Through my recent studies of God’s Word, I’ve come to a fuller understanding of how God views marriage. Unfortunately, I think the church has failed to understand this concept, at least during my lifetime. Churches are filled with divorce, cohabitation and unlawful marriages. Yet, many, including some elderships, believe this is okay. However, does God believe it is okay? “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4 NKJV). God created marriage in the very beginning. Now, here is what many miss; from the beginning, marriage was a foreshadow of God’s relationship with man. Adam was put to sleep, his side was opened, and he woke up with a bride (Genesis 2:21-25; 3:12). Sound familiar? Maybe not. Think about how Jesus went to sleep, had His side opened up, and then he woke up to obtain a bride – His church. The world tells us that marriage should be happy and perfect. God tells us marriage should be holy and complete us in our service to Him. People are so concerned with being happy that they honestly believe it is a commandment from God! If this were the case, the church never would have grown. Think about all that Paul endured for the bride of Christ. He was abused to the point of death and was then later put to death. I don’t think I would be “happy” according to worldly standards going through those difficulties. Based on extra-biblical church history, all but one apostle was murdered for Christ’s bride.

We live in a culture that teaches us to hide our weaknesses and failures. We are told not to interfere with people’s lives, and they should not interfere with our lives. Children express the sentiment well when they say, “It is none of your business.” It breaks my heart to see how many Christians have allowed this idea and cultural response to disrupt Christian relationships. It is an absolute contradiction to the example set forth in God’s inspired Word. Ten years ago, my family faced a life altering experience. We had made poor choices that led to other poor choices. Without realizing it at the time, sin was at the heart of the whole matter. As our actions bore forth their consequences, we truly regretted what we had allowed our lives to become. By God’s amazing providence, we had recently started attending services with a congregation who understood love and bearing with one another. This congregation took us from two broken Christians who had fallen away while sitting in the pews for years to where we are today, in ministry. Without the love, support and forgiveness of this congregation, we would not be here today. The eldership, ministers, deacons and members came to us with open arms, asking us how they could help put our broken family back together. Piece by piece, they used God’s love and His Word to change us. We have no doubt that our lives would not be the same without this group of individuals. In

Over the last couple of months, I have been conversing with one of the sweetest Christian ladies I have ever met, and we were talking about her adult sons and their faith. Both of her sons have struggled with their faith. I have been searching for some wise words of God to share from the heart of a young, foolish woman to the heart of an older and wiser woman. One day, we were texting about nothing in particular, and she mentioned how much she still loves to spoil her “boys,” even though they are grown men. I thought back to some of our previous conversations and thought about how this is a recurring theme. She loves to do things to show her sons how much she loves them. Then, it occurred to me that her actions, while they were intended to show love, were probably one reason why her sons have struggled with their faith. It reminded me of a similar situation in my family. Despite being raised in the church, this young man rebelled. He was frequently found to be drinking, smoking, using profanity, having sexual relations and doing drugs. While not all these events were known at the time, they were all present. This young man had more than one run-in with the law over these behaviors. However, the loving family was always there for him. They were willing to bail him out. They paid for a good lawyer. They did every enabling thing short of buying