By Jimmy Liu
Since 2019, my wife and I have facilitated five Art of Marriage® courses in our city, Taichung, with more than 200 people participating. This course runs at a rather slow pace, with only one session per month. In between the sessions, we meet with each couple or single person to disciple them, coaching them to live out the truth in their marriage, encouraging them to rely on Jesus in difficult circumstances, and celebrating their growth with them. I often feel so privileged that I get to be involved in life-changing moments for these couples and experience the joy of seeing the Holy Spirit work in them.
There was a couple who used to fight with each other a lot, especially on weekends. Sometimes they would go out together, have a quarrel, and end up not returning home together. One day, the wife saw their church promoting The Art of Marriage and decided to ask if her husband would like to attend, thinking perchance he may say yes, and he did! After participating in the course for half a year, their marriage was completely turned around. The wife now admires her husband so much that she often sings her husband’s praises publicly. The husband also became proactive in their marriage, taking good care of his wife and children with great joy. One time when the wife got very tired and frustrated from looking after their children, the husband immediately put down what he was working on and took the kids to the park. The dynamics in this family have been changed completely, and the love of God flows in them spontaneously.
There was another young couple who participated in The Art of Marriage while they were still dating. We journeyed alongside them by leading them in pre-marital counseling, witnessing their proposal and engagement, and finally officiating their wedding. After their wedding, they continued to participate in The Art of Marriage small group. We got to observe their relationship closely and knew that their main source of conflict was money. After learning the truth that husband and wife are no longer two people but one, they started to unify on financial issues. A few weeks ago, another couple in our group had the same financial problems, and this young couple were the ones who provided the answers.
Such life-changing stories are plentiful. Glory to the Lord who works in our lives!
In the second half of 2022, we felt that God wanted to lead us to a breakthrough. We followed His guidance and ended up hosting our first Weekend to Remember. In this three-day conference, couples got to leave their busy lives behind for a while, focus on spending time and communicating with each other, and learn the truth from the Bible together. It was exhausting for us, but seeing the growth in these couples made it all worthwhile.
Here’s some feedback we received from the event:
“Thank you for hosting this conference so that we could take time to communicate with each other.”
“We each have our own busy schedule in our daily lives. It’s so good that I can talk a lot to my wife here.”
“The biblical truth you have shared here brings me new perspectives on marriage.”
Not only did the participants experience life change, my wife and I have also been blessed by this conference. As we left our three children behind for a few days to serve together, take a walk hand-in-hand, talk and pray a lot together, it felt as if we were on our second honeymoon. As the Scripture says, “Give, and it will be given to you.”
After the event, most of the participants expressed interest in joining again as volunteers to help other couples. Multiplication is not far away.
In the past three years, we have trained many couples. Several of them are now facilitating The Art of Marriage throughout Taichung, making an impact in their communities. After this current course ends, we will hand over the baton to another couple who will continue running the Art of Marriage ministry, and we will be their coaches, helping them succeed.
It is our desire to impact families in a deeper and broader way. The Lord is leading us to facilitate a new course called The Art of Parenting®. We will keep co-laboring with the Lord and help transform marriages and families in Taiwan through the topic of parenting. We pray that many will partner with us through prayers and offerings to bring about changes in the world!
