SPANISH EDITION: Ann’s painfully honest confession to Dave of the true state of their marriage was spoken in the parking lot of where they would soon help launch a new church. It was a date to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.
Despite Dave’s plans for a romantic evening, Ann expressed the depths of her unhappiness, which had gone unnoticed by her husband, who never suspected her pain. Through Ann’s tears, Dave could hear the whisper of God’s voice, warring with his own to defend himself.
Shut up and listen.
What he heard from the lips of his beloved bride was difficult to process, but—as was becoming abundantly clear—was right. en Bible studies, counseling, one-on-one mentoring, and travel. He was never home, working hard to serve everyone, but neglecting Ann and their children. She felt that he was no longer engaged with her in their marriage, or in parenting their three little boys.
Ann’s anger resolved into bitterness, until she no longer cared that he was gone. And it didn’t help that Dave was completely oblivious to their problems—so it seemed to her that he didn’t care. This is a problem that many marriages face in some form or another. But in the midst of this painful conversation that could have ended it all, God whispered to Dave again.
In the front seat of their old Honda, Dave prayed aloud and repented to God for the relationship with Him he now realized had become lukewarm. He repented for not being the husband and father Ann and the boys needed. God illuminated his heart with a simple, yet often overlooked secret of marriage: you cannot sustain a healthy “horizontal” relationship between husband and wife until the “vertical” relationship with Christ is first alive and healthy.
Full of authenticity, humor, biblical principles, and compelling stories, Dave and Ann reveal God’s plan for marriage to anyone who is married, preparing for marriage, or is desperate to save a marriage teetering on the edge of disaster. This honest and flawed couple (just like the rest of us) reveals why marriage is so difficult…and through their own personal narrative of matrimonial highs and lows, they share the elusive secret to finding the joy and relational transformation God has so graciously designed each of us to experience.
