Marching Around Jericho - Lynn Donovan

If you're in a spiritually mismatched marriage. Don't miss today's Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman you control spiritual atmosphere, the joy, the law of your home as a believer you are that powerful in the Lord. Welcome to Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman, author of the New York Times bestseller "The 5 Love Languages" today author and speaker Lynn Donovan will give help and hope your spouse is on a drastically different page spiritually. This is one of the frequent questions we get for the trip on her list. And I think at this time of year as we head toward brings a lot of pain and hurt surface because you see the distance between you so listen to what Lynn has to say and see if you are not encouraged by the conversation straight Chapman rescue. This is one of the big struggles in marriage, eyes mismatched you agree with that user groups in the Scriptures/the question how can two walk together if they're not agreed and the answer is struggle especially if it's a spiritual disagreement because let's face it, are what we believe about God impacts everything else we do in life. And so if one is really a follower of Christ and the other is not. It's a pretty big difference.

And so, yes, it is a struggle sometimes people are not Christians when they get married in one of them becomes a Christian. One of the visit and sometimes your Christian will actually knowingly marrying non-Christians up there are a lot of folks in this situation really excited about our conversation with Lynn today.

There are small him mismatches. You know, I just read my files over eschatology you with the end times will be like, or what heaven is like, but they were talking today about the M mismatch you're running toward God, you're running toward a relationship with Jesus and your spouse is is not there with you. So if that's where you are today. I hope you got a five love languages.com you'll see Lynn Donovan's book marching around Jericho praying your unsaved spouse into the kingdom lends a speaker and author. She shares her everyday adventures of walking in the presence of God. You heard her and seen her on national TV and radio programs she's co-authored the award-winning book, winning him without words. She and her husband live in to macula California and you find are online@marchingaroundjericho.com Lynn welcome to Building Relationships. Dr. Chapman and Chris honor to be with you, your book profoundly affected my life and marriage and gave me hope and understanding of my spouse and so thankful to you and it's an honor to be here to share my story and get help to others who are honest journey with me are behind, but we're certainly glad that you're with us today. Since you tells the bit about yourself and how you met your husband how long you been married, understood, just introduce yourself to us without rain in the church I grew up in Sunday school and I knew Jesus from far as I can remember was baptized at a young age and on call what is commonly most people are. Some people have is that relationship at church instead of the vertical relationship with Jesus Christ and so in my 20s I fell away from the Lord and I went into the bad bad prodigal land of disbelief and I met my husband during that time and I met him at a dance club in Las Vegas and we married. It was good in the beginning we were far away from God and we were living in otherworldly lifestyle and then things started to change.

I became disillusioned about yeah so when you got married you are not walking with God and what happened that brought you back to God about three years into our marriage that the father of love called me back. He spoke to my Sunday school little girl felt to come home to me, daughter and I went running home to my father who had it arms open wide and welcome me home back into my face life. However, I was dragging behind me. My unsaved spouse who is not very happy about this new man so to speak in my life and that's when I realized, oh boy, we are really different in our faith and values and I'm in a spiritually mismatched help.

What do I do you pray for your husband for 20 years I'm remembering is not following Christ.

This will a long time you prayed for in a long time. But then there was a radical change that took place in your prayer life tells about the change in church one day and reading the word and I believe the word of God, and I was talking to the Lord, like I believe your word God, where are the miracles that he decided to answer and sent me off on this journey and I had a radical encounter with his love and it ignited my prayer life and after 20 years of praying for my husband learning to do life with him well and overcoming so much, though I had an encounter of love with the father just sent me off on a new course to really step into my fate and start to believe for the miracle to see my spouse changed income to Christ and it was wonderful.

It was wonderful and it changed my life forever.

That is important to strengthen and build your marriage and your place with the right warrior to build that is the belt of truth. What truth do you need to know as you begin a journey like this of March Jericho first truth I know think every believer needs to know when you're living with an unbeliever is that God always good to see good father. He is good all the time in every way he doesn't punish and he doesn't condemn us from marrying or being married to an unbeliever if we prepended once and after his forgiveness. It is done. He's just more interested in our love and our faith, and praying for spouse any more interested in our spouse's salvation. We have to start there with God is good and develop our love relationship with the Lord we have to know God is for our spouse's salvation.

