We had an interesting time at the marriage course this week. The session was on ‘Resolving Conflict’. It was interesting seeing the couple’s faces after they did the three exercises on the night. The three exercises were; ‘Showing appreciation’, ‘Recognising our differences’, and ‘Changing our behaviour’. We ended with a small session on ‘Learning to pray together’. The homework for each couple was to find time each day (about 5mins) to pray together just for each other. Thank you for your continued prayer.

We had an excellent time during the marriage course last week. It was good to see the couples work through the materials. Each week the couples work through a number of exercises and then discuss with each other the answers they came up with. Last weeks session was really about making time for each other. Each couple was encouraged to; plan time together, prioritise your time together, and protect your time together. Couples are then given some home work to put into practice what they have learned.

This week the topic is ‘The art of communication’. In almost every marriage that breaks down, there is a failure of communication. In my opinion there is no substitute in marriage for effective talking and effective listening.

Thank you for praying for us, please pray with us this week that we would really grasp how important learning the art of communication is in maintaining a intimate and healthy marriage.

Martha and I begin leading a marriage course tonight. The theme of the course is ‘How to build a healthy marriage that lasts a lifetime’. We are very much looking forward to leading it. Our plan this time is to run the course with a small group of three couples, and then sometime in the autumn run a larger course and use it as an outreach in the local community. The course lasts for 8 weeks with some follow up later. Please pray with us that the Lord would really bless our time with these three couples and that their relationships with each other would grow stronger and stronger each week.