Rules of Engagement
Whether you are married or single, this free online Christian marriage class, Rules of Engagement can help you to heal, transform, or enhance your marriage.
One of my best girl friends remarried last year. My friend is 62 and her husband is 67. Isn’t that encouraging? We are never too old for love. My friend is the happiest that I have ever seen her. Her relationship is strong and vibrant. They are active and healthy and both love the Lord with all their heart. They married each other after being together for six months and did NOT engage in pre-marital sex. They believe with all their heart that God brought them together. This is my friend’s third marriage. Her first marriage lasted over 30 years until the day her husband announced he didn’t want to be married anymore. She was devastated. Her second marriage, although they date for five years, lasted only 6 months after her new spouse went 51-50. If you don’t know what that means, it means he went CRAZY and abused her!
Now she has the love of her life. So how are they doing it? Every time I talk to her she seems more happier than the time before. They definitely have had their challenges but they seem to be working through them. Last month she shared a series of free marriage classes with me. She told me that I “had” to listen to them. It is a 12-week class that is offered by a pastor who lives the Bay Area in California. I started listening to the series and am about half way through. I believe these classes are so full of knowledge and wisdom. If you have a good marriage, they can improve it. If you need healing in your marriage, they can transform it. If you are single or in a relationship, this knowledge can help your next relationship or marriage be more successful…that is if you will put what you learn into practice.
Can You Answer These Questions?
If you are single, divorced, or having problems in your marriage, I just want to put a few questions on your heart. These aren’t for you to answer to me but to think about and answer for yourself.
1. Why do you think you’re going to be successful in your next relationship?
2. What are you going to do to ensure that you and your mate are successful?
3. What do you think creates a successful relationship?
4. How did you contribute to the failure of your last relationship?
5. What will you do differently next time around?
Many Couples are Winging It
I believe that relationships fail because couples don’t really communicate and if they do it’s on a surface level. They don’t say what they really think or feel most of the time. They don’t address issues when they surface, they keep them too themselves, hoping something will change, and when it doesn’t, walls, resistance, and resentment begins to build. Then little by little they drift apart.
I also believe that it takes more than the right ingredients (love, faith, God, compatibility, desire, attraction, common interest) to make a relationship successful. You also need the right tools to mix these ingredients together correctly. For example, you may have all the ingredients to bake a cake, but you still need the tools to create it. These tools combine, mix, blend, and heat it up the ingredients to create a finished product. A yummy cake. If you mix them incorrectly or bake the ingredients at the wrong temperature, you may still get a cake, but it won’t be the best cake. You don’t just want a marriage…you want the BEST marriage you can create. I believe many people have the good ingredients but they don’t know how to use the ingredients they have to build a long, loving, strong,and thriving relationship. Therefore, they just try to wing it.
About the Marriage Class Link
You will find the series in the middle of the page. It is called Rules of Engagement Marriage Series. You want to listen from the bottom up beginning with Part 1. You can listen to them online by clicking the MP3 link. You can also right click on the links and sync them to your mp3 player or ipod. That’s what I did. Then you can listen as you go about your day.
If you are in married or in a relationship, for best results, listen together or at least come together and discuss once or twice per week. If you go through the series and have any comments or future testimonies, please share them with me.
I was able to get the Rules of Engagement Workbook from the church free of charge.