|
The Battle For Your Marriage
|
From Small Beginnings....
 |
|
|
Karen Crowe
Wellspring's Experience Designer
|
In the spring of 2011, I began to hear God's voice nudging me to explore the question of "What's next?" That's when I got a call from Larry Bolden, asking me if I would consider applying for the job of Wellspring Group's Experience Designer.
Larry had long dreamed of helping couples walk in greater intimacy with each other and with the Lord, and several of the ministry's supporters had come alongside him to help make that dream a reality. The goal became to develop a new ministry track, the Battle for Your Marriage, for husbands and wives who had both been through the individual Battle for the Heart process. This track would follow the structure of the individual tracks, with an emphasis on marriage:
- God has chosen your marriage for His Larger Story.
- God has given your marriage a part to play; if you do not find the way, no one will.
- Evil is hunting your marriage.
- The Fellowship desires to protect your marriage and propel it into your part of the Larger Story.
|
The Battle for Your Marriage (BYM) is a path for recognizing the real battle that takes place in every marriage. Often we mistakenly believe that battle is between spouses - but as every alumnus of the Battle process knows, the real Battle is between the enemy of our hearts and our Creator. Marriage is the riskiest of all relationships, but it also the place of potentially greatest transformation and intimacy.
|
|
|
| Battle For Your Marriage in 2013 |
|
In the first iteration of the BYM process in 2012, there was one catalytic event and follow-through material. We learned a lot about the power of cross-gender relating within kind, protective boundaries and many couples discovered the benefits of allowing their brothers and sisters to speak into their marriages.
In the second iteration, in 2013, we added a second retreat for delving more into the role of sexual union in marital oneness. Couples were amazed at how they were able to effectively "speak the truth in love" to one another and call each other into deeper vulnerability, humility, and glory. And there were many opportunities for seeing how repentance and forgiveness could break the dysfunctional dance of fear and pride in multiple aspects of marriage - spiritual, emotional, and sexual relating.
|
|
|
Although it felt scary at first, we soon found being in a group with other couples very comforting and family-like. Wellspring had prepared us well by giving us a common foundation and language to work through our concerns. That helped us to be vulnerable in risk-taking, but in appropriate ways. We had never experienced that kind of transparency among couples, and it was unique in a positive way. Someone else's spouse could call you out...READ MORE
- Lee & Mary Ellis
We experienced the familiar pattern of unmet desire and sabotage over and over again in our marriage, even though the circumstances might look different each time.
In the Battle for Your Marriage we were able to untangle our fear and pride dance within a supportive fellowship. This gave us a safe place to admit how our way of pride was keeping us from experiencing the richness...
READ MORE
- Mark & Judy Keappler
|
|
|
So what does the Battle for Your Marriage look like today? Just as it was in earlier versions, teams of three or four couples first walk together, as brothers and sisters, through the Battle for Your Marriage retreat and Module 1 Team Equipping process.
Module 2 of the process is where most of the new development is taking place now, with a concentration on the protection of the Fellowship in marriage. In this second half of the BYM, participants will be invited into deeper intimacy with each other and the other couples on their team as they explore the protection and provision of the Fellowship in sexual union and in wholehearted engaging, not only with each other but also in their domain. We will dig deeper into the gifts that husbands and wives each uniquely bring to marriage and how those differences, that sometimes feel so maddening and divisive, are actually a path to something greater. We will also celebrate the gift of sexual union and consider God's desires and our part in this vital aspect of marriage.
|
|
|
Andy and Karen Crowe |
I am very excited to see what God has in store for my own marriage and those of all the teams in the 2017 BYM process. It has been an unpredictable journey in many ways since 2013, with twists and turns that I never saw coming. Yet God has used every part of the path to inspire me and equip me to stay in the Battle for my own marriage and for others' marriages. These are battles worth fighting.
|
|
Have you and your spouse completed the Battle for the Heart process?
Are you interested in building a team for the Battle for Your Marriage?
Registration closes July 31st.
We have limited space so please apply as soon as possible!
|
Imagine a place where you could find encouragement
and be spurred on by people who share a like heart and mind.
Imagine if this place echoed with voices of fellow Battle alum who are choosing the way of Humility.
You don't have to imagine. It exists. The fellowship needs your voice.
Don't think you are a writer or have a story to share?
Let us offer you this thought:
If you have ever written a State Of Your Heart, then you have what it takes to add your voice to Wellspring Group's blog,
Echoes of the Fellowship.
Whether, you share once or several times, you have a part to play.
Interested?
Let us know.
|
Have you considered inviting your spouse, coworker or small group into the Battle for the Heart?
Registration is still open for the events taking place this fall!
2016 Battle for Your Heart Events
.
|
Copyright © 2016 Wellspring Group.
|
|