That is the first truth is just understanding. God is so very good that he is a good father and that transforms our whole paradigm about looking at her marriage and her spouse and and life in general and tell us about this whole concept of marching around Jericho, and many of our listeners are for me with the Old Testament stories of Israel but do tell us how you apply that to your own prayer life or your husband share this journey.

I was 20 years married my husband this encounter with the Lord and I feel like at the time I went to a seven year journey which was similar to the Israelites who marched around seven times the walls of Jericho. It was they were going into the promised land.

And I felt like I was going into the promised land.

And every time around accomplish something in the spirit realm and every year that I prayed and learned a different tool it impacted greatly. My life my faith and my marriage and my husband and so the tools I learned was like every year with a new tool the intimacy. First of all that the father I needed to learn my identity as a child of the most high God my identity as the bride of Christ and who I am in Jesus then had to learn my authority in Christ.

And while what a fun journey that when one is and had to learn about the power that the Holy Spirit brings into our lives to pray really effective prayers and to protect our family and and I had practice tools. Very practical tools and I learned that the Lord gave me that I walked into my maturity in Christ and marched around in his glory and the final years of every year felt like you will march around these walls of my husband's heart which was so similar to the march around Jericho to take the wolf down and let the glory come in and take the promised land use, among other things, that hungry people are willing to play the calls to experience the deeper things of God who what is the cost.

I feel that my brightness for my husband salvation led me to be hungry for more of God. And when I became sold out on fire believer and understanding that my father was good and good for me that when I really was willing to pay the cost to understand more and to hear his voice and paying the cost means it's not once a week church attendance. It's in the word its praying and establishing a conversation with God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit sitting alone without your cell phone and talking to him asking him questions.

It is surrender its quick obedience. All those things come with a cost and they seem expensive. On one side when you get to the other side and see how much the Lord is waiting to pour into your life. If you'll just let go of this one thing that's holding you back. It is extraordinary and it's worth everything to have an intimate relationship with the father. So you see as being the first to with God is God, what are the practical steps that lead you into the premise of God that is first making a commitment I want to know the Lord God Almighty, I want to know who he is in his word need to be a study of the word you need to know the word you need to get the word of God in you and understand what he's saying and understand his character and like spending time with him without distraction.

Focusing just on him and you and your relationship with him understanding and having conversation I love to ask the father questions and you must answer questions and I find journaling very effective for that. Establishing time like any relationship, spending time together, exchanging and dialogue seeking one another out understanding each other's character that create intimacy and our father so waiting to have and all of his children to save us time together with God, the conscious presence of God, you indicate that there is spiritual warfare going on both you and your spouse during this time talk about that bottle and how what did you see in your husband that indicated there was a battle going on within him is always family and marriage. He wants to destroy the family and especially every marriage and he will do anything to get work his way in between a man and wife to create this trust, tension, quarreling, first I had to deal with my own anger and then you know I had to work with my husband to call out his anger and when we were able to see waiting at this is the enemy, especially me.

I needed to recognize the enemies assaults and had overcome a lot of those myths that the enemy doesn't pester or try to destroy Christians, especially aimed at the Christian believer to discourage us and keep us from reading the word or praying especially for our own lives, her family and her husband's, how was your husband responding to all of this is you were getting more and more intimate with God. The express what was going on inside of him in the early years my husband was very antagonistic about my faith. But like we've been married 20 years at this point and we had found a place of peace and rest in our differences and respect, and he'd softened so much over the years, and as he saw me grow in my faith and I would start to pray for things and they would actually happen.

Things that were unexplainable and he took notice it with all those little things start happening and need to change in my demeanor my sold-out heart forgot a sold out woman of faith in the home. You just can't help but affect those around you. You Jesus with innuendo comes out and it can change.

I don't care. The hardest heart and my husband slowly and surely saw this change in me and as I was taking authority away from the enemy and releasing more of the love of God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit in my home.

