Breakthrough Online Sample Topic | Marriages Under Stress

God of healing, love, and forgiveness,
I ask for your blessing and seek your guidance, wisdom, and support.
Help me to be the person you intend me to be
as I come to understand how you work in my life and in the lives of those I love.

Lord, I remember when my spouse and I first met and the strong love that grew between us.
Help me to work that love into practical things so that your will for us might be done.
I ask for words both kind and loving,
and for a heart always ready to ask forgiveness as well as to forgive.

Lord, I put our marriage into your hands. Amen.

When a marriage is under stress, a common experience is gridlock. In relationship gridlock we feel stuck, powerless to move forward or to backtrack. This topic provides insight into how we can reposition and side-step the gridlock to begin moving again.

What’s Important to you?

Take some time to answer the following questions. It is best to write your answers down. This allows you to reflect more deeply and to own your answers.

1. What is your motivation for undertaking this course? What do you hope to achieve?
2. Think about the things that could be the cause of your current situation:
   • Are there small issues that have built up over time?
   • A serious, bigger issue that needs to be tackled?
   • Or are you simply feeling a lack of the love and connection that once was?
3. What is the major point of pain in your relationship right now?
   e.g. I feel alone in my marriage | we have too many arguments | our sex life is cold | I fear my spouse wants to leave | I feel betrayed | I feel guilty about hurting my spouse/family etc
4. When we're hurting in a relationship, we tend to forget about the many wonderful times we had together. Call to mind your love story: What was it that attracted you to your spouse in the early days of your relationship? What did you admire, appreciate and enjoy in him/her?