Quotes That Can Help Save Marriages

No one can guarantee anyone that they can “save their marriage” — but we can offer a helping hand. That’s an important mission we take seriously at Marriage Missions. We confess that our marriage has needed outside help at times, and this has inspired us to extend help to others who need an extra push in a healthy direction.

That’s why we’re going to share a few inspirational marriage quotes that can hopefully help save marriages.

First off, most anyone who has been married any length of time eventually knows:

“Marriage is not about the wind blowing your hair as you glide across the sea. It is more like holding hands while the storm rages around you. It’s like getting drenched in life and waiting patiently for the sun to dry you. It’s about choosing, again and again, to reach out — to reach out, and to keep reaching out. … Marriage is hard, and messy, and beautiful, and real. And so, so worth it!” (Melissa Fouss)

We couldn’t say that any better. However:

“To those who haven’t experienced hardship as a couple: it will come. I say this not to bring you down, but as a warning to be prepared. Jesus promised in John 16:33 that we will have trouble. Get ready. Talk with your spouse about dealing with hardship. Commit to one another that you’ll stay strong and pray together that the Lord will guide you thru it together. We cannot be fools when it comes to being ill-prepared.” (Erin Baxter)

Will This Warning Help Save Marriages?

We think it could! It’s important to face truth — even difficult truth. After more than 53 years of marriage we can attest to the fact of what someone once said, “Love is blind, but marriage is an eye–opener.” So, it’s time to face our marriage with our eyes wide open and put the work into making it “worth it!” Do you think God would expect any less from us?

As we look further into the reality of marriage, here is a tip from Gary Thomas’ book, Devotions for a Sacred Marriage, (It’s a great book that we highly recommend for couples to read together, by the way.)

Gary writes:

“If you’re in a difficult season in your marriage and you start to think, ‘How can I take another 10 or 20 or, God forbid, 30 years of this?’ you’re headed for trouble. You’re asking God to give you the grace for something that hasn’t happened. Instead, break it down to a single unit — a single day: ‘Just focus on this: Can I love my husband [or wife] for this day?’ Don’t think about ten years down the road, or even ten months! Can you love your spouse for this one day?

Some friends who knew I was running the Seattle Marathon asked me, ‘How did you do that for twenty-six miles?’ My answer? I told them, ‘One mile at a time.’ How do you stay married for twenty-six years? One day at a time. Break it down. Focus on the here and now. Put the future in God’s hands.

“Some miles will seem easy, and some will feel hard, but you need to focus only on the ones you’re currently running. Let the others remain in his care. Can you love your spouse for this one day?”

That’s an important challenge to prayerfully consider.

Bite Sized Pieces?

Breaking it all down into bite sized pieces can help when one or both of us is over-whelmed. We’ve done that so many times when we knew we weren’t able of handling it all at once.

Also, sometimes just viewing it as a “rough season” truly does help.

And then, here’s another tip could be helpful in an entirely different way. When your marriage conflict is going in an unhealthy direction please note:

“Somebody has to break out of the negative cycle of eye-for-an-eye, poor treatment for poor treatment. You need to step out of the insult-for-insult cycle and respond differently. You cannot control your spouse’s behavior, but you can control your own. Regardless of how your spouse responds, you must choose to treat them with love.

“This is not easy to do when your partner is not reciprocating. However, it is what you vowed to do when you promised to love each other ‘for better or for worse.’ Nothing breaks down emotional barriers like unconditional love.” (Dr Dave Currie)

Dr Emerson Eggerichs calls it, “Getting off the crazy cycle.” That’s when you apply wisdom to stop going around and around in arguing about the same thing.

Steve and I have learned (and continue to learn) to pull back at different times, so we can start “speaking the truth in love” in a way that the other one of us can better accept it. It’s called taking a time out! We then come back together when both of us has cooled off.

It’s important to realize that we can “win” the battle and lose the war (or win the argument but damage your marriage).

Additional Quotes:

Here are a few more tips to prayerfully consider. It can be important to note:

“A difficult marriage does not pronounce a death sentence on a meaningful life. It presents several challenges, to be sure, but it also provides wonderful opportunities for spiritual growth. Look at your marriage through this lens: What am I learning? How is this causing me to grow? More important, consider how your marriage draws you closer to God and shapes you in the character of Jesus Christ. Look at your situation through the lens of eternity.” (Gary Thomas)

Also:

“Let life’s experiences draw you closer together. … Just as clay is fired in a kiln, so will your marriage go through periods of intense heat. But remember that your Heavenly Father is using these times to remove imperfections in your relationship and make it stronger and more beautiful. Face the difficult times together, and let the Lord mold and perfect your marriage, lifting you to higher levels of intimacy with each other and with Him.” (Herman & Mary Sue Davis)

Please don’t take any of these tips lightly. We care, and more importantly, God cares about your marriage relationship.

To help you further

As we said, these are just a few tips. For additional tips and quotes (in 38+ topics} to help you with your marriage problems, please go to the following linked quotes:

• QUOTES ON “SAVE MY MARRIAGE

You may also want to read and watch the Testimonies and review the Links and Recommended Resources in that topic (or another topic}. Lastly, there are insightful articles to read in the following topic (as well as others within the web site):

• SAVE MY MARRIAGE

We pray they help.

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ —to the glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11)

Above all, as it pertains to your life together:

“May the Lord direct your heart into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

Steve and Cindy Wright

— ADDITIONALLY —

To help you grow further, we give a lot of personal stories, humor, and more practical tips in our book, 7 ESSENTIALS to Grow Your Marriage. We hope you will pick up a copy for yourself. (It’s available both electronically and in print form.) Plus, it can make a great gift for someone else. It gives you the opportunity to help them grow their marriage. And who doesn’t need that? Just click on the linked title or the picture below:

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