From Kevin and Katie 2018 - Amazon S3



From Kevin and Katie 2018As newlyweds, we feel it is very important to continually add to the foundation our relationship is built on. While we started this seminar at a “good place” in our marriage, we went in knowing there is always room for growing closer to God together, and thus growing closer to each other. The seminar really supported this growth not only through the videos we watched, but also through our time in small group and prayer time as a couple. We recommend this seminar to all couples whether married 6 months, 60 years, or anywhere in between!”From Ed and Nadege 2018The MIC seminar has been a God-sent opportunity as a couple. We have been praying more for all married couples, so that all marriages may truly be sanctified in Christ Our Lord and Savior. Thank you for bringing the light of Christ into our marriage.From Eric and Stephanie 2018Because of Marriage in Christ, everything matters more. Our marriage matters more. Our family matters more. Our parish matters more. Our community matters more. We went from the world affecting who we were as people and affecting our marriage to our marriage affecting who we are as people and then affecting the world.From Nate and Lanita 2018We had really good marriage prep, but then we were dropped into real life. A few months after we got married, I got pregnant. We went into survival mode. We weren’t intentional about spending time together and we would just miss each other even though we lived in the same house. We missed each other. After Marriage in Christ, we were a lot more proactive about spending time together. It taught us to put God first and our spouse second. We pray together more now which is something we haven’t done since marriage prep. We also make time to sit and chat, go for a run or walk together each day. Thank you to Marriage in Christ for bringing this into our marriage and showing us the way forward.From Mary 11/28/16Matt and I often use the conversation starters suggested in the "talk" portion of the PTA over dinner time. One night last week, the question was "what was the athletic or musical or artistic highlight of your life growing up?" Matt knew I took many years of piano lessons, but he had never heard any specifics of my experience with playing the piano. For the next 20 minutes or so, I reminisced with him about various competitions, proud moments, and favorite pieces of mine. We even listened on YouTube to one of the pieces I used to play. The song was the crowning achievement of my musical 'career,' and I described the hours and amount of effort it took to learn it. We both greatly enjoyed the conversation and came away with greater love and appreciation for each other's gifts.From Mary Clare 11/28/16I have almost completely stopped my "Erik improvement projects" (being a control freak about his character and achievements) since we prayed together week 4 and I realized that he has the best of intentions, and that his love and care for me are his highest priority in life /(after the Lord, of course).?I also am much more likely to assume the best of him. We reconcile more quickly. We pray together more readily.1) I drive more like Erik now. This is a big deal because I never before cared for how he drove.?2) I believe him when he says that we have enough money.From Chris and SarahSARAH: My husband Chris and I decided to attend a Marriage in Christ seminar as a way of performing some “preventative maintenance” on our marriage.??Although we’ve never had any insurmountable problems with our relationship, we have seen so many other marriages fail around us that we wanted to avoid falling into the kind of ruts that have damaged so many other marriages.It turned out to be a very good thing that we attended the Marriage in Christ seminar when we did.??Part way through the seminar, my husband was told that he was going to be laid off from his job because of a fiscal emergency on the part of his employer.??Before Marriage in Christ, I would really have lost my temper and blamed my husband for the situation, even though it wasn’t his fault.??Marriage in Christ helped me to develop many good habits than enabled me to be patient with my husband and support him when he needed me the most.??This has been a tough time in our marriage, but my support has helped prevent my husband from giving in or giving up.??In fact, he has tried to take advantage of this time to try and get closer to God through daily Mass, rosary, and Adoration, which helps give him the spiritual support he needs to work on the grinding task of filling out job applications and hunting for work.??Thanks to Marriage in Christ, this tough time has been an opportunity for our spiritual growth, and for coming together more closely as husband and wife.Because of all that Marriage in Christ has done for us, my husband and I were eager to help out when a session of MIC was offered at our new parish.??We were happy to serve as table leaders, and help out other couples to grow in their marriages.??Marriage in Christ has helped us tremendously, and we recommend it to any couple who wants to “tune up” their marriage, and grow closer to each other, and God.?CHRIS: My wife and I have always had a good marriage.??We have always been close to each other, and have also had an active faith life.??We decided to attend a Marriage in Christ Seminar not because of any great problem or need, but as a way to “spruce up” our marriage a little.??We both found the seminar a godsend—enjoying the exercises it entailed, and the company of other couples that it provided.??I particularly appreciated the many little changes, such as the small gestures of affection on my wife’s part, that accompanied the seminar.??Finding out midway through the seminar that I was going to lose my job was a major blow, and one that I though was going to ruin the seminar entirely, but the increased closeness as a couple that we were enjoying stayed with us, and has helped