It had a profound impact on him personally so living with the person who's walking with Christ to have a positive influence on the spouse. Absolutely Christ in you the hope of glory and my prayer boy. The Angels move on and I would release peace into my home. I would bless my husband in his work. I would bless him every day that those kinds of prayers change hearts. They change homes. They release the kingdom of God right with and your very home. It sounds to me like this. This prayer walk you noses of Margie Roger five love languages.com you will find out more about that, the future resource today. But this was not just okay. My goal is to get my husband to believe in Jesus and agree with me on some every spiritual thing. Your real goal was all God change me in a way that will move into his life. That will be that he will be able to say no to you because of the change that you've made in my own life and my cats, so we get married and want to change your spouse and rarely works with my observation of years that when we start to change and we are filled with so much hope so much blood and goodness and truth like it just comes out of this and are spouses or children. People are affected. They feel that they know that you have something different and they didn't go into this whole journey. Understanding that this you know my husband would be so profoundly impacted. I was just sold out in love with Jesus Christ and I was on this wonderful journey of learning intimacy in my authority know that I was having a blast. Little did I know over the years of marching around. It was affecting my husband, but I had best part of the journey that happened to me talk about what the other two intimacy with God's kingdom identity, your identity explained that sure I needed. I was lost in my identity. I didn't fully understand what the word said about who I was as a daughter I would read the Bible stories and think of the really great and Jesus is awesome. But there came a point where there was a turning around in me where Jesus is no Lynn I want you to do these things I have modeled the things I want you to pray for healing for people. I want you to pray for deliverance.

I want you to model love. I became very real that as an daughter of the most high God and a disciple of Jesus Christ. Everything that he taught is something that I am not given gifts to do and I'm expected to do.

I am expected to bring the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. That is what he modeled, and he showed us how to do it and so I had to have kind of that switch and what I was believing about myself and my identity as a child is passive and just praying and hoping it's like I'm really going to believe and pray series prayers and watch and expect my Lord to show up and reveal himself and change circumstances. As I needed to understand that I do have authority and I do have power in the kingdom. I am equipped with the Holy Spirit. I have angels that have been sent to support me in understanding all of that really allowed me to engage in in powerful warfare for my home and for my family so use the term become more Christlike. But sometimes this is the general term that we use without getting specific about what did Christ do what was, at last I like there's a story you tell about becoming a lunatic for God explained that to us.

Yeah, you know, I'm really about the practical give me a practical tool for this is a very practical tool. I learned kind of by accident that for many of us. We have old thought patterns that will creep back and have this old real start to roll when I was mad at my husband I go out in the garden. I would be taken out there like and I would just hear this voice.

Now I remember about my husband now all these negative things and how angry I was that I might not have a really great looking garden, but boy, my thought life one day and standing out there in the garden. I stand straight up with the shovel in my hand and I think normally a nice person so I know these thoughts are not coming for me and I know they're not coming from God there coming from the other place and I reached up and said out loud.

I take these thoughts captive to Christ which is what God says to do in the word and I put my finger to my temple and I like flung them away and they stopped immediately and I started to practice this and I was driving around most the time that old real would happen when I be driving in the car alone and so I would reach up and I'd say out loud. I take these thoughts captive to Christ and I would point my finger to my temple and bring them out as I was driving around my town here in California and I probably looked like a lunatic. A lot of people works. If you are persistent and you say I take these thoughts captive to Christ and I would fling them away work so I welcome everyone to become a lunatic to because it will transform your thought life and you won't battle with the old real tough spot that are destructive and negative like all of us have heard the term.

Taking these thoughts captive to Christ, but many have been a rather fuzzy old will. How do you do that your giving is are you giving us a picture here really work. I challenge everyone to try it for 30 days and that old real.

Can you say it out loud and it ended anyway. I welcome everyone to become a lunatic with me. What role does forgiveness play in all of this in terms of prayer in your relationship with God in your forgiveness is at the core of everything we received forgiveness from Jesus. It's all about repentance in the kingdom and bitterness and unforgiveness is the quickest way for the enemy to keep us divided and we need to offer forgiveness.

