Clint Bragg - Your Marriage, Gods Mission: Discovering Your Spiritual Purpose Together

Clint and Penny Bragg are experts at what they teach. We have watched them live out their own marriage mission. Every married couple can benefit from the practical tools and unique exercises in this book. If you want to experience God in the midst of your marriage in ways you cannot imagine, then roll up your sleeves and get ready. You will not just read Your Marriage, Gods Missionyou will live it.

J OE AND M ICHELLE W ILLIAMS , founders of The International Center for Reconciling Gods Way and authors of Yes, Your Marriage Can Be Saved

Clint and Penny have an amazing story of how Gods faithfulness to them has inspired an ongoing mission to minister to marriages, giving their own lives and marriage an incredible depth of direction and purpose. Their new book is a call to all of us to find not only Gods design for marriage in general, but also the unique plan for our marriage. This book is wonderfully hands-on and inspiring, giving great insights and ideas of how to discover, engage, prepare, and succeed in fulfilling the rich divine mission and adventure God has in store for every couple willing to walk with Him.

R OBERT S. P AUL , vice president of Focus on the Familys National Institute of Marriage

Marriage and mission are two values we hold dear. Every couple needs a field guide like this to gain success in the exciting adventure God has planned for them.

B ILL AND P AM F ARREL , authors of 45 books including Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti

Whether youd like to make a good marriage better or youre looking for advice on dealing with the tough issues every couple encounters, Your Marriage, Gods Mission is the book you need to read. Clint and Penny Bragg offer assessment tools, hard-earned lessons from their own experience and the experiences of others, spiritual direction, and a process for discovering Gods mission for your marriage. This book is more than a marriage manualits a tool that will lead you to an intimate relationship with the Lord that will positively impact your long-term relationship with your spouse.

C AROL AND G ENE K ENT , founders of Speak Up for Hope

Your Marriage, Gods Mission: Discovering Your Spiritual Purpose Together 2017 by Clint and Penny A. Bragg

Published by Kregel Publications, a division of Kregel, Inc., 2450 Oak Industrial Dr. NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49505.

The authors are represented by MacGregor Literary, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout written permission of the publisher, except for brief quotations in reviews.

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The persons and events portrayed in this book have been used with permission. To protect the privacy of some of these individuals, names and identifying details have been changed.

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com

Scripture quotations marked AMP are from the Amplified Bible (AMP), copyright 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org

Scripture quotations marked ISV are from the Holy Bible: International Standard Version. Copyright 1996forever by the ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NKJV are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-0-8254-4427-2

Printed in the United States of America
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To Irene Mae Kenna,
our beloved Gramma, who always believed in the mission God set in our hearts and encouraged us to Go out there and get that second book!

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the L ORD your God will be with you wherever you go.

J OSHUA 1:9

F rom its inception many years ago, Your Marriage, Gods Mission generated both excitement and angst in us. Our desire was to craft something highly unique to serve as the catalyst for a Godward movement among marriages. But how? Writing this book became a mission in and of itself, which we never could have accomplished alone. Our gratitude runs deep and wide for the many eyes, hearts, and hands that have touched this work in its varying stages of development over the last several years. They include

Our God: You alone are our one desire. We bless You, Father!

Our family: We are grateful for your ongoing love and encouragement.

Our financial supporters: Your faithful giving is unprecedented, and it allows us to stretch our services from state to state and country to country. We are forever thankful.

Our agent: Amanda Luedeke, you were so very worth the wait.

Our manuscript prayer team: Melanie Brookey, Loralee Cambier, Becky Duck, Michele Elizaga, Pam Fitzgerald, Colleen Goncalves, M. A. Harris, and Donna Tinsley, your prayers kept us fueled in every way. Special thanks to our Florida prayer partners, Russell Holloway and Becky Duck, for patiently listening to our concerns about this book from week to week.

Our interviewed couples: Your authenticity and vulnerability in allowing us to put your stories on camera and in written form were paramount to the mission of this book.

Our early proofreaders: Dawn Nassise, Gene ODell, and Pam Fitzgerald, you helped clean up our messy sentences, as did the Word Weavers of Volusia County.

Our thirty-day book launch intercessors: Your powerful prayers sent this book forth with Gods blessing.

The Kregel team: Dennis Hillman, you have spoiled us twice now with a spectacular publishing experience. Bless you. Steve Barclift, you are always our pick for managing editor of the year. We heap a wealth of gratitude on Janyre Tromp for overhauling and reshaping the manuscript and on Bob Hartig for refining and tightening our words. We also wish to specifically acknowledge those individuals behind the scenes who helped this book round its final turn: Noelle Pedersen and Katherine Chappell for preparing the marketing campaign and tools for the books launch. Joel Armstrong for carefully setting each correction into place. Dawn Anderson for previewing the videos and providing valuable feedback. Michelle Reinhold and Lori Alberda for lending us your eyes of wisdom.