us, as we struggle to make it through a rough time.??Coming back as leaders of another seminar continued to help us, as we tried to help others.?Give a Marriage in Christ seminar a try, whatever the state of your marriage.??You won’t be sorry you did!From Emily 12/2016My husband and I have been involved in 3 different seminars, and each time we have noticed our marriage grow in a new aspect. It's things like being more intentional about quality time together as we adjusted to being new parents, building a community with other married couples to support our marriage, and becoming much more comfortable praying together.From Randy (November 2016)Thanks for your efforts at keeping our Parish great.? Because you guys support so many in the Parish, I thought I should provide feedback on the "Marriage in Christ" program.? In summary, we (Mary Fran & I) think it is an utterly exceptional program!? The material is extremely well done; the leaders are perfect (insightful, patient, and understanding); and it's so well organized that it's not real time consuming. ?The program, similar to "Marriage Encounter" (and an exceptional follow-on to it), even provides short, daily, penetrating, at-home exercises; to assure the marriage isn't taken for granted. (Moi?) ?All of it is formatted with: ?1) Prayer, 2) Scripture, 3) Meditation, 4) Discussion and suggested ideas. ?In our program, we had quite young and quite old couples, Catholic and non-Catholic, and varied spiritual dedications.? The program was developed by "People of Praise", an ecumenical Charismatic community; and it enhances marital communication in a non-threatening way.? We're obviously comfortable recommending the program to others. ?(Often we think it should be required for many!) ?We hope this analysis is helpful.From Ed and Phyllis, while hosting seminar October 20165b. Holy Spirit working in our marriage Although Ed and I had actively engaged in personal prayer even before we were married, it wasn’t until our first Marriage in Christ seminar that we began praying together regularly. The meditations, readings, the sharing of reflections and prayers of intentions made it really easy to begin a new life of prayer together. I soon noticed that when Ed and I prayed together, I experienced a new freedom to leave “our concerns” with the Lord rather than carry them with me throughout the day. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our marriage. God make our hearts one, Amen.2a We knew that this week would be a busy one. On Sunday night we sat down and scheduled the times when we would meet to discuss our responsibilities for hosting the Marriage in Christ Seminar. This made our week peaceful and productive. We were able to pray together every day except for the day Ed had an early morning work meeting. 2a Phyllis and I were sitting in our living room and we were working on PTA. We had completed our prayer time and reviewing the ACT list in week one. It said “Look your spouse in the eyes and say I love you.”Phyllis decided to try this action on me.She said “Ed look at me, I want to look into your eyes and tell you I love you!I stopped and said “Wait let me put my glasses on and see who I’m talking too”I said OH! it’s you!We had a great laugh. I loved the endearing circumstances and realized how important it is to be playful and enjoy one another. 1 PhyllisPhyllis: One of the conversations starters in the “Talk” part of PTA prompted us to talk about our first date. We looked at each other and smiled. We had met in the kitchen at a dinner party over a huge pot of hot spaghetti noodles that needed to be drained. But we didn’t start dating until a year or more later. We talked about how nervous he was and how excited I was to get that first telephone call from him asking for the first date. We remembered how carefully we picked out what we wore and how carefully we choose our words in those first several conversations. And, oh the wonderings, if there would be a second or third date. We laughed a lot and throughout the day we chuckled as more stories came to mind. We shared stories and memories well into the evening. It was a simple question, but it resulted in 24 hours of sharing happy, emotion filled memories.Bob and Dianne (2/2017)Bob and I have prayed for most of our 47 year marriage. It has taken on many different forms, together and individually. I used to have a prayer journal with prayer needs and then dates when they were answered. There was the post-it notes in my bible and my "refrigerator prayer ministry" with pictures of my kids and their friends whom I would pray for?whenever I'd get something out. There is prayer at church and in the prayer corner at home. All different, all good in varying degrees. After our MIC seminar, however, and taking time each morning to do the PTA, I found a deeper friendship with Jesus. Prayer has become an intimate time with the Lord drawing us into friendship with him and each other. I am also a better friend to Bob. I am more kind and more patient with him. I am more fun to be around!Kevin and Anna-Lisa (2/2017)Anna:At the time that Kevin and I signed up to host and attend our first MIC Seminar, we thought things were going fairly well in our marriage. We were working through the challenges that life brings with raising children, jobs or lack thereof (look at Kevin), and a seemingly decreasing ability to spend quality time with each other. Then right away that first week of the seminar we started experiencing some good things – while we both have had individual prayer times, we weren’t in the habit of praying together as a couple, and taking 10 minutes each day to pray together using the format in the seminar book has changed our comfort level in doing that. We tried some of the suggestions for growing in friendship and intimacy and we’ve gotten to know one another better – even after 20 years of knowing each other! Our friendship has grown, both with one another and with God. Our culture has convinced us