marriage on track
Marriage

How to Keep Your Marriage on Track When Life Derails You

I don’t know about you, but when I got married, I had a few expectations of the way things were going to be. Mark and I had plans and goals, and we were blissfully on board our marriage train to chase our dreams. But like every other couple, we learned pretty quickly that life can derail you in an instant! An unexpected pregnancy, a job change, financial struggles, sickness, any number of things can swiftly change the plans you thought you had. 

Then we had to ask ourselves, “now what?” What do we do now, when our carefully made plans are falling apart? When I’m in the hospital for the umpteenth time, when the house floods, when we don’t feel like we’re on the same page anymore? How do you keep your marriage on track? In this podcast, Mark and I share with you three ways to respond when life derails you:

  1. Know That You Will Get Knocked off the Track.
  2. How to Respond to Getting Knocked off the Track.
  3. How to Lay New Track Together.

Anyone who’s been married for awhile knows that getting knocked off the track happens. Responding is a little trickier. In June of 2011, our house flooded. We were temporarily uprooted and then had to rent a place while extensive repairs were done. It derailed our lives in a big way! Everything was turned completely upside down. I really struggled with it all. In the days after the repairs were made, when we started the process of unpacking all of our boxes from storage and moving back in while the workers finished their jobs, I was exhausted. There came a point when I couldn’t take it anymore, but my husband didn’t realize it and made a bad morning for me worse. He wasn’t supporting me like I needed, and I was too tired to even tell him what was on my heart. As often happens, events that derail our lives can damage our relationships. Thankfully, my mother-in-law helped him figure out that I needed quiet love and support, and he responded amazingly by sending me “I’m sorry” flowers and taking the time to understand how everything was affecting me. The flood showed that our house wasn’t solid, but working through everything that happened just made our marriage stronger.

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