How Biblical Community Can Save Your Marriage

At the precipice of divorce, my husband of thirteen years and I had nowhere to turn, but the cross. The world told me I would be justified in filing for divorce and splitting our family apart, but the Holy Spirit told me otherwise.

“Find my people,” He whispered.

I cried, “Where, Lord?”

We’d just joined a new church and were making our way through the steps to membership. The final step was, “Join a Community Group”.  We agreed to be all in with this new group and our relationships with the Lord. Doing it the world’s way had caused pain and distrust.

It was time to trust the Lord.

Our church connected us with two other couples and we began meeting weekly.

We’d have dinner together and discuss scriptures. Awkward at first, we found it hard to trust new people and stumbled around a bit before finding our footing.

There were three simple questions we asked each week – questions we would later find to be crucial to our marriages.

“What have you learned in the Word this past week?”

“How were you struggling during the week?”

“How well did you serve your spouse this week?”

Having the idea of serving our spouses versus them serving us reminded us to be servant-leaders in our respective marriages. It propelled us to consider the person to whom we were yoked in our daily decisions.

Our marriages weren’t magically perfect and never will be this side of eternity, but through biblical community we developed tools to improve.

If your marriage is like ours, there is hope, my sister!

How?

Seek out biblical community with other couples.

Then make these relationships a priority.

God’s word encourages us to be in community. 1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (NIV)”

I’m cheering for you and your marriage as you seek community with God’s people.

Wife Step: If you  have a church, but are not in community, reach out to the marriage ministry to see about joining one. If you are not connected to a church, go online and look for a local church who values community.

How do you think having a biblical community might help your marriage? How might it help your husband?

Alynda Long and her husband, Brian, live near Dallas, Texas with their two youngest daughters. A lay leader in a sexual abuse recovery ministry at her church, she loves sharing God’s story of redemption and healing in her life while helping other women walk through their own journey of recovery.  She writes about the lessons the Lord teaches in her day to day life as a wife, mother, and friend at alyndalong.com. She thrives on Jesus, coffee, books, chocolate, and friendships!