Marriage Retreat Archives - Holy Cross Lutheran Church & School https://holycrosscs.org/tag/marriage-retreat/ Tue, 23 Feb 2021 03:47:11 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 https://holycrosscs.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/cropped-HCL_Logo_Color-1-32x32.png Marriage Retreat Archives - Holy Cross Lutheran Church & School https://holycrosscs.org/tag/marriage-retreat/ 32 32 Marriages Grow and Change https://holycrosscs.org/marriages-grow-and-change/ https://holycrosscs.org/marriages-grow-and-change/#respond Tue, 23 Feb 2021 03:32:15 +0000 https://holycrosscs.org/stagingsite/?p=12406 By: Jon and Vicki Heinecke It was the coldest weekend of the 2020-2021 winter so far. Temperatures hovered near zero, and it was overcast with a gentle snowfall. It seems the perfect weather for … a Marriage Retreat! Actually, this past weekend was a wonderfully reflective time for each couple to grow closer, both to each other and to other couples in attendance. The length of marriage among the attendees ranged from five to 46 years. Some were married once, while some were on a second marriage. “Everyone who attended shared experiences that uplifted and helped each other learn and grow.” We’ve attended each of the past three annual Holy Cross Marriage Retreats. They’ve been held at multiple sites around the state, and each one has had its own theme or focus. This year’s focus was on how to improve our communication, and we all had an opportunity to communicate … a lot! There was shared time in our sessions, as well as plenty of time on our own. We have been married now for nearly 38 years. Many of our friends think we have a rock-solid marriage; we should have issues such as communication and mutual understanding all figured out by now. “So why did we attend a Marriage Retreat?” One of our takeaways at the 2020 Retreat was when Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages, said, “Marriages either get better or worse. They never stand still.” Marriages grow and change. It’s important to take time to reconnect, otherwise we might begin to drift away from each other. Communication is a vital part of the process of growing together. Strong marriages are like a three-cord strand (Ecclesiastes 4:12), where our mutual relationship with God holds us together for life. God gives us the gift of marriage to marvel at the wonder of becoming one flesh (Genesis 2:23-25). He fills us, nourishes us, and strengthens us in a way that would be impossible on our own. We are better and more blessed in all we do for his glory.

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By: Jon and Vicki Heinecke

It was the coldest weekend of the 2020-2021 winter so far. Temperatures hovered near zero, and it was overcast with a gentle snowfall. It seems the perfect weather for … a Marriage Retreat!

Actually, this past weekend was a wonderfully reflective time for each couple to grow closer, both to each other and to other couples in attendance. The length of marriage among the attendees ranged from five to 46 years. Some were married once, while some were on a second marriage.

“Everyone who attended shared experiences that uplifted and helped each other learn and grow.”

We’ve attended each of the past three annual Holy Cross Marriage Retreats. They’ve been held at multiple sites around the state, and each one has had its own theme or focus.

This year’s focus was on how to improve our communication, and we all had an opportunity to communicate … a lot! There was shared time in our sessions, as well as plenty of time on our own.

We have been married now for nearly 38 years. Many of our friends think we have a rock-solid marriage; we should have issues such as communication and mutual understanding all figured out by now.

“So why did we attend a Marriage Retreat?”

One of our takeaways at the 2020 Retreat was when Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages, said,

“Marriages either get better or worse. They never stand still.”

Marriages grow and change. It’s important to take time to reconnect, otherwise we might begin to drift away from each other. Communication is a vital part of the process of growing together.

Strong marriages are like a three-cord strand (Ecclesiastes 4:12), where our mutual relationship with God holds us together for life. God gives us the gift of marriage to marvel at the wonder of becoming one flesh (Genesis 2:23-25). He fills us, nourishes us, and strengthens us in a way that would be impossible on our own. We are better and more blessed in all we do for his glory.

The post Marriages Grow and Change appeared first on Holy Cross Lutheran Church & School.

