Addiction. Depression. Anxiety. Unfaithfulness. Suicidal thoughts. Job loss. The list includes many of the reasons marriages disintegrate. Adelle and Travis Graham experienced them all – and more. But instead of letting adversity tear them apart, the couple leaned into God’s strength, pursued healing and now offer hope to others suffering similarly. 

Internationally respected couple's therapists and speakers Harville Hendrix, Ph.D., and Helen LaKelly Hunt Ph.D. dream of bettering the world through the renown Safe Conversations dialogue, and hope to spark a global social movement. Their well-known courses, trainings, and curriculums teach people how to have safe, healthy conversations.

According to Dr. Harville, “ Everybody needs to be seen, heard and valued.” Through their books and resources, Dr. Harville and Dr. Helen have impacted and continue to impact the prosperity of relationships by teaching people everywhere how to have safe conversations.

Committed, visionary leaders like the Byron and Francine Pirola will continue to pass the Catholic Church’s beliefs and values to the next generation. Their commitment has led them to serve in Catholic lay leadership roles at the parish, diocesan and national levels for more than three decades. The Pirola’s teach that “marriage is not just for life-long happiness, but a healthy marriage is central to the proclamation of the Gospel.” Through their work they’ve helped and continue to help countless couples have strong, loving relationships.

Life holds many surprises. Despite our best laid plans, we can look up like the prodigal son and realize we are not in the place we imagined we’d be.

This was the situation for author and coach Kari Trent Stageberg. Like so many young people, Kari spent a desert season away from faith and family, eventually becoming a survivor of domestic abuse. As Kari accepted God’s love and the blessing of her family, she learned that there is nothing the Lord can't heal.

Now working closely with her father Dr. John Trent, Kari co-runs StrongFamilies with him as CEO, assisting in running day-to-day operations. She also writes books and creates many resources to help the next generation of newly marrieds and young families.

Their marriage is in trouble — real trouble. The husband or wife may have anger issues, experienced abuse or infidelity. Where do they turn for help? Isn’t counseling expensive? How does a couple even find a counselor who will offer godly advice? Isn’t it easier just to call it quits?

Houston-area Hans and Star Molegraaf, founders of Marriage Revolution ministry and long-time FamilyLife speakers, have walked in those shoes and can provide a path forward. They offer biblical resources, counseling and events “to turn your love around,” through their website, noting, “When marriage is hard, life gets harder.”

Leaders of the Thrive Training Program Chris and Jen Coursey define joy as “relational glad-to-be-togetherness.” Such a joy is the glue that holds our relationships together and is the expression of joy that our brains are hardwired to seek.

Through Thrive Training courses and resources, couples can remind each other of the things they appreciate, and reflect on what brought them together to re-grow the joy in their marriage.

Before she became the voice of Catholic media, Teresa spent 20 years in the secular world following her dream career in broadcast journalism. Her husband, Dominick Pastore, likewise was climbing the corporate ladder as a successful architectural engineer. They should have been on top of the world, but striving for career success had taken a toll on their relationship. Their marriage was imploding, but the more they tried to fix it in their own strength, the worse their struggles became. Six years in, the couple had run out of ideas and was almost ready to call it quits.

It was an invitation to a Bible study that changed the trajectory of their lives. The Bible Study ignited Dominick’s relationship with Jesus and once Teresa joined Dominick in study and developed her relationship with Jesus, their marriage started to grow.

John McGee, Senior Director of Watermark Resources at Watermark Community Church is making a difference in the kingdom of God.

John established Watermark’s plan to provide a safety net for marriages in every stage. The church starts couples off strong with pre-marital prep, helps newlyweds establish good habits in the first years, enriches and strengthens marriages, and supports those struggling through highly regarded curriculum and community groups.

Pornography. We don’t talk much about it in Christian circles. It’s that dirty little secret hiding behind closed doors and computer screens quietly destroying marriages. The world’s number one site, Pornhub, estimates sixty-four million people click on its link EVERY DAY. Forty million Americans are regular users, and one in three are women.

Pastor and author Nick Stumbo serves as Executive Director of Pure Desire Ministries, the non-profit that helped him find victory over his decades-long struggle with pornography addiction and helps thousands of couples become sexually healthy.

