Building Your Marriage Upon the Rock

Marriage often sounds like a lot of fun to single people, some kind of effortless romantic romp into a sunset sky with birds tweeting and all the stormclouds moving the opposite direction. Even those who tell themselves "you're riding into the storm, not out of it; bring some raingear" get soaked becausethey have no idea what marriage is actually like. It seems impossible that it's just like life before marriage—except harder, because now you have two peopleinstead of one.

Maybe not just like....but marriage isn't some alternate plane of existence capable of erasing problems. In fact, it introduces all kinds of difficulties never before encountered, difficulties the solutions to which are not always self-evident. Mike Williamson, who has been married to his wife Jewel for over 35 years, understands what awaits engaged couples on the other side and points them to Christ, the only sure foundation for any individual life and for any marriage.

Building Your Marriage Upon the Rock is a premarital workbook for couples to complete together. It begins by addressing the man and woman as individuals and requiring them to answer questions about their spiritual lives, before moving on to a discussion of covenants in general and marriage as a covenant in particular. These chapters form a basis for (sometimes painfully) in-depth discussions and evaluations of spiritual and practical concerns, from how you will handle finances, extended family relationships, sex, and becoming one flesh as Scripture commands.

The usual topics are all here, from roles, expectations and love, to some fairly unexpected ones—whose family will you spend holidays with, for instance, and how you each hope to celebrate anniversaries. Williamson has been involved in premarital counseling for years and knows all the questions to ask—how are your views on child-rearing different? should you maintain opposite-gender relationships after marriage? do you want a partner, or are you just lonely?

This consumable workbook will help couples reach a point of preparedness for marriage, pointing them consistently to the Bible for guidance and forcing them to evaluate both their relationship and themselves. While engaged couples could work through this on their own, they ought to do so under the guidance of a church leader or mentor. Building Your Marriage Upon the Rock includes both text to read and pages to fill out as couples travel the final distances to a God-honoring marriage founded on Christ, the Rock on whichall our relationships stand.