that there are better ways to spend our time – we are bogged down with household chores, we have bills to pay, friends to socialize with and so many other things we’re ‘committed’ to. We have found that giving our marriage some specific time and attention through participating in the Marriage in Christ seminar has proved to be incredibly rewarding.Kevin:What I have enjoyed about the Marriage in Christ Seminar is the practical approach it is based on. Having everything organized and presented in an easy-to-follow manual makes it effortless to incorporate into your daily married life. The 10 minutes of daily prayer together and exercises that lead to more communication with your spouse lead to some good times! Even more important, growing in my relationship with the Lord has made a huge difference in my relationship with Anna-Lisa and with our children. The Marriage in Christ seminar is not about emotions and feelings, it is about growing in our relationship with the Lord and with our spouse. The seminar gives you the tools to make this happen.Hugh and Joni (2/2017)We went through 'Marriage in Christ' at our church.. St John the Baptist in Savage. After being married for 35 years , we thought we were alright in our marriage. Once we went through the daily ' homework' .. we realized how much we assume from each other. The experience brought realization to be more sensitive to each other's needs. Remembering to say “I Love you” and asking specific questions about our day at work, being involved more and being more concerned about our everyday experiences.I believe we fell more in love with each other.?We then became leaders of a group.This was very rewarding. It taught us that a flame can be reignited not only in us , but in others too! I actually have stayed in contact with one of our small group couples from over a year ago !It is such a blessing to have this available for anyone at any age!I would encourage couples with smaller kids to attend. You might think you don't have time! But the time us well spent!Pat and Patricia (2/2017)Pat: One of the areas of MIC we delight in, is showing acts of kindness to one another, like the ones suggested in the seminar. When we leave in the morning and return later that day we make a conscious decision to get up from whatever we're doing and greet each other with a kiss.?In our small town,?we receive comments?from neighbors and random people saying, "I recognize you; I always see you and your wife?walking together, holding hands." It is true and we enjoy it immensely!Bill and Adella (2/2017)I thought we had a good marriage. But I was experiencing some discontent.? I had a long list of things I wanted to fix in our marriage and quite honestly, in Bill. From my perspective, we were living side by side lives. I was wrapped up in my job, my friends, my tasks, what I was doing with and for my children, grandchildren and siblings. I found myself trying to protect my time and activities from the demands of Bill’s job. I found myself praying for unity and asking what that meant and what it would look like.We had never been successful in praying as a couple. Even though it had always been my dream, it did not happen – but not for lack of trying, mind you. It just wasn’t important enough to Bill.?Six years later?that has totally changed. We discovered a way to pray together in the Marriage in Christ seminar. Today we have a habit. It has brought us together and we are really sharing one life. It is even more intimate than I had hoped. We know more about what is on each other’s heart. It has deepened our roots in the Lord and with each other. The last couple of years would have been very difficult for us if we had not grown in our prayer together. Some our children have had to deal with significant medical problems and last summer, Bill had open heart surgery. Our daily habit of praying together has sustained us through it all.Mike and Georgeanne (3/2017)Georgeane and I are newly married for 50 years and really got a boost from the program. ?THANK YOU so much. ?We are continuing to use the program, as it really encourages time just for the two of us. ?(attended seminar at St. Joe’s, West St. Paul)Don and Alana (May 2017)(edited version below)Don and Alana: Two years ago we went through a difficulty in our marriage. We were struggling with how to move forward to a place of healing. We were inspired by the Holy Spirit to focus on recalling the good memories of our marriage. The ‘rules’ were to each take a turn to share one brief, positive memory of our relationship each day, no repeats allowed. The more light and joy we reflected on, the more light and joy filled our relationship. This has become a powerful habit. It keeps our friendship and love healthy, strong and fun! Pete and Christine (June 2017)After our second baby our life reached a new level of busyness. My husband and I both had to work hard to keep up with all the work. Our relationship became more intense and focused on the kids and tense at times. While taking the MIC seminar we started focusing on each other. We worked hard to find the time to do our prayer time together and sometimes we almost fell asleep doing them! But we started to notice a change in our relationship. Our spontaneity, joy and laughter has returned. I strive to stop what I’m doing when my husband gets home from work, so we can greet each other and take a little time together. The other night we even stopped doing the dishes and danced in the kitchen!David and Donna-Marie (Jamaica June 2017)My husband David and I recently made the marriage in Christ Seminar. It was a truly refreshing experience to our relationship and marriage. We would recommend this seminar to all married but especially those starting out after about a year. May the Holy Spirit continue His work in your ministry and in all the married who have made the seminar so far....and in all the married of the world! ................
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