• Before you get married, make sure to investigate the conditions of the premarital soil of your relationship with pre-marital counseling. Pre-marital counseling is the ground work to test the soil conditions of you personally and how compatible you are with your future spouse because the soil may not be strong enough or may have some other properties aka baggage you are bringing into the marriage that could cause problems in the future. It’s critical not to skip this initial step and do the work prior to walking down the aisle because doing the work makes all the difference.
• Have your premarital lot surveyed. Premarital counseling, mentoring and marriage education give you a framework to determine the work that needs to be put in before marriage. Taking off those rose colored “so in love” glasses give you a clearer picture of what each individual can realistically take care of and locate the healthy dynamics in the relationship that can secure the actual corners of the foundation.
• Start digging. Your excavation contractors as in your premarital counselor and the Holy Spirit help you carry out this step in the process. The digging may expose painful experiences and trauma that have been buried deep as a defense mechanism but need digging in order for healing to take place.
• Install and seal your premarital footings. The source of many marital problems stems from “cracks in the foundation.” In the physical, wet soil beneath a foundation can swell or lose strength. You are recommended to protect your foundation with waterproofing products and vapor barriers. In the spiritual, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our marriage seals any crack that we may not even know has made its way into the structure of our marriage. This is done by spending time in God’s presence and enabling Him to be the ongoing marriage inspector and fill any voids that may surface.

Building a strong foundation for your marriage is a process that sets your marriage to win. Some aspects of building the foundation for our marriage exposed some generational issues that we have not dealt with and could have ruined our marriage. We did the work necessary to make us whole and thank God for setting us to win.

We know God to be the Author and Finisher of our faith. The foundation of our marriage is anchored on the Lord who is our rock, our fortress and our deliverer. We take comfort in resting in Him when our foundation is shaken. Once we are married, we have not arrived. We are required to do some maintenance work in between to strengthen the foundation of our marriage.

We stand after 16 years because God is our stronghold and the anchor of our soul. We can’t do without Him and should not do without Him. We pray the same for you and recommend that you commit the whole process of building a strong foundation for your marriage to God and He who started a good work in you on your wedding day is faithful to bring to completion as He only can!