This time next week, Athens Love After Marriage (LAM) will be underway. However, it is not too late to register for this workshop. Contact John (johngaultney@yahoo.com) or Cindy (cindygaultney@yahoo.com) for more information, and to register.
Below is the foreword Bill and Beni Johnson wrote for Barry and Lori Byrne’s book (LAM is Barry and Lori’s ministry, and they are facilitating the workshop next week). Barry and Lori’s book and ministry are very highly endorsed. We are blessed to have the Byrne’s coming, and you’re encouraged to sow into this opportunity.
Love After Marriage
Healthy marriages are living testimonies, revealing the nature and heart of God. Done correctly, marriages influence culture and help to set values and priorities for generations, creating an awareness of the One to whom we will give an account of our lives. But done incorrectly, they pervert and distort a nation’s concept of God, turning its focus to self-preservation, all while legitimizing things that were intolerable only a generation earlier.
The power of marriage is found in the beauty of unity in the midst of celebrated diversity. Two are only better than one if they’re united. Two are less than one if divided. That is how this life was designed. Perhaps with that equation, one can see how a society falls so quickly into barrenness and loss. It’s tough to survive when we go from two to less than one over and over again.
Barry and Lori Byrne have recognized the heart of God for marriages and for families. In turn, they have put their lives out in front for everyone to see, that they might be a help to others. Their honesty and transparency are disarming and inviting, yet sobering. Theirs is a “no holds barred” approach to getting people well. And it works.
They have now written a wonderful book entitled, Love After Marriage, born out of their journey for health in their own lives. The discoveries recorded here are sure to have a powerful impact on relationships for many years to come. This book is both inspiring and raw in all the right ways.
Good books provide insights to inform and stories to inspire. But great books, like Love After Marriage, give one more element that makes the book potentially transformational in nature: tools. Simple tools, born out of wisdom, can help nudge the otherwise helpless couple into a time of life-changing discovery. This book takes the participant on a journey of discovering God, His goodness, His practical passion for us and all our relationships, His wisdom, and the role we get to play. It is self-discovery in the right sense, without the shame, or the “me first” attitude that nauseates us all. It is eye opening in an exhilarating way. It is an invitation to live. To really live!
These tools will successfully equip anyone who is willing to pursue healthy relationships. While the focus is marriage, many of the tools actually equip for all the relational aspects of life.
We must be well. And then we must be the ones who bring a message of hope to the dying marriages all around us. We’ve been given the task of bringing tools to those who just don’t know how to do it right.
I am amazed by the wisdom that God has given to Barry and Lori. Their Love After Marriage materials have been extremely effective in bringing wholeness and healing to couples—actually, more than we have ever seen with any other materials or events. The impact on our own church family has been wonderful. We have seen the results that come out of who they are and what they do. It is amazing: a pastor’s dream, really. People get well—really, really well.
This book could be a lifesaver, literally, for those who have been buried in an impossible marriage. The stories of couples who have come with irreparable brokenness, and then opened up and received healing are an inspiration of hope. Some who read this may be thinking, “There is no hope in my situation.” Read this book, and you will find help. As a couple, partner with the Holy Spirit to see how life and hope can come to every area of your marriage.
If you are just getting started in life and want the right tools for having a fulfilled and healthy marriage, this book will help launch you into all that God has made available to you. It could save you years of heartache and launch you into the greatest journey of your life.
I am happy to recommend this book. I am equally happy to commend to you Barry and Lori Byrne. They live it, impart it, and they have paid a price to make this available to us all.
Bill Johnson
Senior Pastor – Bethel Church, Redding, CA
Author – When Heaven Invades Earth and The Essential Guide to Healing
