Testimonials

When we entered our first years of marriage, we thought our marriage was just like anyone else’s. We had our fair share of arguments and laughs. It was until we joined a marriage group that we realized we were not alone and that we had work to do in our marriage and that explosive arguments are not healthy. Yikes! We attended The Heart of Marriage Retreat in 2017 it was our first time going to a retreat surrounding marriage. In the past, we went to other retreats for personal and business growth but never really thought to attend a marriage retreat to work on our marriage. After the Retreat was over and as we took time to reflect we realized, working on our marriage is the paramount to having a successful marriage and that the retreat needs to be a priority every year. We had the opportunity to fellowship with other couples and we were able to see what the difference stages of marriage look like. Meeting other couples and learning from other’s experiences was priceless and not something, you get the opportunity to do frequently. We are excited to attend this year to learn, grow, and improve our marriage. Both our parents attend the retreat and it has been very rewarding for their marriages. This year’s theme: “Get Connected, Stay Connected” really resonates with us because we see the value the importance of fellowshipping and continuing to grow in our marriage. As mentioned in the beginning we thought we were good and for others and us it is so easy to fall into the “we are good stage” but we are committed to being connected and staying connected! We look forward to meeting new couples, growing and taking our marriage to the next level!

The Heart of Marriage Retreat – Atlanta’s “24 Karat Magic” for Married Couples By now, everyone has heard the party banging hit, “24 Karat Magic” by pop superstar, Bruno Mars. Whenever the song is played, immediately faces begin to smile, feet start to move, heads commence to bobbing, and everyone becomes so much happier and livelier than they were before! The song is an atmosphere changer, and that is exactly what the Heart of Marriage Retreat does for couples! God uses the retreat to heal, fortify, and even recreate marriages. Although the “magic” Bruno alludes to is related to wealth and riches, the power of the retreat comes from a different source. It’s the Holy Spirit doing the work through the plenary sessions, workshops, counselors, and date night activities that helps to enhance your union. Best of all, you will meet and interact with some of the most amazing, fun, and inspirational couples you’ve ever encountered. At our first retreat we had been married a mere 2 months and 22 days….but we still longed for that ‘special something’ we knew could be found through listening and learning from the other couples. We enjoyed ourselves immensely and have been back every year since. We have also noticed that each year the retreat gets bigger and more creative, so we are always awaiting the next year in great anticipation of what phenomenal things are to come! 24 Karat gold is the purest, most exquisite of all the metals and the Heart of Marriage Retreat is identical to that precious element! We know that it is an invaluable tool which helps us to keep our threefold cord bound together tightly. So……. “Couples, put yo’ wedding rings up to the moon!” We’ll see you in September for the 2018 Heart of Marriage Retreat!”

Ahhhh, autumn! The leaves are changing colors, the sweltering summer heat is behind us, and the sights and sounds of college football are in the air!!!!! And it is also time for the annual Heart of Marriage Retreat!!! Vic and I had not attended for the past few years because either our schedules didn’t allow us to attend, or quite frankly we were not equally motivated to attend. While Monica is a huge sports fan, for Vic, watching college football is a passion, to put it mildly. And due to the time of year, in many ways, football had been competition for our attendance at the marriage retreat. So, when God moved on Vic’s heart for us to attend, I knew that something special was sure to happen for us and now, even many months later, we’re still glad that we attended. The retreat provided a time for us to physically pause and assess our relationship. We had realized that each of us could, often unknowingly, spend a great deal of time critiquing the other person, assessing what they should or could be doing differently to positively impact our relationship and to be, who and what God has called us to be as a married couple. That assessment or critiquing of the other person can be beneficial, as feedback often is, or it can lead to a tearing down of the “goodness” and the positivity of each other and of the marriage. The marriage retreat afforded us the opportunity to obtain insight, and to examine ourselves and our own behaviors in a healthier way. For example, an area of ongoing opportunity for us is communication. The Communication breakout provided deeper insights into our communication styles. It was beneficial for each of us to individually recognize our styles, but equally as important, it provided insight into the other person. Those insights equipped us with the knowledge and tools to contribute to more productive and meaningful conversations. At the retreat, we intentionally chose a track of classes that fit us and the way that we are wired and approach individual and collective growth, which is centered around personal accountability. We aim for our primary approaches to be on: What can and should I be doing to contribute to the ongoing, positive, growth of our relationship? How can and should I be adjusting to meet my partners’ needs for mutual benefit? The breakout classes stimulated introspection. Additionally, hearing personal accounts and testimonies of couples who were at different seasons of their lives during the broader sessions, really blessed us and has given us the courage to talk about issues that could confront us in the future. And the recommitment ceremony was the perfect crescendo to the weekend. It sealed the accountability and oneness that we had been working toward through the weekend and which we were seeking even before our arrival at the Retreat. This September, competitors to the Marriage Retreat could be the Alabama vs Ole Miss game or your favorite matchup, a commitment at work, lack of childcare or another reason, but if your ultimate goal is a marriage that is satisfying to you and your partner, and pleasing to God, few if any of the competing reasons not to attend the Retreat, will provide the lasting benefits that attendance at the Heart of Marriage retreat can provide.

