What Protected Their Marriage

“Today is our 34th wedding anniversary!” wrote a friend. “As I was thanking the Lord this morning for keeping us together, I realized that it has been only by His grace and mercy that we have remained together. There were many times we would have walked away, many times we didn’t feel love or loving, and many times we didn’t want to see or talk with each other...Having four children added disagreements about care and discipline.

“One year when the children were young, we were having an especially bad time in our marriage. My parents saw it and covenanted together to pray for our marriage. About 18 months later, they were celebrating Christmas with us. We were all sharing things about the year that we were thankful for. I shared that I was thankful because it had been the best year of our marriage!

“My mother got a sheepish grin on her face and then shared with us that they had never thought before to pray for our marriage. They had prayed for our work, our health, and our children. But that year and a half, they had prayed every day for our marriage, and the Lord had answered!”

Dear Lord, prompt me to pray the prayers that will provide the protections others most need.

“Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23).