Investing in My Marriage and Family
Whether I’m getting ready in the morning, driving in the car to work, running errands, or spending time on the Web, I try to listen to FamilyLife’s broadcast FamilyLife Today. I do my best to schedule my day around it. If I’m going to be baking or doing things in the kitchen I try to do it around 9:30 a.m. so I can tune into one of my favorite radio programs.
I’ve been listening to FamilyLife Today since I first heard about it in 1995 at a Weekend to Remember® marriage getaway. (My second husband, Ben, and I attended the conference as an engaged couple.) FamilyLife Today has made such a positive impact on our lives, marriage, and family.
Before I met Ben, I had been married to my first husband for 25 years. We raised four children together. When the older two were in college and the younger two were in high school, my husband announced that he wanted a divorce. His words devastated me; I really thought that we had a good marriage.
Like me, Ben knew the devastation of divorce. His first wife left him 12 years before we met. As an engaged couple we were both very aware that we did not want to marry unless we believed with all of our hearts that God would bless our marriage.
About a year after attending our first Weekend to Remember, Ben and I got married. We’ve made a real effort to regularly invest in our relationship—we’ve attended two more Weekend to Remember conferences and I listen to FamilyLife Today every chance I can get.
“Turn the radio on”
I really appreciate how cohosts Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine share some of their own struggles—even in their marriages, as positive and strong as they are. Barbara Rainey has shared a lot of wonderful information too. I especially enjoyed her telling about traditions and how to teach children to be thankful. We have her book, Thanksgiving: A Time to Remember, and I try to read part of it at our family gathering every Thanksgiving.
I’m a note taker and even keep little self-adhesive notes in the bathroom where Ben has put a radio. I have notes all over the house from various things I’ve learned from different FamilyLife Today programs. When I hear a broadcast that I think is especially good I’ll call out to Ben, “Hey, turn the radio on.”
I still have the notes that I took more than 10 years ago from Dennis’s interview about the top five romantic needs of a woman and how her husband can meet them. I saved my notes about this so I could talk to Ben about my emotional needs. Even now I remember that message.
The interviews on FamilyLife Today help me make daily choices that are honoring to the Lord in my own spiritual walk, relationship with Ben, parenting, and grandparenting. The broadcasts on Song of Solomon, on the dangers of pornography, and on affair-proofing your marriage were especially meaningful to me. Dennis’s series on prayer and fasting encouraged me to step out in that discipline. His words about praying for our children challenged my heart.
Another especially helpful message was the Love and Respect series featuring Emerson Eggerichs. It helped me understand my God-given need to feel loved and Ben’s God-given need to be respected. I ordered a copy of this CD and passed it along to my married children.
As our grandchildren become old enough to understand the real meaning of Easter, I give them a set of FamilyLife’s Resurrection Eggs® and the book Benjamin’s Box. I learned about the eggs and book from FamilyLife Today—they’ve been a big hit with the grandkids.
Ben and I have a very strong marriage today. I really believe we owe so much of that to the great teachings we’ve been exposed to through Family Life Today.
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