10 The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. – John 10:10 (NLT)

Things tend to go in seasons. I have several friends right now struggling with their relationships. The enemy’s main purpose is steal, kill and destroy and this is what he wants to do with relationships, especially ones that have God in them. I remember when I was going thru my divorce I went to a friend of mine to get some “ease and comfort” by him hopping on my band wagon of pity. That is not what I got. He looked me squarely in the eyes and said “you can’t be too surprised you didn’t have God in your life or your relationship.” It was not want I wanted to hear but it was sure what I needed to hear. It stuck with me so much that when Amy and I decided to get married I wanted to make sure we had God’s full approval. I believe we did and that’s when the enemy attacked us from every front. I believe he was determined to take down our marriage. We were so blessed that we had very healthy friends around us to help walk us thru some of the things we were going thru.

One of our friends was instrumental in directing us to an organization called National Institute of Marriage. They offered a 4 day marriage intensive that teaches couples how to communicate at a deeper level and to share from the heart. When the enemy learned of this he started to put objections in our path. Things like, “we can’t afford it”, “we can’t take that much time off of work”, “counseling doesn’t work”, “you only need this other program”, “just use the bible and pray about it”, and the list goes on and on. I believe God’s word is like a tool box, you can’t carry tools around to fix things if you don’t have the foundation of the tool box. I also believe God provides tools to go into the tool box with different programs, training, studies, etc. I can’t drive a nail with only a tool box, I need a hammer. I began to look at the relationship skills that NIM offered as a tool that can go into my tool box. Amy and I needed to learn how to share from the heart and all the prayer in the world wasn’t helping. We needed God to provide the hammer that we could put into his tool box. Through NIM’s 4 day intensive, twice because we needed more tools, a very loving couple that was dedicated to walking thru life with us by meeting with us every week after the intensive for almost a year, and some intense conversations with each other we made it thru and we feel like our marriage is the healthiest it’s ever been. Thru all of this we were able to begin serving God’s kingdom by investing in people, delivering meals, and spreading God’s word. No wonder the enemy didn’t want us to make it. If your relationship or someone you know is struggling, remember your spouse is not the enemy, Satan is and he wants to rob you and God of what your relationship could be. For more information about what NIM offers check out the Links Page on our website.