Praying for Marriages (PfM)

Please join us in praying this week for marriages dealing with sexual dysfunction.  Whether the sexual dysfunction is the immediate problem of the husband or the wife, it will ultimately be a problem for both. The causes of sexual dysfunction are numerous.  The genesis of the dysfunction can be physical, emotional, or psychological.  It can be rooted in the past or its cause can be very current.  Regardless of the origin, the effects of sexual dysfunction on a marriage can be severe. The inability to “perform” or respond sexually can lead to feelings of inadequacy, failure, humiliation, unattractiveness and frustration.   In order to avoid experiencing painful failure, couples may start to avoid intimacy altogether.  In turn, this avoidance can be devastating to the self-esteem of both husband and wife. It is not unusual for the cause of the dysfunction to be misidentified and for blame to be assumed by a spouse or assigned to a...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages being negatively affected by a disruptive friend.  Just like spouses bring their families into their marriages, they also bring their friends.  This reality is normal and healthy.  Marriage should not signal the end of pre-existing friendships.  Nevertheless, there are instances when a friend, either of the husband, wife or both, does not honor the marriage relationship and becomes an instrument of division instead of a mainstay of support. The nature of a friend’s disruptive behavior can vary widely.  A couple may be faced with a friend who does not respect their time and privacy.  They also may need to deal with a friend who does not understand that marriage can significantly affect how his or her married friend must manage money.  Martial stress can arise if one spouse makes unwise spending decisions in order not to disappoint this friend.  Married couples can also be faced ...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages dealing with the issue of jealousy.  Jealousy can arise in a marriage in a number of ways.  The cause can be internal to the marriage such as when a spouse shows excessive or inappropriate attention to a person other than his/her spouse.  In fact, jealousy can arise if the same excessive attention is given to work or even a hobby.  Another cause of jealousy that arises internally in a marriage is low self-esteem or extreme possessiveness which sees every relationship a spouse has as a threat or competition. Jealousy can also arise externally when a person outside the marriage show inappropriate attention to one's marriage partner even though that partner may be above reproach or even actively shuns the attention. Another form of jealousy that can attack a marriage is that which arises because of differences in life situations.  Jealousy can crop up if one spouse has  good relationships with parents and s...

Join us in praying this week for couples going through marital separation.  Although separation from a spouse can be necessary because of abusive and/or addictive behavior, marital separation is not a cure-all; in fact, it can lead to issues that make reconciliation even more difficult.  When separation is viewed as just a way to avoid the stresses of marital disharmony, it can lead to a false peace that provides no positive movement toward the resolution of the marital problems.  The longer that “hiatus” continues the harder it is for couples to reenter the difficult process of healing a broken marriage. Separation can deepen feelings of failure and hopelessness and chip away at a couple’s commitment to their relationship as they experience the very real physical withdrawal from one another.  This physical withdrawal, when coupled with the emotional distance almost always present in broken marriages, can make marital infidelity more tempting. ...