Twenty year anniversary

22 He who finds a wife finds what is good
    and receives favor from the Lord.  -Proverbs 18

It is twenty years today that I married the love of my life. Two decades on, our marriage is still thriving, happy and loving. While I do not know what advice to give others to have a successful marriage, I do know some of the ingredients, and much experience of what to avoid doing, thinking, or saying.

more than two make a marriage

A solid foundation is better than guesswork

Both of us had been married before, yet that was before either of us were refined by Someone greater than ourselves. While many stumble around through life and through relationships, and though some couples do find happiness with each other, my wife and I, now celebrating twenty years of marriage began with a common foundation: total commitment to Jesus Christ as LORD of our lives and our marriage.

Handbook and counseling

Any bookstore has a thousand books to advise on marriage, self-improvement, and “recovery”. Online, there are millions of websites offering their take on what it requires to be successful in marriage. Yet there are millions of pages of things to distract, separate, confuse, and ultimately destroy husbands and wives. Yet there is one “handbook” with timeless wisdom on personal development, marital advice, child-raising, and ethics. It has plenty of personal examples, which, if you learn from their mistakes and others’ success, marriage and happiness can be Eternal. Of course, I am referring to the Bible. Yet for those who believe that this is God-breathed (His Inspired Word), and have faithfully committed to followership, God, Jesus, and the Counselor (His Spirit) will help you preserve a joyful marriage and life – no matter what else is going on.