SHOCK
THERAPY FOR MARRIAGE

Topics: Anxiety; Faith; Growth; Husbands; Marriage; New Life; Patience; Security in God; Stress; Trust; Vows; Wives

References: Matthew 10:34–39; 1 Corinthians 7:10–17; 1 Peter 3:1–2

When I met Christ, I was forty-nine years old and had been married to my husband for seventeen years. We had two children and a quiet suburban life. We had built a comfortable life. But I knew that if I fully followed Christ, everything in my life would change. I might lose it all—my marriage, my friends, and my family.

I weighed devotion for Christ against devotion to my kids and family. I asked whether a broken marriage with Christ was better than a marriage without Christ. But gradually, as Christ’s words became my words, his love filled me and poured out of me, even to my husband, who now called me his enemy. I found that I could love my husband with a resolve I had never before experienced.

In the eighteen months that followed my full commitment to Christ, Christ has been shaping our marriage in a new way. My husband has changed dramatically from the man he was two years ago. From fighting my church attendance, he now encourages me to go. My children are going to youth group, and both are worshiping with me weekly. When I asked my husband if he would help my daughter and me to go on a mission trip to Mexico, he said, “We will make it happen.”

I have learned many lessons in these past months, but none so much as loving and trusting my Lord.

—Anonymous