If you’ve hit your 40th birthday and you’re married, you’ve probably felt the pull of midlife. Maybe it’s the squeeze of taking care of an aging parent and the kids. Or a corporate restructure has jumpstarted early retirement. Perhaps an empty nest has caused you and your spouse to wonder if you even know each other. Any and all of these situations can cause a midlife couple to pause and take inventory of their lives and the state of their marriage.

Dorothy Greco, award-winning photographer, author and speaker, addresses midlife issues and transparently shares lessons learned as she and her husband, Christopher, have navigated the past 33 years of marriage together … and in so doing drawn closer to God and each other.

Agape Catholic Ministries, founded and led by French-born U.S. citizens Christian and Christine Meert, offers a Pre-Cana program that combines the convenience of online and on-demand access with the ability to build relationship with a role-model couple. Its curriculum is inspired by and closely follows Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

Pastor, speaker, author and consultant Rob Rienow, DMin, has a heart for the Gospel and a passion for marriages and families. He feels called to share the message that God created marriage and the home as the bedrock of culture and civilization. Sadly, these concepts have lost traction in modern western culture.

Do you know what we need more than anything else to address these problems? We need more people who love Jesus Christ and who are willing to lay down their lives for Him.

The Rienows believe God created marriage for two main purposes. 1) To reflect God’s glory as a picture of the love between Christ and the church. 2) To raise godly children who will advance the kingdom of Christ to the next generation.

Whether engaged or newly married, young couples need a supportive community with authentic relationships. Ryan and Mary Rose Verret began working with engaged couples in their local parish to develop a better way to prepare them for a lasting marriage and reconnect them to their church family. The Verret’s created the Witness to Love program in 2012 for engaged couples to choose married mentors from their church to journey with them as they prepare for their married life together.

Most people would agree that raising ten children over 39 years of marriage qualifies someone to be considered an expert in family dynamics. The fact that psychologist Dr. Ray Guarendi and his wife adopted those children, some from very difficult circumstances, lends even more credibility to the advice he offers through his practice and media ministry.

Can a marriage be saved when one of the spouses is a narcissist or emotionally abusive? Would someone even want to save it? Surprisingly, the answer to those questions can be yes, according to David Hawkins, Ph.D. A clinical psychologist with more than 40 years’ experience, Dr. Hawkins has brought healing and restoration to thousands of marriages and individuals since 1976.

Ask those who’ve spent time strengthening marriages and families, and especially as a counselor or in public policy, and they’ve probably heard of Dr. Richard Marks. You might be familiar with his work at Smartmarriages or Christian PAIRS curricula, which he helped develop with mentor Dr. Lori Gordon. Dr. Marks focuses most of his efforts helping deeply troubled couples as they wrestle with how their struggles with trauma, substance abuse, sexual addiction, and general mental health issues affect their marriages.

There’s something special about great duos. Where would Fred Astaire have been without Ginger Rogers? Or Batman without Robin? The most effective partnerships combine individual strengths for a greater mutual outcome. Such is the dynamism of Brenda and Gil Stuart’s work over the past 18 years helping people with their relationships.

It’s no secret that Focus on the Family has long carried the standard for marriage and family. Marriage champions have relied on Focus as a valuable source of resources they can trust for decades. The depth and breadth of resources available at Focus is extensive and include an array of those Greg and Erin Smalley created that empower champions to support marriages in all ages and stages.

God has a beautiful way of redeeming brokenness to serve his purposes. As carbon under enough pressure becomes a beautiful diamond, so too, do those who overcome adversity through the power of the Holy Spirit shine Christ’s light.

When Julie and Greg Gorman married 24 years ago, they didn’t start with a blank slate. Both were previously divorced, Greg was raising a pre-school-age daughter, and when Julie became pregnant shortly after their honeymoon with two babies in three years, stress levels escalated.

Gary Chapman, Ph.D., counselor, pastor, speaker and best-selling author, can be considered a founding father in the field of family and relationship ministry. He’s best known for developing the 5 Love Languages concept. His book by the same name, The 5 Love Languages, published in 1992, continues to sell more copies each year than the one preceding. It’s now been continually in print for 30 years, sold more than 20 million copies in English and has been translated and published into 57 languages worldwide.