Pray about forgiveness. Since God has forgiven you, He expects you to be willing to forgive your spouse, no matter what he or she has done, or how often you need to forgive him or her. Realize that by choosing to forgive, you’re honoring God, blessing your spouse, and freeing yourself from bitterness that will poison your soul if you allow it to remain. Rely on God’s power to forgive, and trust Him to help you do so, despite your feelings. Ask God to help you and your spouse: always be willing to forgive each other, be humble enough to ask for forgiveness whenever necessary, let go of offenses, love each other the way He loves you, be merciful to each other, and protect you from hurting each other by making you aware of your sins and helping you confess and repent of them.

Pray about depression or other negative emotions. Keep negative emotions like depression, anxiety, fear, rejection, and loneliness from harming your marriage so you can enjoy the joyful relationship God wants for you both. Ask God to help you and your spouse: read the Bible daily and incorporate its encouragement and promises into your lives; replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts; seek professional counseling from trusted Christians if necessary; pray often – both to talk to and listen to God; praise and worship God whenever you feel a negative emotion so it will lift off you; and place your hope in God, expecting Him to do wonderful things in each of your lives.

Pray about your children. Protect your marriage relationship from becoming dominated by parenting demands. Realize that, as much as you love your children, you need to make sure your marriage stays a top priority. Pray regularly with your spouse for your children to take the parenting pressures off your marriage and give you both the peace that God is looking out for your children. Ask God to help you and your spouse: agree on how many (if any) children to have, agree on what your children are and aren’t allowed to do, agree on discipline, enjoy time together without the children regularly, stay emotionally connected even during extremely busy seasons, honor your parents and in-laws, avoid blaming each other if something bad happens to one of your children, make a habit of praying for each of your children in specific ways every day, and release your children into God’s hands.

Pray about your finances. Don’t let your finances get out of control, because if they do, the resulting stress can drive a dangerous wedge between you and your spouse. Ask God to help and your spouse: realize that all your wealth (and the ability to earn it) is a gift from Him, trust Him to meet your needs, be completely honest with each other about income and spending, give you the wisdom to make good financial decisions without rushing them, enable you to get out of debt and remain debt-free, live simply and below your means, plan ahead for future expenses, find good work that’s secure, bless your employer so you can be blessed as well, give generously to glorify Him and help other people as He leads you, invest wisely, avoid gambling and other foolish uses of your money, and be content and grateful for whatever you have at any given time.