]]> https://holycrosscs.org/marriages-grow-and-change/feed/ 0 Marriage Retreat https://holycrosscs.org/marriage-retreat/ https://holycrosscs.org/marriage-retreat/#respond Thu, 21 Mar 2019 17:53:07 +0000 https://holycrosscs.org/stagingsite/?p=9122 By: DCE Dan Hampton “WAR! What is it good for, absolutely nothing!” These lyrics written by Edwin Starr in 1970 evoke an era that was in turmoil. America was involved in what many people thought was an unjust war in Vietnam. While this kind of war is hard to understand at the time, just wars do serve a purpose in this broken world. But we need to learn to fight the right way, with the best resources, because winning a war doesn’t happen by accident. From February 15-17, 2019 twelve couples spent a weekend learning to fight. Often when we think about married couples fighting it is not a positive sentiment; but in this case we learned who we are really fighting against. It is not our spouse, children, friends, or other family members we are really fighting. It is the Devil! He is the one that wants to remain hidden, because when we realize that it is not our spouse we are fighting, then we can both turn and repel the Devil and all his evil works and ways. God worked His Holy Spirit throughout this weekend. For many couples it was a great time to reconnect with one another. Our lives are so busy, just having an in-depth conversation can be very difficult at times. This get-away allowed each couple to slow down and be fully present with each other. The weekend also allowed couples the chance to get to know other people in the congregation and form new relationships over some games, delicious food, and relaxing in natural hot springs. War is still a difficult subject. No matter what, we must recognize that we are at war with the Devil and all of his minions. Prayer is how we fight; we must learn to battle the Devil in prayer. “If God is for us, who can be against us,” Paul writes in Romans 8:31. Our God is bigger than we can possibly imagine, and he can perform many miracles and defeat the Devil in ways that we cannot even imagine. If you would like to learn more about this topic I encourage you to watch the movie “War Room” that was released in 2015. The church also has several Bible studies; and even if you didn’t attend the Marriage Retreat, you are welcome to use the materials on your own to begin to learn how to fight for your marriage in prayer. Click here to see the Holy Cross War Room Marriage Study Guide.

The post Marriage Retreat appeared first on Holy Cross Lutheran Church & School.

]]> By: DCE Dan Hampton

“WAR! What is it good for, absolutely nothing!” These lyrics written by Edwin Starr in 1970 evoke an era that was in turmoil. America was involved in what many people thought was an unjust war in Vietnam. While this kind of war is hard to understand at the time, just wars do serve a purpose in this broken world. But we need to learn to fight the right way, with the best resources, because winning a war doesn’t happen by accident.

From February 15-17, 2019 twelve couples spent a weekend learning to fight. Often when we think about married couples fighting it is not a positive sentiment; but in this case we learned who we are really fighting against. It is not our spouse, children, friends, or other family members we are really fighting. It is the Devil! He is the one that wants to remain hidden, because when we realize that it is not our spouse we are fighting, then we can both turn and repel the Devil and all his evil works and ways.

God worked His Holy Spirit throughout this weekend. For many couples it was a great time to reconnect with one another. Our lives are so busy, just having an in-depth conversation can be very difficult at times. This get-away allowed each couple to slow down and be fully present with each other. The weekend also allowed couples the chance to get to know other people in the congregation and form new relationships over some games, delicious food, and relaxing in natural hot springs.

War is still a difficult subject. No matter what, we must recognize that we are at war with the Devil and all of his minions. Prayer is how we fight; we must learn to battle the Devil in prayer. “If God is for us, who can be against us,” Paul writes in Romans 8:31. Our God is bigger than we can possibly imagine, and he can perform many miracles and defeat the Devil in ways that we cannot even imagine. If you would like to learn more about this topic I encourage you to watch the movie “War Room” that was released in 2015. The church also has several Bible studies; and even if you didn’t attend the Marriage Retreat, you are welcome to use the materials on your own to begin to learn how to fight for your marriage in prayer.

Click here to see the Holy Cross War Room Marriage Study Guide.

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