Before we were married, we attended a seminar facilitated by Gary Chapman, author of The Five Love Languages. He encouraged couples to have weekly date nights and to work on their marriages in a special way each year. The annual Heart of Marriage Retreat has provided us with the opportunity to fulfill this recommendation. At one of the Heart of Marriage retreats, we were a part of the program and did a reading from Jeremiah 29:5-11, which has become one of our guiding Scriptures. We quoted it at our most recent birthday party that we shared this year. In this scripture, Jeremiah spoke to God’s people in exile and encouraged them to get married, have children, and increase in number. For God has great plans for us to prosper us and not to harm us, and to give us hope and a future. This Scripture speaks to us because we have a blended family and have definitely increased our numbers. We have been blessed with a combined total of 5 adult children and 11 grandchildren, and we are still growing. Moreover, God has plans for us to prosper us and give us hope for the future. At one of the retreats, we were blessed to attend a blended family workshop that was conducted by a psychologist, Dr. Joyce Irons. At that workshop, we learned that as we love all our children, we should remain devoted to one another. We have continued our contacts with Dr. Irons to receive her counsel and support. We were also blessed by a prayer workshop presented by Rev. Terry Lemons. She stated that we are to let Jesus be the third strand that holds our marriage together, because three strands are not easily broken. With this in mind, we strive to make Jesus the center of our marriage and daily lives. We were given prayers to pray daily for togetherness and divine guidance. At the third or fourth retreat we attended, we played a game that was patterned after the Newlywed Game. One of the questions asked was how many times today have you told your wife I love you. My wife’s answer was zero. Since that time, we both try say to I love you as many times as we can even if we have to text or email each other. Attending The Heart of Marriage Retreat has been beneficial to us in many ways, and we plan to continue to make it an annual event. The varied topics and activities presented have enriched our marriage and encourage us to be better marital partners.

Coming together with other married couples at the Heart of Marriage Retreat has been one of the best experiences for Steve and me. The workshops, general sessions, date nights, dances, mingling with other couples and just the alone time with each other have helped to strengthen our marriage. To actually enact the scripture our marriage is founded upon Ecclesiastes 4:12b “A cord of three strands is not quickly broken,”, was a poignant bonding moment for us. Steve and I would encourage any married couple to attend the Heart of Marriage Retreat to connect with other married couples, to receive an arsenal of marital tools to nourish your marriage, and engage with other couples. Come and be a participant in what the Lord is doing with Couples at the Heart of Marriage Retreat in September.

We were blessed to have won a raffle prize of a $100 credit toward the Heart of Marriage Retreat registration. After having been interested in attending for so long but never following through, we knew this blessing was a sign to finally see for ourselves what we’d been hearing about for 6 years. We recruited grandma to watch the kids for the weekend, and headed up to Stone Mountain. We had no expectations from the weekend other than to be fully dedicated to each other without chasing kids or being bogged down by day-to-day activities. We were pleasantly surprised to see some couples that we had known from both our church home and other churches we had attended over the years. Immediately we were able to feel a sense of support from everyone in attendance for our marriage. We also felt affirmation from all the couples we met that our attendance offered support for their marriages. The break-out sessions were incredibly eye-opening. Hearing perspectives and engaging with experts/counselors on both big-picture and fine-tuning aspects of our union was something that we never experienced during our 9 year marriage. The 5 sessions including the single-gender discussions immediately gave us tools that helped us understand each other better. Date night gave us our first chance to put those tools to good use. The biggest blessing from the weekend was the opportunity to be in an environment where marriage was celebrated and lifted up as something to be cherished. We understood that not every couple was in the same place in their marriage as we were with ours. But we did find lots of comfort in knowing that everyone in attendance showed an interest in doing the work, were equally supportive in their presence, and was part of a mass-dedication to making/keeping marriages strong. We’ll definitely return–with or without a raffle prize!