It's a choice we make it hard. It doesn't mean all the time that what happened, he was right. It's just unforgiveness will keep us in our own prison and that's exactly what the enemy wants so you learning a lifestyle of forgiveness is the most powerful thing to keep you in peace and rest. Let it go. Give it to Jesus.

He will see you through it.

He will release you from the chains of bitterness and and hopelessness. He has his forgiveness is released into us and we are able to truly forgive others and in the book I share a real a powerful model of how to walk through complete forgiveness to deal with the emotional wounds and and trauma and to really turn around and bless the person and you can do it through Christ and it completely free. You then you're not bound up in bitterness and you can move on to more important prayers and forgiveness needs to be a lifestyle we need to be in forgiveness all the time somebody offends you or you get offended it's forgiveness. Forgiveness heels so much of the soul using the word release to release the anger release the emotions to God. There's a part of that interfaces with forgiveness. It seems to me you know that as you mentioned earlier. Repentance is God says if you repent of forgive you and we know God doesn't forgive everybody but God does forgive anyone who's willing to confess their sins, but sometimes our spouse doesn't apologize or don't come back and ask forgiveness and that that whole concept. I like that little concept of releasing them to God rather than your taking control and so you will my company back, putting them my company for this lash out at them. We put them in the hands of God who is both loving and also righteous is that a part of what you're saying as well. Absolutely we can release them and we have Christ in the hope of glory. We can release them to him. Even if we didn't get an apology we can say Lord you love me you love me so much overkill love covers a multitude of sins. And I know who I am and you I don't need to be affirmed with an apology and I just assign over my husband I assign over what happened here to you.

I release it to you. I choose to bless him and I will walk in your truth. Your peace and your love that is powerful forgiveness that is freedom to think releasing them to God doesn't restore the relationship but but it does remove the animosity between us will release them to God.

And then we can be God's agent and returning good for evil, which is not natural. What is not always that we will return your evil with evil like things worse. But when we become hand of God the voice of God we returning good for evil which is people I would have a who are not Christians have a hard time grasping on how how we can really do that but as your sites in the power of Christ to his right absolutely can't get it on your own.

I know I tried Christ, we have the Holy Spirit, we have a supernatural God and he help us forgive and release and it makes sense to the two unbelievers and that's why we feel you do that if you want that kind of forgiveness to your spouse. They don't do it. It makes them think it makes something's going on here that's different because the world would tell them evil for evil, but you have forgiven them and you can even love them through the love of Christ is amazing what Christ will bring when we are hungry for more. Famine and intimacy. I have a couple questions you and Gary talk and this is really good really gives a lot of hope that there can be change because you're you're really taught about transformational on a view of the spouse who is walking with Jesus, and then allowing God to do whatever he wants, but let me ask you two questions number one did you ever feel like walking away a juror feel like you know God and I want to follow you and this guys a ball and chain on me and you know that kind of thing number one and number two is this a guarantee that what you're talking about here. If you just do these 10 things were. This seven years of the Walker undercoat is that a guarantee for God to do what you are hoping him to do all unleashing the question.

I will say no it's not a guarantee, it doesn't matter now. We can love God and have the most amazing journey with him no matter what our circumstances, some of us are putting very challenging marriages.

Some of us have illness whatever journey were on God is bigger than all of it in his whole point is for us to learn to love through whatever were walking through and he will never fail us, and you may not see the outcome you were hoping for. You will see the miracles on the way and it's the journey that matters. It's not so much, and it's the journey it's walking with him every day in belief and watching his miracle surround you and seeing what he's doing in the world. It is the journey. It is learning to love and that's the most important thing in the forest. The first question I think every person who's been married like boy this is really tough today.

I'm out here. Can creep in.

But what I've learned over the many years is that sticking it out in hard times brings you to years like what I'm living in now.

My husband and I are in this beautiful season, we hear an echo to one another's life we adore each other we we want to live here together 24 seven.

