Kay Arthur - A Marriage Without Regrets: No matter where you are or where youve been, you can have...

Kay Arthur

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS
EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture verses are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Scripture verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture verses marked AMP are taken from The Amplified Bible, Old Testament, Copyright 1965, 1987 by The Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified, New Testament, Copyright 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Cover photo Royalty-Free / Corbis

Cover by Koechel Peterson & Associates, Inc., Minneapolis, Minnesota

A MARRIAGE WITHOUT REGRETS

Copyright 2000 by Kay Arthur

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon, 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-7369-2075-9

ISBN-10: 1-7369-2075-7

The Library of Cogress has cataloged the edition as follows:

Arthur, Kay, 1933

Marriage without regrets / by Kay Arthur.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-1-56507-451-4 (Hardcover edition)

ISBN-10: 1-56507-451-3 (Hardcover edition)

ISBN-13: 978-0-7369-0440-7 (Trade edition)

ISBN-10: 0-7369-0440-9 (Trade edition)

1. MarraigeReligious aspectsChristianity. 2. SpousesReligious life. I. Title.

BV4596.M3A78 1999

CIP

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any for or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

07 08 09 10 11 12 13 / VP-CF / 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

This is dedicated to our precious family

Our sons and their wives
our grandchildren
and their children to come

With the fervent prayer
that your lives and your marriages
will give a true estimate
of the One from whom every family in
heaven and on earth
derives its name..

Remember, precious ones,
His grace is sufficient
and
His power is perfected in our weaknesses.

May you say with Paul,
By the grace of God, I am what I am,
and His grace was not poured out on me in vain
but I labored more than them all
Yet not me, but the grace of God in me.

God never intended us to do it all by ourselves, to do His work all alone.

He gives us spiritual gifts, but not all of them.

We are not complete in and of ourselves and that is why He placed us in the body, one member among manyand only One receiving the glory, our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

How thankful I am for my Harvest House family and for all each one of you do to help me produce a book and get it to the bookstore. Bob Hawkins, Jr. sets the standard as a man of integrity, a man true to his wordand his example permeates throughout the organization.

Carolyn, LaRae, dear brother Larry Libby, Stella, and my patient husband, Jackthank youeach one of youfor your time, gifts, talents, and abilities that contributed to this book. You were with me all the way, encouraging me in my writing. My prayer is that many marriages and homes will become lighthouses of truth in these dark days as a result of your labors of love.

John 15:16

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect (Romans 12:1, 2).

H AVE YOU EVER DRIVEN AT NIGHT ACROSS the wide prairies of the American Midwest? Maybe youre somewhere in the middle of Nebraska, or crossing the dark, lonely miles of Montana or South Dakota. Sipping black coffee from an insulated cup, you drive for what seems like hours without seeing a light. All you have is the soft glow from your dashboard, the pool of your headlights out front, and maybe the glint of stars up in that great empty sky overhead.

You feel swallowed up in the darkness, like a little rowboat out alone on the wide Atlantic. Then, way, way off to the left or right of the highway, you see something.

A tiny glimmer.

One little square of light in a sea of inky blackness.

Its so far away it may be no more than a winking pinpoint, but it attracts your attention and interest. After miles and miles of weary darkness, it draws your eyes like a magnet. (What else is there to look at?)

As you draw nearer, you conclude that its coming from a little farmhouse, surrounded by acres and acres of open pastureland. Staring at that little fleck of gold on the bosom of the dark night, you find yourself wondering:

Is someone up late, going over the farms financial status, bills, or balancing the checkbook?

Is the family watching an old movie on TV?

Is there a croupy child in the home needing attention?

Is Grampa up late, drinking a glass of warm milk because he cant sleep?

Is there a teenager out on a late date somewhere in town, and Mom and Dad have left a light burning to guide the homeward journey?

You cant help but feel a sense of longing as you drive by. No one on that little farm realizes you exist. If they could even hear you across the miles, it would be nothing more than the faraway drone of a passing car. All too soon, you leave that welcome little light behind and the mystery remains unsolved. Youll never know who lives within the bounds of that light. The night swallows you up again in a darkness so complete you begin to wonder if the light had really been there at all.

Dear friend, I believe that happy Christian marriages and homes can be just like that farmhouse light on a midnight prairie. If you build a loving marriage and a home with light and laughter brightening everything inside its walls, there will be those who see. There will be those passing by in the darkness who will note the contrast. And they will want what you have found.

As our world grows darker every day before our Lords return, many in our culture scorn and mock Christian family values. In 2 Timothy 3:15, Paul clearly warned that difficult times were coming in the last days. People will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. These are peoplemany of them our neighbors, our associates at work, even members of our own extended familywho have no time for God and no desire to understand His commands and precepts.

Yet even soeven to these folks, the darkness can grow oppressive. And there is something wonderful about a Christian marriage, something that draws a curious eye in this cynical age. Theres a radiance therea light that shines through the hard-edged darkness of a skeptical culture. No matter how humble the Christian home, theres something about the light shining through its windows that creates a longing in weary hearts. Despite themselves, people are attracted by a home that radiates the love of Christ.