Praying for Marriages (PfM)

Join us this week in praying for marriages in which communication has broken down. By all accounts the lack of effective communication is a frequent and devastating dysfunction in marriages. The break-down in communication can occur for a wide range of reasons. Communication can grind to a halt if one’s words or body language suggests disinterest in or contempt for a spouse’s input. Sometimes the desire to communicate can dry up if a spouse feels the other’s words are never followed by corresponding action, in other words, if lightly made promises are never kept. Nagging can also cause communication to cease. When effective communication stops, all sorts of misunderstandings and false assumptions are likely to spring up. The resulting cascade of trouble and stress will then be difficult to reverse since the very tool needed to effect this change, good communication, is already impaired. Pray with us this week that couples having commu...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages in deep financial debt. Debt is a life-situation pervasive in our American culture. When this debt is excessive, it can lead to numerous problems for a married couple. First, deep debt can lead to a blame game in which spouses expend their energy assigning blame for their situation instead of working on a solution. Second, excessive debt can create crippling stress as the couple tries to maintain life and limb while fending off creditors. Third, debt can lead to hopelessness, since escaping debt is most often a long road many couples see as beyond their ability to travel. And finally, even when a couple commits to escaping debt, they face the difficulties of changing long established habits, of giving up things precious to them and of learning to say “no,” or at least “not now,” even to good and worthwhile endeavors. Please pray couples in this situation will Be granted grace and ...

Please join us this week in praying for marriages in which couples have conflicting 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 conflict, that is, one works days and the other works evenings or midnights, the challenges become even greater or at least different. When spouses have conflicting work schedules, 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 cou...

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 be troublesome and cause a marriage to get off to a rocky start. Every new marriage is a blending of two different people, and their differences require adjustments, understanding, open communication and forgiveness. The adjustments of living everyday with another human being can be a strain.  These adjustments are 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. In either case, adjustments both large and small are a challenge for newly weds. Another issue for young marriages is the personal baggage the newly weds bring with them. Often not all this baggage ...

Join us this week in praying for marriages experiencing the “empty nest.” Couples who have children know their children will one day “leave the nest” and establish independent lives of their own. Even so, and even for those who have given it some serious 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 each other.  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 unusually long periods of time. ...

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 as 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”) or life-altering decisions (“Mom, you can’t drive anymore"). Caring for an aging parent can limit the freedom of the care-giving couple. It can mean delaying travel plans, changing long-established schedules and learning the old “spur-of-the-moment” event now requires planning. Also, the decisions that come with caring for an aging parent can put the couple at odds with siblings who may have different ideas about what is best for the their parent. Adult-sibling disagreement...

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 effects 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 families and friends. Finally, despite their best efforts to rejoice with others, these couples can struggle emotionally as they see their friends becoming pregnant and having children with apparent ease, while their hopes are frustrated again and again. As you lift these couples up, pray that the...