It's peaceful. We are in harmony and the hard years were worth it because I guess I extra stubborn and the Lord knew I needed extra stubborn guy in my marriage to drive me to the truth and not look to my husband to fulfill my needs looked to God alone. Look to Jesus Christ and I needed all of that I needed it. I needed to be turned around.

He needed some hard things to rub off my rough edges and not with my spouse in the word it says you know don't divorce and I believe that in indoor exceptions unit with abuse and things like that that living through the hard years is worth it.

It's worth it for that one life it's worth it for what waits ahead it's worth it that you hundred the Lord it's worth it. Everything is worth it to stay in there on those hard days so walking or running in God's direction with him even if it doesn't guarantee that your spouse will eventually turn to Christ, you are a better person you are accomplishing God's purposes for your life you are enjoying the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Obviously you want the spouse to come to Christ you hope that's going to happen. But even if it doesn't, you don't regret the truth you walked with God totally no regrets.

You can't regret walking with the most high, our creator and like I said if it's marriage or health issue. No matter financial, whatever it is there's hardship in this world. Jesus told us there'd be hardship week walking hand-in-hand with the Trinity.

Everything a day makes such a difference in our lives.

It's worth every minute to spend with the Lord and develop your intimacy in your trust and your identity and then we just watch him work even if the end result is in the baptism nor it's not healing completely, you will experience other miracles that will blow your mind and feel your heart and it's so worth walking with him saying I'm quoting here abiding with God reduced conflict, irritation, selfishness in me. Unsurprisingly, also my husband, my intimacy with God determined the spiritual temperature of our house. Tell us more about that.

I believe that when I really started to walk in my authority and the power of the Holy Spirit. I was establishing my identity and my intimacy just take authority over conflict in our home. I would just say there can be no argument here, there can be no strife.

All anger has to get out I would bless my home with peace and blessed with the shalom of heaven.

I would bless our marriage and release a spirit of unity and cooperation and live in admiration and respect those kinds of prayers. Move the spirit realm. The enemy must get out because I cover our home with the blood of Christ, and I welcome and angelic in all those blessings come flooding in. And so I changed the atmosphere of my home through my faith and what prayers I was releasing the get backed up by the angelic realm absolutely will then affect everyone in your home you get control the spiritual atmosphere, the peace, the joy, the love in your home because you're the believer you are that powerful in the Lord so the unbeliever living with someone is walking close to God's experience of what you been talking about the have to be influenced in a strong way but what they're seeing and feeling and then you write. For example conflict, you know, I just didn't want to engage in it anymore. I didn't need to be right need to be. You know all of that I know who I am in Christ. I don't need to argue for and I don't need to look to my husband to fulfill every need, and I've been so filled with my quiet time in my prayer time with the Lord that can walk in his own freedom to take his time to find Jesus on his because I stopped putting pressure on him I stop having expectations like you need to go to church with me because I don't want to go by myself. I went to church off by myself and had a blast in worship and he found peace and it was when I released him from all these expectations and all the conflict that probably I stirred up because I was so anxious and insecure myself when I became who I was to be in Christ that just all went away profoundly impacted my husband's question Leslie Strobel talks about this to this whole concept because Lee Strobel most people know Lee Strobel's name from his writing and speaking teaching. Leslie started going to church and she became a Christian and Lee was just adamant against this holy one to prove it wrong.

First of all, but he said look you go to the church, but don't give many of our money.

He just did not trust those Christian people of the what if you have a situation like that where you know you want to support the ministry of the church and you want to give but your husband says no you can't do that how you handle that situation will help for that very reason.

It's very frustrating to us who are so engaged to church. We find help and support through our church family where maybe we don't get that from our spouse. And so we believe in tithing.

We want to tie but I found that if we do that in secret or we do it you know what we or retired when her husband says not to create so much conflict in the home that it just isn't worth doing that angering your husband over tithing. You can hide in so many other ways.

Like I would give my time. I would teach Bible study. I volunteer in the children's area there so many other ways to tie I would hide in prayer.

