considerable grace

As Fred and I read through all of Ephesians last night (to prepare for the general sessions on Ephesians at the CCEF Conference: ONE For Better and Worse, I was reminded of just how grateful we were for the excellent pre-engagement counseling that Fred and I received 16 years ago from Pastor Bill Meier. (We encourage pre-engagement counseling rather than pre-marital counseling because while we think it’s devastatingly hard to NOT marry the person you think you should after an extended time of pastoral counseling leads you both to realize that marriage would not be wise—but it’s even HARDER to do so after you have announced to the world that you are going to be married.)

So in keeping with that topic, I thought I’d put up a few links re: preparing for marriage to go along with Pastor Jason’s excellent CCEF Pre-Conference session that you can still enjoy in Replay Mode:

Questions to Ask When Preparing for Marriage (by John Piper)

When Sinners Say I Do (by Dave Harvey)

Psychological Tests: Are You For or Against (by Ed Welch)

Premarital Counseling, Pornography, and Marriage (by Winston Smith)

Sexual Detox (by Tim Challies) – This is a very helpful resource for pre-marital counseling when you find out that one of the people is regularly viewing pornography or has been seriously and systematically exposed to pornography. Yes, this is usually the man, but more and more, we women are being affected by pornography—so please don’t presume that the woman before you for pre-marital counseling does not need help with this area too.

The Issue of Pre-Marital Sex (by Lee Gatiss)