We attended our first Heart of Marriage retreat three years ago. We had been married 39 years at the time. Joy and Mike invited us many times before but since our wedding anniversary is September 6; our plans often collided with the dates. That particular year we made the Heart of Marriage Retreat a priority. Our many years of marriage taught us that marriage requires continuous work. As individuals, we grow and change with time requiring our relationships to grow and evolve. Several years prior to attending this retreat, we participated in a group lead marriage workshop with three other couples. We met weekly for several months. Although we learned a lot with and from each other, there were some serious voids. The Heart of Marriage retreat filled those voids. Our experience with HOM provided the opportunity to hear from experienced speakers who were willing to be transparent, a chance to focus on topics of particular interest to us, dedicated time to work on issues with other couples at different stages of marriage, Biblical scholars to guide our overall experience, an occasion to make each other feel special; in other words, time to reset and recalibrate our relationship. We had a rich experience each of the three years, we attended.

Your marriage should not be defined by the size of your struggles, but by the size of your commitment to overcome these struggles together. This is what we learned at the Heart of Marriage Retreat the times that we have attended. We are from Cincinnati, OH but we know that this is a divine investment in our marriage. We are not alone in this. Committing to your marriage, which is ordained by God, is one that is built to be a LASTING union. But we also found that we must handle our challenges, struggles, as well as our joys, and at the same time- draw closer to God in our union. This has been so valuable to us from the Heart of Marriage retreat that we are sharing this information with several other couples in Cincinnati! Last year, we invited another couple to come with us to the retreat and they were EXTREMELY blessed by it!!! Our marriages have grown in Christ as we are both new empty nesters, which is a transition in itself! Here are some Marriage Points of Praise that we have experienced: - My husband and I have committed to a “Date Night”, at least monthly and what a blessing this has been for US!!! We are focused on each other. - On our drive home from the last HOM retreat with the other couple that attended with us, we prayed and decided to outline/plan/design a marriage retreat to organize at our home church. The planning is well underway and will occur this year!!! Praise God!! - My husband and I have started a Newly Married Couples Class in our home and what a blessing it has been to share what we have gained from the HOM Retreat. God can do anything!!! All in all, the Heart of Marriage has truly been something that we needed at such an appointed time. My husband has always been anti-marriage retreats/classes but now he sees their value and that the deep happiness that marriage can bring; it lies on the side of sacrificial service in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we can begin to understand that MARRIAGE should mirror God’s covenant relationship with His people, ours will flourish as God has designed it to be.

Before attending the Heart of Marriage Retreat, my husband and I researched several different retreat opportunities in the local area. We were looking for a Christian retreat where we could grow and learn together as husband and wife. After much thought, we decided to participate in the Heart of Marriage Retreat. It was such a wonderful experience for the both of us. My husband and I met so many couples who had overcome some of the challenges that we were facing. They were very transparent with their experiences and offered Godly advice on how to remain married. The three seminars we signed up for were extremely informative and beneficial. The seminars’ presenters openly shared their struggles and victories, while encouraging us to do the same. We left each seminar with practical and valuable ways to improve our marriage. In addition, the guest speakers were dynamic. They poured wisdom into each couple and entertained us with several personal stories. I can’t begin to express my gratitude to the Heart of Marriage staff for putting together such a professional, spiritual, and loving retreat. My husband and I returned home with a renewed mind, more determination, and a greater sense of purpose.

We attended our first Heart of Marriage conference last September. The experience was truly a blessing. The workshops addressed real life issues and provided a forum for sharing and receiving new ideas. It was awesome to see couples who were newlyweds to those that were celebrating 40 years or more of marriage sharing in the same workshops. The worship services were spirit filled and brought us closer together as a couple. We also enjoyed spending time with old friends and meeting new ones. The venue helped to set the tone for a relaxing and fun weekend. Every marriage needs this kind of practical and spiritual “tune-up” this conference provides. We are planning to make this a yearly destination.