Testimonials

Attending the Heart of Marriage Retreat made us focus on each other more, because with day-to-day life, you miss out on the oneness because of family/work/etc. It also made us realize that all marriages have problems and attending the retreat helps you to find ways to repair them. First and foremost, it made us focus on putting God first in your marriage, communication and trust.

The Marriage Retreat has been beneficial for our marriage! The Heart of Marriage Retreat has helped our marriage in so many ways! We are always given focus points to review with each other such as Love, Respect, and Honor! The material covered at the retreat helped us with our marriage vision. Attending the marriage retreat has taught us how to work together, solve problems together and respect each other spiritually. Most importantly, we have learned new ways to embrace each other’s differences and maintain unconditional

We thoroughly enjoyed the retreat and thank God for the opportunity to attend. The time together was much needed. From the moment we arrived to the time we left, the event was impactful! It was well-planned, uplifting, fun, and beneficial. We met many couples at different places in their marital and Christian walk and were able to connect on so many levels- through discussions, sermons, classes, videos, and meal sharing. The final ceremony reminded us of the vows we exchanged before God and one another. We are looking forward to the next one!

The Heart of Marriage Retreat continues to revive our marriage and inspires us to make this journey more rewarding. The fellowship is incredible. This past year we were blessed with the awesome entertainment of Milkshake. The HOM Committee always operates in a Spirit of Excellence.

When my husband and I attended the 2013 Heart of Marriage (HOM) retreat, we did not have high expectations of getting much out of it since we felt that we didn’t have any “real” marital issues that needed to be addressed or resolved. We attended because it was a quick, easy, and affordable weekend getaway that was close to home. Being members of Cascade UMC, we also wanted to support Cascade’s Marriage Ministry efforts. Needless to say, we underestimated the value and benefits of attending this amazing retreat. We were pleasantly surprised and blown away not just by how professional and well organized the retreat was, but also by the genuineness of all the couples and ministry leaders. The sessions were amazing and provided us with a wealth of information on subject matters in Finance, Communications, Intimacy, etc. Pastor Dan Williams is a phenomenal speaker; he imparted in us his personal and scriptural based knowledge for a successful marriage, in that an understanding of the gospel is central to a successful marriage. The theme of “Oneness” resonated throughout the weekend (Ephesians 5:31). However, being ONE does not mean being the same. As Pastor Williams so eloquently stated, “If both spouses were the same, one of them would not be necessary.” We also really enjoyed having the opportunity to spend quality time with each other, and with other Christian couples. On date night, we double-dated with another couple and had an awesome time. We are attending the retreat again this year because while we are blessed to have a good marriage, the retreat is an excellent reminder for us to always keep God in the center of our marriage, and by doing so, our marriage will continue to prosper. Even if we don’t have any specific marital issues to address, attending the retreat is like a “car tune-up” – we don’t want to wait for it to be broke before we fix it. We thoroughly enjoyed the retreat, and look forward to HOM Retreat 2014!