I would type it so many other ways in order to keep peace in the home, and I think that's very important, and I found that over time, my husband, my unbelieving spouse was actually the one that was supporting so much of my ministry online it's like to join with me at the heart level that I'm involved in this because you know she's using the money he earned and I paid for many, many ministry things out of his work and I would do ministry and so over time they will soften each just love allowing the love of God coming out of you and I find that after a while, many, many spouses are there completely fine with typing but in the beginning.

If your husband is opposed to it or your wife is opposed to it, really. Tread carefully there pray pray pray pray pray because God is not bankrupt's. We talked a lot about the enemy alluded to the enemy who is the newly one of the commonly held beliefs and deceptions about the man I didn't understand the enemy that was one of my biggest learning curve and what really created a transition into powerful faith. I didn't understand how the enemy operated what his game plan was what his tactics were and when I really did a deep dive to understand the enemy which is Satan and the demonic realm. The principalities and powers that is talked about in the word when I really began to understand that the devil is out to kill, steal and destroy every single day, especially believers.

However, we have power and authority over them. Through Christ Jesus. He paid for it on the cross.

His blood brings that to us as modern-day disciples and some of the myths. I think I believe from my church years was that the enemy would never bother or oppress a Christian that's just simply not true. The demonic realm is after believers. Satan wants to destroy the Christian church and so understanding that oppression can come about, the devil will manipulate people and relationships shall manipulate conversations to create misunderstanding and offense offense is a big weapon of the enemy. And so when I began to understand how he would twist words and how he would create destruction how he would create oppression because I believe lies about who I was, I believe, lies about who God was.

When I uncovered the truth and started walking the truth.

The enemy lost his power and that's when things really started to shift the works of we overcome them through faith and understanding who we are, we overcome them through belief in the word and exercising the word through our voice, our voice is very powerful at the royalty of the kingdom and when we pray, like I said earlier, take thought captive to Christ and he said out loud that moves the spiritual realm.

The enemy has to stand down and the angels are released, our voice is so powerful when we speak. There's many passages in the word about the strength of our voice in Proverbs 1821. It says that we have the power of life and death in the time that first is legit. It is true we can release life and good, so we can release death interrelationships into marriage and four children.

I say choose blessing use the power blessing. Bless your children bless your home. Bless your marriage blessed.

This will bless our country that is powerful prayers. It defeats the enemy and releases the kingdom of God, to talk about the power of comes with risk and reward was love. A crucial part of the process.

Earlier I said that we we come to this planet to learn to love learn to love our father and learn to love others, it's a journey of love and love is a risk love is vulnerability. Love is truth, love is risking rejection at the reward. When we learn to truly love out of the heart of God, which changes the world. Love changes the world. It feeds the hungry.

It saves the marriage, it releases people from bondage. Love is where everything begins and ends, it is out of love that we can walk through challenging marriage issues.

We can walk through illness. It is the love of the father who surrounds us that we can be encouraged every day to get up and do this again I'm going to choose to bless today.

It is love that takes us down the path of understanding and goodness and forgiveness.

Love is at the core of everything that is worthy in this life and love is not something that we generate ourselves right. The sources father God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Yeah Scripture so that the love of God is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We we we your channels of his love.

Alright, so now our listeners are asking what happened to your husband to the end of the seven-year journey. The most amazing part of the story.

After seven years of marching around and learning all these tools and changing atmosphere came to it moment where I was in worship and I was talking to the Lord about changing out of the ministry and Dannon ago. What do I do largely in this and he says this ends with the baptism and it seems so impossible from where I'm standing.

I had talked to my husband about baptism in over two years or anything about faith for two years seemed impossible. Six weeks later after a number of amazing miraculous success of the events and conversations with my husband. My husband and I drove to the church on our 27th wedding anniversary on the very day that we married 27 years earlier. Just because God is good that way and delights in my husband was baptized and I watch that man into the water, up as a son of God With a still blue my mind. It was quite a finish. What a finish to that part of our lives. It was beautiful.

