Over the past few months, so many people have told us ways that God is healing and strengthening their marriages. 

A pastor of a church in Malawi shared that he and his wife were on the brink of divorce. But this past year, with unexpected extra time together (ahem… lockdown), they had the opportunity to study what the Bible says about God’s intentions for marriage and to learn some key skills, like how to practice forgiveness and how to handle disagreements. The pastor says that now in his family there is peace, there is no fighting, and they are living a happy life.

Another church leader from Africa explained, “We have experienced a lot of shifts in marital relationships during Covid. Many couples were reuniting after a long time staying apart—either in distant gaps (living in different places) or relational gaps. Now these couples were re-learning each other, like starting all over again…. For most, this was not without conflicts, yet it eventually brought them together again. Most mended their relationships. But for some, counselling is still needed…. Even pastor friends also shared the intensity of marriage differences during this time.”

And another: “I like the example [in the Churches Stronger lesson] of appreciation, because I think it’s a necessity to both husband and wife…Unfortunately, I think in our African culture we are never taught to appreciate one another, but husbands roles are considered more superior than wives even in the church. Most women feel like workers instead of companions, leaving them without any relationship with their husband. May the Lord help us.”

A woman in ministry in India shared, “What touched me most in lesson 2 is confession of anger…then the dialogue and forgiveness. This is a learning and challenging experience that calls for constant fixing with prayer.”

I love these! I love that God is always at work and can even use something like a pandemic to bring families back together and restore relationships. 

But these stories and testimonies also reveal some of the pressures that marriage is under:

  • Many couples don’t even live in the same place. It is extremely common for one spouse to live in another city or country where there are more job opportunities in order to support the family. Other times, couples aren’t living together because of a rift in the relationship. Let’s pray that God will reunite families.
  • In many cultures, wives are treated as servants rather than equal partners in a marriage. Women, as well as men, firmly believe and perpetuate these roles. We need to pray that God will reveal the truth: that both men and women are made in God’s image and equally valued by Him, and that marriages are meant to be marked by mutual love, respect, and submission (Ephesians 5).
  • Very few of us would say that we enjoy confessing when we’ve done something wrong, forgiving someone who has hurt us, or facing and resolving conflicts. Most of us have never truly learned how to do these things—especially if we grew up in a home where it wasn’t modeled in a healthy way. So we avoid it. Our brothers and sisters in the Majority World are no different. All of us need prayer that God would help us learn to work through conflicts in ways that honor God and strengthen our relationships.

We’ve heard and shared many stories over the years (like these from Uganda and India) that tell how marriages around the world are really hurting, but also remind us that we serve a powerful God. Nothing is too hard for Him. No marriage is beyond His power to heal and restore.

Please do set aside a few minutes alone, with your spouse, or with a small group to pray for marriages this month. You may want to use our prayer card to help guide your prayers.