Dear Lord, you give us such a gift when marriage goes according to your plan. Each person blesses the other. But when this relationship is not full of pain and hurt, it touches everything. Lord I pray for the couple where both are in agony because the hurts are deep and have become patterned. I pray your special presence and protection. Give them the courage to withstand making the conflict worse. Keep them from the temptation to let the tongue set a whole forest ablaze like in says in James. Instead Lord, please fan into a warm flame the pleasant memories they share about the beginning of their relationship. Give them assurance of brighter days ahead so that they will have the support to look at the deeper causes beneath the conflict. Please, dear Lord, grant your tender mercy and love to bring healing in the deep hurt places, so that they can live together as husband and wife according to your plan, a relationship, a love, that gives life rather than diminishes it. Help them find their way towards peace. Amen.
