The Weekend to Forget

Last Updated on September 3, 2024

Have you ever considered attending a Christian marriage conference with your spouse? Here’s one wife’s reflection on how it turned out to be the best thing for her marriage.

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It was about a year and a half after we married, and Ray came bouncing through the door of our home so excited about signing us up for this “marriage encounter” weekend he had heard about on the radio. With a new marriage and a new honeymoon baby, I felt going away for the weekend, right then, was wrong timing. There was so much to do, so much to be done.

With reluctance and great hesitation, we left our young baby girl with my sister and went to a weekend marriage retreat.

We had great premarital counseling and I felt as if there was nothing wrong with our marriage.  So why waste funds on this unnecessary marriage event? And why a whole weekend? I needed that time to get ahead of the game because Monday was coming and clothes did not clean themselves. So when we arrived at the getaway, I wanted to sit in the back of the auditorium and sulk, but Ray headed down front as usual for him. And since this was a marriage thingie, I felt like I should sit by him, so close to the front we went.

Everything was fine, at first, because there was no time for public questions and answers. But there were these big exclusive one-on-one interludes called, “projects.” Each couple (and there were many of us), would find a quiet place in the hotel and go over some personal questions together. What?!!

Yes, this conference made us talk to one another about stuff we were too busy to take the time to talk about throughout the course of our daily lives. Some of the couples had it all together and talked, laughed and enjoyed each other. Ray and I, on the other hand, had a rather hard time. I cried and he pouted.

Our conversations that weekend were long overdue and much needed.

We didn’t even realize that in the midst of our living life, we forgot to care about the things that were important to the other one.

I do not believe we would have forged these essential topics without the direction given to us in the projects. We would have continued our lives, missing each other.

That “Weekend to Remember” turned out to be a “Weekend we will never forget.” We were able to purge the bad things attacking our marriage and gather much needed tools to continually eliminate them. It was a really hard but desperately needed time.

God has such a sense of humor. The day Ray walked into our small apartment announcing he was signing us up a marriage retreat nearly three decades ago, we could have never imagined that God would use us to facilitate them today. We have a fond place in our hearts for these absolutely vital events.

God not only used this in our marriage to give us tools for a connected relationship throughout our years of marriage, but He has also allowed us to be able to see how this ministry has effectively enhanced the marriages of many other couples. We are seeing miracles in marriages through FamilyLife’s Weekend to Remember getaways.

I appeal to you, don’t wait, find a Weekend to Remember in your area, attend any Christian marraige conference offered by your own church, or in your community, and make an unforgettable investment in your marriage.