True Life Church

Lesson 1 - Introduction

"The Joy of Marriage" Greetings one and all. I hope you are doing well. I would like to begin talking about marriage by sharing my history with marriage and how I came to be where I am now. This will give you some knowledge about who I am.

I was first married at the ripe old age of 19. A few years later I went to work for the Portland police department where I worked until I left the department to enter the ministry. During the time I was a policeman, my wife and I were unable to resolve our marriage problems and went through a divorce. (Let me say right from the beginning that I do believe divorce is wrong and in most cases avoidable. Yet, it is not the unpardonable sin that some churches teach. Thank God He has more love, forgiveness and grace than many churches.) The reasons for the divorce aren’t really important now, but had I known what I know today I don’t believe it would have happened. During our troubled times we attended different churches in an attempt to find help and restoration for our broken marriage. We were unable to receive or at least understand what we needed to know to work through and grow in our relationship. I can’t say that anyone of the churches were to blame. I am not sure we would have listened or understood what we needed at that time. I eventually did get remarried to a wonderful woman who, yes, I am still married to and very much in love with. However, to be honest my current marriage almost didn’t last either. We had both rededicated our lives to the Lord Jesus and went to Bible school. Later we began our first church. It was during this time that our unresolved problems began to overtake us to the point that we were almost ready to give up. At least I was. Yet, we both knew we couldn’t quit. God had a purpose for us and we were determined and committed to finish the race. Remember, we were pastoring a church at this point. We were dealing with some difficult times at the church and everything was coming down on top of us all at once. The night that started the process of healing and restoration began when we had a major blow-up just before an evening service. I was so upset that I knew I had no right to get into the pulpit and preach. I had an assistant take the service while I attended another church for that evening. Afterward, I found my wife and told her we needed to talk. In fact, we went to a motel with the purpose of not leaving until we began to either work out our problems and start the restoration process or called it quits. We both knew what we had to do. We talked all night. We were finally able to get things out that we had not been able to share before. This was the beginning of what is now a great marriage. This process was not easy nor was it quick. We were forced to apply the teachings from God’s Word, the Bible. It was the everlasting truth from the Bible, applied in our lives, that made the difference and brought us to the place we are today. Over the coming weeks and months, I will share our journey - what we did, what the Bible teaches, and how we made it work in our lives. If it worked for us it can work for you or anyone who needs help in their marriage. This is not just a textbook lesson. It’s from the one and only "Textbook". It is the application of God’s wonderful truth that healed us, restored us and brought us to where we are today. Learn from our experience and transformation. Join me next time as we begin our journey into the "Joy of Marriage".  We will talk about forgiveness. God bless you.      Terry