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Engaged

Engaged

Marriage is the biggest step in any couple's life. Before tying the knot, it can be good to plan your marriage, in order to uphold the vows you will say on your wedding day.

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Getting Ready for Marriage

Congratulations on this wonderful milestone. Few seasons in life are filled with as much joy and anticipation as the time spent preparing to get married.

You have probably heard it said as you plan your wedding, you should not forget to plan your marriage. It sounds so abstract to “plan a marriage” in the midst of the more tangible (and demanding) project of planning a wedding. How do you do it?


STEP ONE: Learn From Others

Research demonstrates the long-term value of making time now for marriage education classes or premarital counseling. Those efforts go even further when you supplement them by spending time with an older married couple whose relationship you admire.


STEP TWO: Plan with Patience

Couples often overlook the importance of using the wedding planning season as practical marriage preparation. You can intentionally set the tone for your marriage by the values you live out in planning your big day. The transformational process of “becoming one” can occur in everything from how you assemble your guest list to how you determine a honeymoon destination.


STEP THREE: Discover the Purpose of Marriage

A wedding is bigger than you as an individual and even bigger than you both as a couple. Ephesians 5 describes a couple laying down their lives for one another and becoming one as an icon of God’s sacrificial love for His church. That is the counter-cultural call of Christian marriage. Read The Marriage Masterpiece by Al Janssen in order to discover the beautiful picture God intends every marriage to reflect.


STEP FOUR: Create a Meaningful Event

To focus on the sacred nature of marriage in the early church, couples often stood during the course of a weekly service to exchange their vows.

Those weddings were a part of the community of faith’s worship routine and a public vow within a church body. They do not have anything resembling the grand ceremonies typical of modern weddings, focusing instead on the meaning and purpose of marriage. That is not to say big celebrations are out of order, but many risk making them so complex that they fail to honor God or the community they are uniting both of which are the basis for a strong Christian marriage.


recommended books

Before You Say "I Do"

By H. Norman Wright and Wes Roberts

Build a love that lasts. At a time when more people are delaying marriage or writing it off altogether, couples ready to walk the aisle will appreciate a frank and trusted resources to help them start marriage on the right foot. 

This interactive guide will help you explore your relationship in depth and will:
Provide new insight into your partner and how the two of you relate to one another
Establish your wants and needs as individuals and a couple before your marriage begins
Lay the groundwork for open and honest conversation for a stronger, healthier marriage
Reveal how life events and family background can influence decision making in finances, family, education, faith and career
Engage you in activities that lead to thought-provoking discussion that address your past experiences and current expectations

Engaging and easy-to-use, Before You Say "I Do" is full of tried-and-true wisdom to help you plan for your future and build a lasting relationship with the one you love.

Your Marriage Masterpiece

By Al Janssen

God created marriage as a beautiful work of art that reflects his glory to the world. But our culture has undervalued and misunderstood it, causing it to lose some of its luster. Like recent restoration projects on the Sistine Chapel and the Mona Lisa, it is time to return marriage to its former glory, and the only way to do that is to take a closer look at what the artist had in mind all along.

In this newly revised and expanded book, Al Janssen takes a fresh look at the exquisite design God has for marriage and brings to light the reasons this union was intended to last a lifetime. The chapters weave real-life stories with great teaching and biblical narratives in order to paint a complete picture of all that marriage can be. Readers will examine elements such as passion, adventure, and commitment that come together to make up the colors of God's design. They will also discover new ways to reflect God's love within marriage--revealing his plan for men and women from the moment he created us.

Love and Respect

By Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

Discover the Single Greatest Secret to a Successful Marriage. Psychological studies affirm it, and the Bible has been saying it for ages. Cracking the communication code between husband and wife involves understanding one thing: that unconditional respect is as powerful for him as unconditional love is for her. It's the secret to marriage that every couple seeks, and yet few couples ever find. Today, you and your mate can start fresh with the ground-breaking guidance that Dr. Emerson Eggerichs provides in this book. His revolutionary message, featured on Focus on the Family, is for anyone: in marital crisis...wanting to stay happily married...who's feeling lonely. It's for engaged couples...victims of affairs...pastors and counselors seeking material that can save a marriage.

Using Dr. Eggerich's breakthrough techniques, couples nationwide are achieving a brand-new level of intimacy and learning how to: - stop the Crazy Cycle of conflict - initiate the Energizing Cycle of change - enjoy the Rewarded Cycle of new passion

And if you'll take this biblically based counsel to heart, your marriage could be next!

En Español

Amor y respeto

By Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

El libro del Dr. Emerson Eggerichs, Amor y Respeto, se basa en el pasaje bíblico de Efesios 5:33 (En todo caso, cada uno de ustedes ame también a su esposa como a sí mismo, y que la esposa respete a su esposo - NVI). Su premisa es que la comunicación entre marido y mujer es a menudo frustrada por las formas muy diferentes en las que los hombres y las mujeres perciben el amor. Las mujeres están conectados a la necesidad de amor incondicional y los hombres necesitan sentirse respetados incondicionalmente. ¡Revitalice el amor en su matrimonio! Recomendad por Enfoque en la Familia.

Los cinco lenguajes del amor

By Dr. Gary Chapman

Mantener vivo el amor en nuestros matrimonios es un asunto muy serio. Al aprender los cinco lenguajes del amor, tú y tu cónyuge descubrirán sus lenguajes únicos del amor y aprenderán pasos prácticos para amarse de verdad el uno al otro. Sin embargo, con toda la ayuda disponible de los expertos en los medios de comunicación, ¿por qué es que tan pocas parejas parecen haber encontrado el secreto para mantener vivo el amor después de la boda? Entonces, ¿cuál es el problema? El problema es que hemos pasado por alto una verdad fundamental: Las personas hablan diferentes lenguajes de amor. Una vez que identifiques y aprendas a hablar el lenguaje principal del amor de tu cónyuge, de seguro que habrás descubierto la clave para un matrimonio amoroso y duradero.



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