1,000 Marriages

God is in the transformation business and that includes your marriage.

Today it’s been exactly 9 years since my first public foray into marriage ministry. That first post, written over at my old Journey to Surrender blog. explains the impetuous behind everything that has followed since:

Having our hearts awakened to the love relationship that Jesus has with us as His bride is the key to a vibrant, passionate and intimate relationship between husband and wife.

At the time, I had no idea where the journey would take me, but I knew I would be in it for the long haul. (You can read more about how it all began in the About page called Our Journey)

After nine years, 700+ posts, 2 books, a marriage curriculum developed and shared with nine different small groups, plus a bedroom game, I still don’t know exactly where this is all going. I have at least ten ideas for every idea I have the time to actually implement. I know that this wild ride is far from over.

1,000 Marriages

As my wife and I often do at the beginning of a new year, we spent time seeking the Lord about the way forward in marriage ministry. (Although I am the more public face of Heaven Made Marriage, Jenni is very much a part of all that goes on here.) As I shared in my last post, Everything and Nothing, I sensed the Lord asking us to dream big. At the same time He reminded me that the strength to do it comes from Him, and all the fruit belongs to Him, for His glory.

What I didn’t share last time is that during my prayerful reflections about the year ahead, I felt the Lord promise to radically transform a thousand marriages through Heaven Made Marriage. That’s not a thousand marriage reached, but a thousand transformed, radically. And He reminded me that it was up to Him to see the promise fulfilled.

My Part

My part in seeing those thousand marriage transformations is to continue to write and develop resources, at God’s leading, that stay true to the revelation that launched this ministry nine years ago:

If you want a “marriage made in heaven,” you have to start with the understanding that marriage was literally made in heaven.

Marriages matter to me because they matter to God. He is the one who created marriage in the first place, and heaven’s economy values marriage and family above almost everything else. And it’s not marriage as an institution that is so important, it’s the hearts and lives of the individuals in the marriages that matter. Those thousand marriages matter because God wants to paint a picture of Himself in each of them. He wants us to see His nature, His love, His mercy, His grace, His passion, and His relentless pursuit all reflected in the relationship of every husband and wife.

So my part is to keep creating resources that help people infuse their marriages with the nature of God – to work to bring the Kingdom of heaven to earth and right into our relationships.

Your Part

So what’s your part in all of this? Why am I writing to you about all this?

First and foremost, I hope yours will be one of the thousand marriages that God transforms this year. Transformation is my prayer for every couple and the sole reason my last three posts encouraged you to reflect on and dream about your marriage.

Transformation isn’t just for struggling marriages. I strongly believe that God has much more in His heart for your marriage than you can imagine and that what He has in mind amounts to nothing short of transformation, regardless of how good and strong your marriage is today.

Jenni and I have a great marriage, but we took time recently to follow our own advice and sought the Lord for our marriage, asking what more He had in mind for us this year. We too can experience marriage transformation, even after 35 years! So this year we are going to find more time for fun and play, and we’ll be intentionally fostering our friendship.

I hope you’ll choose to make it a point to invest the time, effort, and prayerful consideration transformation requires. And remember to keep it all surrendered to the Lord, leaning on His strength and following where He leads you together as a couple.

Finally, in addition to seeking more in your own marriage, I hope you will help me reach the other 999 couples that God also wants to transform. Subscribe to our posts, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Pass the word!

Transformation is at the heart the first two books in my Igniting Intimacy book series.

• Book 1, The Path of Intimacy, teaches you how to infuse your marriage with the kind of intimate connection Jesus wants in His relationship with us.
• The newly released Book 2,Pump up the Passion, shows you the five habits you can develop to set your marriage on fire and keep it fiery for the long haul.