I was sixteen years old when my father sat me down and informed me that he was divorcing my mother and within weeks would be marrying my mother’s best friend. My whole world fell apart in a matter of minutes. I had thought my whole childhood that my parents were happy. They were devout Christians. Why, my father was a minister for a denominational church.
During the months that followed, my three brothers and I were torn between what we thought was real and what we discovered was false. I concluded that if this is what a Christian marriage was—a facade for infidelity—then I would have nothing of it. My fear of getting married and failing at it was so great that I decided then I did not want to marry.
Only two years later, my college roommate introduced me to The Way Ministry. As I took our ministry’s classes, the Word of God I learned showed me His plan for a Christian marriage. I learned in Ephesians, chapter 5, the roles God meant for a Christian man and woman to fill in marriage. I saw powerful examples in the household of The Way of married couples who lived the Word of God in their marriages. These husbands and wives taught me the fundamentals of a strong marriage, in which both man and woman are like-minded and committed to put God first in their lives.
The Word of God I learned showed me what went wrong in my parents’ marriage. There was no companionship. They each lived separate lives. The only thing that kept them under the same roof was raising their four children. I decided that my life would be different from my parents’ lives. I wanted God’s best for marriage in my life. And as I built the truths of His Word about this vital category of life into the fabric of my thinking, God delivered me from all the fear of failure that enslaved me!
I began to date my sisters in Christ in the household and endeavored to live God’s love in these relationships. I built my believing to find the woman whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, moving God’s Word together. I got clear and concerned about what my heavenly Father wanted for me. At age twenty-six, I married my best friend. We have enjoyed over thirty-five years of marriage now. Because of the Word of God that I learned in The Way Ministry, I overcame my fear of failure, married a beautiful and virtuous woman, and today enjoy a wonderful life of serving God and His people together!