I still get. The course is the longing of your heart all alone you are. You are not focusing on film being converted or your converting him you are focusing on getting to know God and walk with God and experience God and let that spell out in your life with him so that he sees it demonstrated the changes in your life. Absolutely. And that's the fun thing is just so kingdom kingdom of God like focus on me and then I'll do the miracles all around you, and you can just delight and thanked me and honor me in worship and what a blast and again I can't say that be the ending for everyone, but if you go on the journey I've had, it won't matter.

You will be so in love with our amazing father in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, he has got so much to show you so many things to give you gifts and delight, and if your spouse comes along for the ride.

Hallelujah if you're if he doesn't you bless him and love him and and have the time of your life on this journey of our listeners would say never heard it put this way before, but this is one of the values of what you're sharing in the value of this book focuses on our relationship with God in our fellowship with him learning who we are and what is given us in and enjoying life with God in spite of the fact that you're not spiritually united with your spouse, your your living a full life with God. And then if and when the spouse does come to Christ.

Well those about what what's it been like since then entered in a season see mutual love and respect you know I'm in a different place in my faith journey than my husband is so there's going to be some kind of mismatch always and that because I've been on this journey for decades and just dip in his toe in the water.

What I've noticed the most is the piece that we have in our home people come in and comment on our peaceful home. They don't know what it is peaceful and he feels it, we ought we have mutual love and respect and honor, and he is free to explore his faith and meet Jesus with how he needs to. And I am as well and we mutually honor respect that and it is a beautiful season to enter into and I'm so thankful to the Lord for everything that is done, forcing him to be where you are everything in your walk with God, but allowing God to work and walk with him as he grows his relationship with God.

Yes, let's say there's somebody listening who is a Christian and they're dating someone who isn't a Christian and they said wow it worked out so great for Lynn. It'll work out for me to I'm just going to keep on going. What would you say that person who's dating or maybe engaged to somebody in a mismatched relationship yet. What I do not be unequally yoked it in the Bible for a reason. These struggles are very real and I share with people who write and ask me questions I'm engaged to an unbeliever, and I tell them what they really gonna face they're going to be years of going to church alone and feeling lonely. There they are going to raise kids with different values and those are very real issues in its difficult and you may be in love now and think it'll all work out that different worldviews will come into play and it's very challenging. Go to the Lord and ask him truly seek him about your marriage.

You need to have strong conversation with your potential spouse about faith and establish what your family life is gonna look like and I would really go to the Lord and pray you know should reveal to me your intention in this relationship because it is very very challenging. There many years that you feel alone and struggle and I would just truly encourage someone to go to the Lord and pray about that relationship. What is your hope for those who read this book marching around her and want to be a voice of encouragement in the very hard days. It's worth it. Turn your expectation away from this from this man, turn your eyes fully to the eyes of Jesus Christ. He will not let you down. He won't feel you. He will help you. He has wisdom to give you to walk through the conflict he has encouragement he has self-sustaining you in the hard years.

He will take care of you. He will provide for your every need. Turn your eyes fully on Christ and I encourage you to stay strong for your family, your children need you they need you. They need parents that love the Lord and will love them well. I'll be the voice of encouragement that it's hard many years our heart. If I can do it just an ordinary woman.

You can do it to just grab the hand of Jesus look in his face and say take me for Jesus and he will not fail you. He will walk you into the promised land, whatever that looks like he will take you there and let me just say thank you for being with us today and sharing your journey and thank you for putting some of the journey in this book do believe that God is going to use this book marching around your to help many men and women who are married to someone who is not a believer not process. Thanks for writing it, and thanks for being with us today.

Thank you Chris and honor to be here. Thank you for allowing me to share my Lori and I hope I haven't find out more about that resource of the website. Five love languages.com again the title of Lynn Donovan's book marching around praying your unsafe spouse. Five love languages.com mixed with Christmas films teach us about the truly celebration don't mess and encouraging musical discussion in one week. I thanks to our production team Steve Wick and Janice Todd. Building Relationships with Dr. Gary Chapman's production of radio in association with Moody publishers a ministry at the Bible Institute. Thanks for listening