A Marriage Enrichment Retreat, spanning the weekend of Nov. 1-3, 2013, was sponsored by the Seattle/Bellevue, Washington, congregation. The workshop, entitled “Inspire-Connect-Ignite,” featured guest speakers Frank and Sonja McCrady. Twenty married couples, of all ages, listened as Mr. and Mrs. McCrady shared colorful, personal stories about their own marriage, explaining that their marriage had a “rocky start.” They talked about building their own marriage on the very principles they were teaching. Presentation topics included “marriage intimacy,” “healing emotional hurts,” “four ingredients for marital closeness,” and “deadly habits” for all relationships.

The classes gave couples guidelines to chart their own Marriage Intimacy Inventory, discuss the value of friendship in marriage, and examine what favorite activities might help generate these things in their mates. Couples were also encouraged to confess their mistakes in their marriage and ask forgiveness, not only to God, but also to each other. Mr. McCrady spoke about how this process goes a long way to help heal hurts in a marriage.

Mrs. McCrady shared valuable information about three deadly habits that cause great damage in a marriage relationship. These habits—complaining, blaming, and criticizing—were identified as a source of enslaving each of us to emotional pain. Mrs. McCrady taught in her encouraging class that when we are hurting it helps to understand there are solutions and that our lives can be better.

The Bellevue congregation’s “Home Builders Marriage Class,” a group in the congregation that meets monthly, just completed reading the book 10Great Dates. The Home Builders Marriage Class coordinated November’s workshop and is interested in sponsoring another weekend retreat like it again in the future.