Praying for Marriages (PfM)

Join us this week in praying for marriages in which the couples are involved in foster care.  Couples who choose to be foster parents are choosing an honorable endeavor, but, like any worthwhile endeavor, foster parenting can bring significant challenges to a marriage.  One of those challenges is the demand on time.  Most foster parenting situations require meetings with counselors, agencies, teachers, birth-parents etc.  These requirements take time and necessarily cut into the time a couple may be accustomed to spending with each other.  Making the most of this decreased couple time is a challenge that requires creativity and commitment. Another challenge is the emotional investment required to parent a child who likely will be experiencing some level of dysfunction because of his/her previous home situation.  Dealing with the child’s biological parents, who likely will not be satisfied with their child being removed from their care, may als...

This week please remember in prayer those married couples who have experienced a job loss.  In addition to the financial pressures a job loss can bring to a marriage, it can also cause the one who has lost the job to question his or her self-worth.  If a new job does not materialize quickly, hope can be lost and, when hope is lost, inertia can set in and eventually lead to deep depression.   If both spouses have been working, the spouse who is still employed will often attempt to make up some of the income loss by working more hours.   This response, though helpful in closing the income gap, can inadvertently create a feeling of guilt in the life of the spouse who has lost the job, while at the same time exhaust the spouse who is taking on the extra work, particularly if the situation continues for an extended time. P ray that these couples who have lost a job will Remember that their standing before their God has not changed; they are still His beloved c...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages that are living through the chronic illness of an adult child.   Just tonight we have become aware of a situation in which a couple is dealing with one adult child who has cancer and a second who has a chronic gastro-intestinal disease.   The emotional stress of such a situation is not lessened because the children are adults.   Parents don’t cease to be parents because their children are grown.   For a number of reasons the stress can actually be greater.   Usually adult children and parents live in separate households and often are separated by a geographical distance that makes care-giving difficult and just staying informed a challenge.   The fact that adult children typically have established a level of independence can cause parents to question what care is expected or what care would be accepted. If the child-parent relationship is good, the parents’ marriage can be challenged as they take on ca...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages in which couples have offset work schedules.  In a very large number of marriages today, both spouses work.  This situation has its own challenges, but, when the spouses’ work schedules off-set, that is, one works days and the other works evenings or midnights, the challenges become even greater.  Just carving out time to see each other can be difficult.  Sleep schedules can create conflict, and intimacy can be curtailed because both spouses are not rested at the same time. The social life of the couple can be affected.  Events both would enjoy attending are often scheduled at times which will keep one or the other away.  When the events are for couples, even the spouse who could attend will often opt out because he/she doesn’t want to feel like a fifth wheel.  The snowballing of this situation can cause the couple to become isolated from others who could contribute an added level of joy to their ...

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 families and homes of their own.  Even so, the change sometimes takes couples by surprise and leaves a hole they are not ready to deal with.  This situation can be particular difficult if the 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. Sometimes there is a period of re-acquaintance as couples orient their time and attention toward each other.  Some couples can experience a real sense of loss, particularly if the empty nest comes quickly or unexpectedly and the separation from children involves great distance or time.  Also, couples are faced with making wise decisions about the use of time and resources no longer consumed by their child...

Please join us this week as we pray for couples who 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 parent’s...

Please join us this week in praying for newly married couples.  Though the issues faced by newly married couples are common and often joked about, they can really be troublesome and cause a marriage not to get off to the best start.  The adjustments of living with another human being everyday can be a strain.   Although these adjustments can be tough for young persons who haven’t yet established routines as independent adults, they can be even more troublesome for individuals who have been independent adults for a number of years prior to the marriage and have habits and life-styles with which they have become comfortable.  Another issue for young marriages is the personal baggage the newly weds bring with them.  Often not all this baggage gets opened during the dating and engagement period, so surprises, and not always pleasant surprises, are frequent.  A spouse’s reactions to these unknown tidbits can lead to disappointment and disagreement....