The Marriage Challenge By Jeff and Lora Helton

In our modern, fast-paced society, it is easy for couples to drift apart and suddenly find their marriages in need of serious help. The 50 Fridays Marriage Challenge is a fun book specifically designed to spark open and honest conversation between partners at any stage of married life. By take the 50 Fridays Marriage Challenge, husbands and wives will find that their Friday evening talks - whether they laugh together, delve deep into the topic at hand, or plan and dream for the future - may be the only time they spend in close conversation that doesn't involve the kids, the checking account, or who took out the trash.

Give the challenge a try and get on track to strengthen your marriage.

Jeff and Lora Helton have been married 24 years and have co-authored Authentic Marriages and its companion workbook. Jeff has spent 25 years as a pastor working with men, marriages, and families by offering spiritual direction, coaching, and practical equipping. He earned two Masters Degrees from Wheaton Graduate School in New Testament Theology and Communication and founded WellSpring Coaching and Consulting. His wife Lora is a graduate of Taylor University in Indiana and Wheaton Graduate School where she earned her M.A. in Clinical Psychology. Currently, Lora works part-time at WellSpring, where she counsels with women and partners with Jeff in their work with marriages and pre-married couples. Jeff and Lora are parents of four wonderful children and they live in Franklin, Tennessee, with their boxer, Miah.

Challenge 1: A Fresh Start

Challenge 1: How will we use the 50 Fridays Marriage Challenge each week?

Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. - Psalm 90:12

Life is busy. Among our jobs, hobbies, work, and shuttling kids - it's easy to stay so busy that we miss intentionally caring for and growing our marriages. Date night can become less frequent. Tender moments slip away. Heartfelt conversations vanish. And then we begin to wonder what's going on with our intimacy.

If we're going to enjoy a healthy, God-honoring, intimate marriage, we must intentionally invest in each other. By saying "yes" to the 50 Fridays Marriage Challenge, you are declaring your desire to grow your marriage in spiritual, emotional, and physical intimacy. Accepting this challenge means that you're going to commit to a weekly, intentional time to proactively engage with and talk about your marriage.

Challenge 3: Delightfully Seen & Known

Challenge 3: What physical characteristic of your spouse do you most enjoy?

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth. - Psalm 139:13-15

And yet, the essence of lasting love is not just in the physical - it's a deeper and more intimate connection that sees and knows each other deeply...intimately...passionately...tenderly. An intimate marriage celebrates and enjoys the inside of our spouse even more than the outside. Sometimes we forget that in our image-oriented culture.

Challenge 5: For Better, For Worse

Challenge 5: What are three strengths of your marriage? What one area would you liek to see growth in?

Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forsake my words or swerve from them. Do not forsake wisdom and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you. - Proverbs 4:5-6

An intentional evaluation of our marriages provides a opportunity for a couple of things to happen. First, there's a chance to celebrate together. Every marriage has some "sweet spots" - those places where life together is good and relatively easy. Strong places in our marriages need to be remembered and celerbated. New opportunities for growth in your marriage are often connected to your strengths. In other words, build on the natural strengths that you already have in your marriage.