The Power of Declaring Life Over Your Marriage
The Power of Declaring Life
Over Your Marriage
By Clayton & Ashlee Hurst
We ’ ve heard it said before that soul mates aren ’ t born , but created through the trenches of life . Like most couples , as we approached our wedding day , we thought we were soul mates and completely prepared for marriage . Our parents modeled great marriages to us and we assumed that we would have the same . During the first few years of marriage we began to realize we weren ’ t soul mates , and also feared we had made a terrible mistake in marrying each other . As the arguments became more frequent and the unkind words cut deeper , we slowly started our descent into a deep valley of hopelessness . We didn ’ t purposely head that direction , but before long we were in over our heads and didn ’ t think
16 • Solutions there was a way out .
At the time we were young adults and young pastors and didn ’ t feel like there was anyone we could talk to and felt ashamed to even ask . So we continued to pretend that we were perfectly fine .
We came to the tipping point in year five of our marriage and realized that if we didn ’ t make some changes we were destined for marital failure . It all began with a simple question , “ Are you willing to do whatever it takes to have the marriage you ’ ve always hoped and dreamed of ?” It was a simple question that was intended for another couple we were trying to help with their marriage . Oh the irony .