Getting Ready for MarriageShembull

“Find a Good Premarital Education”

Proverbs 11:14 states, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” While this biblical principle applies to all areas of our lives, it screams “this makes sense” in the context of getting married. Think about it: you would never have a surgical procedure without seeking the advice of a doctor. Unfortunately, too many couples don’t invest the time (or the money) to get the needed relational advice and guidance through premarital counseling.

In fact, by getting premarital education the chance of divorce is lowered by 31 percent. Please pause to think deeply about that statistic for a moment: by simply committing to reading a book like this one or meeting with a counselor, you could drop the odds of divorce from 50 percent to 19!

If one of you is unwilling to get premarital counseling, we actually think this is a “red flag.” Yes, premarital counseling can bring up tender issues that may create some relational pain. But if you’re honest, you know that those issues are going to come up sometime anyway, so we suggest that you have the wisdom to tackle them on the “pre” side of the wedding rather than the “post” side. Getting good counsel will not only prepare you for the many years ahead, it will also help you identify the dangerous issues that could hold you back from having a successful marriage. Don’t convince yourself that you can figure it out on your own and that you don’t need the guidance of others. Look what that type of person is called in Proverbs 12:15, “Fools see their own way as right, but the wise listen to advice.”

* Have you both gone through premarital counseling, or at least read a pre-marriage book? If not, what is stopping you from investing in your future marriage?