Praying for Marriages (PfM)

Join us this week in praying for marriages experiencing the “empty nest.”  Couples who have children know that one day their children will “leave the nest” and establish independent lives of their own.  Even so, and even for those who have given it thought, the departure can take couples by surprise and create a void they do not know how to fill. This situation can be particular difficult if a couple has not maintained a balance between their role as parents and their role as husband and wife.  All of a sudden it is just the two of them and they do not know what to do with their spouse.   Oddly enough, an awkward period of re-acquaintance may be necessary as spouses re-orient their time and attention toward one another. Some couples can experience a real sense of loss when the last child leaves the house, particularly if the empty nest comes quickly or unexpectedly or if the separation from children involves great distance or u...

Please join us this week as we pray for couples that are the primary caregivers for an aging parent.  This life-situation can turn life on its head as roles are reversed and the children become the parents and the parent the child.  At best this situation can be awkward; at worst is can lead to serious conflicts.  A parent, who has had a lifetime of making decisions, now has children making decisions for him/her.  These can be small decisions (“Dad you should not climb that ladder”), to life-style-altering decisions (“Mom, you can’t drive anymore"). Caring for an aging parent can also limit the freedom of the couple.  It can mean giving up travel plans, changing long-established schedules and learning that the old “spur-of-the-moment” event now requires planning.  All the decisions that come with caring for an aging parent can also put the couple at odds with siblings who have different ideas about what is best. Additionally, if the...

Join us this week in praying for marriages dealing with infertility. Couples dealing with infertility experience drastic ups and downs, hopes and disappointments, month after month.  Hormonal issues can create mental and physical weariness for the wife.   Medical testing and treatments and their side affects can be a burden to both spouses and also strain their financial resources. The marriage relationship itself can also be tested, particularly when the husband and wife cope with disappointment differently and grieve differently. Also, the spirits of couples in this life situation can be wounded by insensitive or thoughtless questions and statements made by their family and friends. Finally, despite their best efforts to rejoice with others, these couples can struggle emotionally as they see their friends becoming pregnant and have children with apparent ease, while their hopes are frustrated again and again. As you lift these couples up, pray th...

Please join us this week in praying for the marriages of those in pastoral ministry. Because of the various demands of the pastoral role, it is easy for the pastor to become wedded to his ministry, fully believing he is doing good when in fact he is a workaholic, neglecting the needs of his spouse and unintentionally undercutting the very ministry to which he has been called. Also, in the process of being "all things to all men,” pastor and spouse can get so caught up in the busyness of knowing everyone, attending everyone's "special" events and caring for everyone during crisis that they fail to slow down and take the time to build deep, personal friendships and consequently miss out on the joy and support these friendships can supply. Finally, marriages of those in the pastoral ministry are lived in a fishbowl.  The business of the pastor and spouse is everybody's business.  This fact can cause those in the pastoral ministry to put up a false ...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages that have grown emotionally cold.  Emotional coldness in a marriage can be as destructive as rage and is more insidious.  Rage is like a fire that ignites and is immediately recognized as damaging.  Emotional coldness, or emotional distance, as some would call it, is like freezing weather, uncomfortable for sure, but too often not identified as damaging until frozen pipes start to break. The growth of emotional coldness in a marriage can have its origin in any number of situations.  Excessive attention to children to the determent of a spouse can cause a marriage relationship to cool.  The same can be said of excessive attention to work, to a hobby or, yes, even to a ministry.  Discounting the need to give and ask for forgiveness when a hurt has been caused to a spouse can be the seed-bed of emotional coldness. Being unaware of how a spouse expresses his/her emotions can cause one to miss cues that would n...