they endured, including the death of a child, infidelity, and financial ruin. As for how her parents avoided divorce, she emphasized:
There was something in their soul, their being, that they ‘had’ to stay together. It was a commitment that today seems ‘old-fashioned,’ that defies logic. That sense of, ‘You must make it. You do not stop trying even when it all seems hopeless.’
And as one wife, whose husband confessed a porn addiction, put it: “When divorce isn’t an option, all other options become more realistic. When divorce isn’t sought after, healing is.”
3. Tap into your faith.
The majority of couples who have long-term marriages found help and the strength to fight through their relationship problems by utilizing their church community, relying heavily on prayer, counseling, and supportive priests and religious friends to help them keep their vow of “for better or worse.” Research also confirms the power of faith and marriage, with shared prayer and frequent church attendance linked to stronger and higher-quality relationships.
One man, who was involved in an affair, wrote about the role of faith in the restoration of his marriage:
God is the only reason that I’m still in my marriage, and He’s the only reason I’m loving Marie more than when we first were married. God completely healed both of us, and we are stronger than ever in our relationship.
A wife shared how her cheating husband changed for the better following a religious conversion:
The conversion I have witnessed in my husband has been breathtaking and an answer to so many hours of prayer. I’m so grateful that I chose to stay and fight for my marriage, as it is often the case that the better comes after the worse. I lived through a dead marriage renewed, and I would relive it all over again if it gets us to where we are now.
Another husband, who struggled with a drinking problem, wrote:
Getting through a difficult marriage is not a contest of seeing how tough one can be. It is a test of faith (literally) and the opportunity to rely on and trust in God, to let Him bring you out of slavery and through the desert… Had either of us (or really, had I) looked elsewhere other than God and His Church for answers, I think I’d be a stumbling drunk, and our home would be a disaster