Former “Bachelor” star Madison Prewett Troutt is opening up about the difficult first year of her marriage — and the simple nightly practice she says ultimately transformed her relationship with husband Grant Troutt.

“We pray together every single night before bed,” Prewett said during an appearance on “The Riley Gaines Show.” “That changed our marriage so much.”

Prewett, 30, rose to national prominence as the runner-up on Peter Weber’s season of “The Bachelor” in 2020. She married Troutt in 2022, and the couple has since welcomed a daughter. While Prewett has frequently spoken publicly about her Christian faith, she admitted that putting those beliefs into practice during the early days of marriage wasn’t always easy.

“That first year of marriage was really hard,” she said.

The newlyweds were navigating several major changes at once, including moving cities, changing jobs and building a new community. But Prewett said marriage also forced both of them to confront things about themselves they may have previously overlooked.

“Marriage is a mirror,” she explained. “It just exposes everything that you’ve tolerated, or you’ve thought you’ve dealt with … the good and the bad.”

At first, Prewett said she focused on what she thought her husband needed to change.

“I was like, ‘Oh Lord, please change him. Please change him and show him how to love me because he ain’t loving me well,’” she recalled.

But after weeks of praying, Prewett said she felt God turning the focus back toward her.

“The Holy Spirit convicted my heart and brought me to this place of, ‘No, no. I’m not being the godly wife God’s called me to be,” she said.

That realization changed the way she prayed. Instead of asking God primarily to fix her husband, Prewett began asking Him to help her become the wife she believed He was calling her to be.

The couple also began praying together every night — a practice Prewett now describes as one of the most intimate parts of their marriage.

“Obviously we think about … sex and sexual intimacy being such a unifying thing. And it is,” she said. “And I would say the most intimate thing is spiritual intimacy.”

Prayer isn’t the only way the couple intentionally shares their faith. Prewett revealed that she and Troutt had taken communion together the night before the interview, spending time reflecting on Jesus’ sacrifice and worshiping together.

She encouraged other Christian couples not to allow their faith to become two separate spiritual lives under the same roof.

“I think it is easy … to also have like two separate spiritual journeys where it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s his faith, this is my faith,’” she said.

Creating shared spiritual moments, Prewett added, can be “one of the most beautiful, powerful, uniting, unifying things that we can do.”

That desire for deeper connection has also influenced another major change in Prewett’s life. She has been off social media since January after Troutt stepped away first, and she says the break has helped her become more present as a wife and mother.

“I feel so much more present everywhere that I am,” she said.

After years of living in the public eye following “The Bachelor,” Prewett said leaving social media has also forced her to confront her desire to remain visible and relevant.

She isn’t sure when — or even if — she will return.

For now, however, Prewett has no regrets.

“This is the best decision I’ve ever made,” she said.