't wait." No, no, no.

But can I remind us of this? That no matter what you were told or I was told, we probably weren't good enough for our in-laws initially anyway. Just remember that. Nobody's perfect, and as your children get married, there's no need to criticize or compare families. Families are different, and it's a good thing, but as you join your lives together, you need to chart your own course as a family.

It takes time for you and your spouse to grow together and you and your parents and their parents to learn what it looks like to grow in this relationship. I do think you need to let your spouse lead in communicating with their own family of origin, especially in conflict. It will be inevitable that you'll have conflict, but if you handle it right, it can be a catalyst for growth. In-laws.

The last thing is this. What do you do for fun and recreation? Now you would think, "Why in the world would you talk about that?" You need to have fun with one another. You need to communicate with each other about what you enjoy and what brings you joy. You need to have fun spending time together and you need to talk about it and then give the other the opportunity to do these things. Don't take advantage of that opportunity, but don't shut your spouse down either. It leads to resentment.

Where you can, play together. Don't use your hobbies as a way of escape or to avoid conversation or conflict or to punish the other one. Instead, you need to laugh and to enjoy each other and to play together. You see, the reality of it is there's a lot of challenges with being married.

Yet in the midst of it, you have a man and a woman who the Scriptures teach are joined together. They become one flesh and they start their own family. As you learn to communicate with your spouse and you navigate even these areas of potential conflict, what you'll find is that as you lean towards the Lord in the midst of those and you open up your life and your heart to your spouse, you'll find that you truly can be stronger together.

Do you remember what Paul said? We read it just a minute ago. 1 Corinthians 10:13, "The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience." You may be thinking right now, "Man, we're the only couple that's dealing with this. We're the only ones that are having these money problems or this going on with our kids or this going on with our parents or this going on in our lives." No, no, no. The temptations, the trials that you're experiencing are no different than what others experience.

We need other people. And God is faithful. He's not quit on you. He's not given up on your marriage. He's not given up on you, and He's not going to allow the temptation to be more than what you can stand. When you're in the midst of it, He's going to show you a way out so that you can endure.

What I want you to hear today is that no matter where you are church right now, no matter where you are in your marriage, no matter where you are in life in this moment, maybe you've blown it and you've missed so much of this and it's difficult now, can you hear what God is inviting you to experience? He's inviting you to experience His faithfulness today.

He says, "Hey, I got you. I'm going to walk with you. I'm going to help you through this." Now that begins by opening your life up to Christ, by receiving the forgiveness of your sin and the gift of life in Jesus by faith. But then, God promises that as His child, He will be faithful to lead you, to help you, to truly help you in this relationship of marriage to be stronger together. Let's pray.