It's inevitable for every couple to encounter hardships and struggles in their marriage. But evangelist Billy Graham's daughter Anne Graham Lotz believes that couples who rely on Jesus Christ can weather whatever storms they encounter.
"If you need a miracle in your marriage, invite Jesus into the relationship. You will be blessed by the knowledge that He is there when unexpected problems and crises arise," she writes for Charisma News.
Lotz considers herself lucky because she married her late husband Danny Lotz, whom she considers "a young girl's dream." Danny was raised in a strong Christian home and had taken "a strong, uncompromising stand for his faith" every day of his life.
The first 10 years of their marriage were blissful years, recalls Lotz. But by the time they had three children and she had to juggle volunteer work at church and her weekly Bible class, Lotz found herself overwhelmed.
"Without my noticing it, the busyness had overtaken me, and I awoke one morning to the realisation that I was in a marriage in which the love had run out! I will never forget the panicked, trapped feeling I had as I knelt in prayer, desperately pleading with the Lord for help," she says.
But Lotz tells those who are feeling the same struggle that she once faced not to worry. Even though the love in one's marriage has run out, Christians should still praise God. "There is hope for you just as there was hope for me. The first step in starting over is to invite Jesus into your marriage," she says.
The morning Lotz woke up to that painful realisation, she read 1 John 4 from the Bible. It was there that God told Lotz what to do: "You are to love Danny because I first loved you. If you say 'I love God,' yet you don't love Danny, you are a liar. Because if you don't love your husband, whom you have seen, you cannot love Me, whom you have not seen. So I give you this command: If you love Me, you must — it's not an option — also love Danny."
The more Lotz spent time with God, the more He filled her life. And because God is love, His love filled Lotz and extended to others. "Therefore, since God loved Danny, love for Danny would fill my life and overflow from Him, through me, to my husband," she explains.
It was weeks before Lotz regained the love she had for her husband. But when she did, Lotz had a renewed sense of peace and joy because she trusted God to infuse her life and marriage with His love.
