Ours is a Story of Hope: How the Word of God Changed Our Marriage

I was a young believer in Christ and in my third year of marriage, learning to live life according to His ways. I could not believe how wonderful it was to experience the living water that flowed from heaven, however, there was one area of my life that seemed not to receive this living water…it was my marriage!

I became increasingly dissatisfied with where my husband Jack and I were, and in my estimation, the only solution was to leave. Divorce was not my ideal, however, it seemed to be the only solution. After all, I could not see myself living in a dead marriage for the rest of my life!

Burdened by this choice, I cried out to God in the parking lot of our local grocery store one day.  The Lord spoke very clearly to me and said, “Angelique, now that you are a believer in Me, you are to live by a different standard. If you will make a commitment to Jack, I will show you the rest of the way.” The Lord said He has come to give us life and life more abundantly, so I needed to start to believe that I could have this abundance in my marriage too. I took a leap of faith and said, “Okay, Lord, I will make a commitment to Jack and trust that You will show me the rest of the way.”

I made the first move – commitment. The Lord led us to a biblical marriage class that set us on a pathway to a happy, vibrant, and healthy marriage – the more abundant one!  The reason this course made such an impact is because it was saturated in the Word of God, which exposes those areas in our hearts that are not aligned with His will and ways. As Jack and I continued on, the course showed us why we were struggling and what we needed to do. The Word exposed the problems and then showed us how to live. “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”  (Hebrews 4:12 NKJV).

The Lord then went to work and started shaping me into the wife Jack needed and shaping Jack into the husband I needed. It’s almost like a custom-made job in an automobile workshop where antique cars are lovingly restored to their original condition. The more Jack and I learned how to walk as sons and daughters of God, the stronger our marriage became. There weren’t any “clever tricks” or “special secrets” that redeemed our marriage; it was simply the applied Word of God and His power.

Jack and I have been married for 17 years and, aside from that terrible third year, our relationship with each other has been abundant, simply because we purposed in our hearts to know what God says about marriage and then live it. We have never regretted a single step toward becoming a more spiritual being (life and peace) rather than settling for the carnal, which can ultimately lead to the death of your marriage.

If you are struggling in your marriage today, my exhortation to you would be to study the Word of God regarding marriage, and then endeavor to put this into practice in your life. You will not regret the life-transforming work that the Word of God will perform in your marriage.