Real Life Marriage
September 21, 2009 | 1 Comments | Featured, Life-change, Marriage
Stuart and Diane are a young married couple with one daughter and another child on the way. They attend LifePoint Church and are a hard working, fun loving couple who are ‘doing life together’ in this fast paced world we live in.
After approximately four years of marriage they began to experience what is commonly refer to as “struggles.” Doing life together was not always easy, not always fun. They realized they had differences which at times caused arguments and the arguments caused division. Initially they thought their struggles were the typical marital issues everyone experiences, but began feeling otherwise when at times the struggles seemed unbearable. There were days they were ready to “throw in the towel,” until…
They were invited to attend Real Marriage. Real Marriage, led by Rodney and Selma Wilson, is an event for married couples to experience incredible music, creative programming, and a relevant message—all designed to encourage and empower marriages. Each event focuses on one of the 6 Essentials of a Healthy Marriage, Cultivate Communication, Treasure Trust, Hurry Home, Celebrate Sex, Nuture Romance, and Include God.
Their initial reaction to the invitation was a negative one, Stuart and Diane had no intentions of attending, but decided “what can it hurt?”, so they went to their first Real Marriage event. That evening Rodney and Selma addressed “Cultivating Communication.” Quite honestly it could not have come at a better time. As they listened, Stuart and Diane began to realize the problems they were experiencing were actually quite common among married couples. They said, “We felt like Rodney and Selma were speaking directly to our problems, and offering us helpful advice. We realized that our problems were manageable, fixable.” They both agreed that as a result of listening to and applying what they had learned that evening, their relationship began to experience renewal.
Diane said, “The biggest thing I walked away with that evening was learning to build one another up by what we say to each other”.
Stuart added, “We didn’t know what to expect, never having attended before…a lecture maybe. It ended up being so enjoyable. There was a lot of laughter, great desserts and fun couple games. And wow, to hear people talk about sex at a church function…crazy!!! They even took snapshots of couples giving each other a little kiss during the night and then put the pictures up on the screen for us all to see. It was fun!
Rodney and Selma talked about real-life stuff and instead of just preaching to us, they talked to us as if we were their friends, really wanting to help us figure this whole thing out, they really care. The title of the seminar is very appropriate, they speak to Real-life Marriages. We are actually invited people to attend with us this year.”
Diane and Stuart also said another important fact that was shared during the course of the night is that when you argue, and you will, learn how to talk things out, be honest with each other, but do it in a way that is not belittling the other, talk things out and talk each other up, keeping in mind that men need praise and women need to feel secure.
Stuart and Diane strongly believe that their marriage is much better today because of what they learned at Real Marriage, ‘took home’ and applied to their relationship. Is their marriage perfect? No, but they continue to work each day to build one another up and cultivate communication.
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