Throughout our 30 year marriage my husband has always been in the ministry. He has not always been a pastor, but he has always been in ministry. He has been a spiritual leader in our home as well in the places he has served, but we have never been good at praying together. Now trust me, if you had asked we would have said that prayer together was important and should be part of every marriage, but we floundered when it came to making it a regular part of our own.
Then my husband saw this video, http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/10/couples-who-pray-together-have-better-sex/, while preparing for a sermon series on marriage, and decided to suggest this prayer challenge to the couples in our church. He asked me to join him in taking the challenge a couple of weeks before he gave the sermon, and I agreed. After all, the challenge is very simple. Pray 5 minutes for each other, every day, for 40 days. All the stress is removed, all the challenges of staying awake while your spouse prays, etc.. The benefit might be that it improves your marriage, not to mention your relationship with God.
So, we began. We prayed together every day. We probably only missed 3 or 4 of the 40 days. We prayed before he went out the door. We prayed during the ads on our favorite TV show, we prayed in bed before we dropped off to sleep. Did our marriage get better? Well, I have nothing but anecdotal evidence, but I believe it did. We began to talk more, to share more about what we were feeling, and to pray about issues that had previously troubled us but gone unshared. I believe I became less defensive and he became more willing to share his heart.
We prayed for 40 days and called it a success. We prayed on. We continue to pray, 6 months later, and I believe we continue to see the benefits. How about you, are you up for a good challenge?
Then my husband saw this video, http://newsroom.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/10/couples-who-pray-together-have-better-sex/, while preparing for a sermon series on marriage, and decided to suggest this prayer challenge to the couples in our church. He asked me to join him in taking the challenge a couple of weeks before he gave the sermon, and I agreed. After all, the challenge is very simple. Pray 5 minutes for each other, every day, for 40 days. All the stress is removed, all the challenges of staying awake while your spouse prays, etc.. The benefit might be that it improves your marriage, not to mention your relationship with God.
So, we began. We prayed together every day. We probably only missed 3 or 4 of the 40 days. We prayed before he went out the door. We prayed during the ads on our favorite TV show, we prayed in bed before we dropped off to sleep. Did our marriage get better? Well, I have nothing but anecdotal evidence, but I believe it did. We began to talk more, to share more about what we were feeling, and to pray about issues that had previously troubled us but gone unshared. I believe I became less defensive and he became more willing to share his heart.
We prayed for 40 days and called it a success. We prayed on. We continue to pray, 6 months later, and I believe we continue to see the benefits. How about you, are you up for a good challenge?
