The Gift of Biblical Community

On this episode of the Authentic Marriage Podcast, hosts Shawn and Lauren, along with Chris and Brooke, share the story of how they met at a marriage retreat and found an unexpected friendship that would grow into a meaningful biblical community. Through God's timing and faithfulness, what began as a simple connection became a source of encouragement, accountability, and support.

The hosts discuss the importance of being plugged into a community of believers who can walk alongside you through every season of life and marriage. God never intended for us to do life alone. Having people who cheer you on, pray for you, celebrate your victories, and lovingly point you back to truth is an incredible gift.

The conversation highlights how friendships rooted in faith are different from any other relationship. When Christ is at the center, community becomes a place where growth, encouragement, and spiritual maturity can flourish. These relationships help strengthen marriages, deepen faith, and remind us that we are part of something greater than ourselves.

Whether you're newly married, have been married for years, or are simply looking for deeper relationships, this episode encourages listeners to take the next step toward finding their biblical community. You may discover that God has meaningful friendships waiting for you in the places you least expect.

This episode is a reminder that life is better when lived together and that God often uses community to encourage, challenge, and strengthen us along the journey. 

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Transcript

SPEAKER_06 0:12

Welcome back to the Love for a Lifetimes Authentic Marriage Podcast. We're Chris and Brooke, there, Sean and Lauren. We're glad you're joining us. So, guys, we just recently were away together. We kind of attended and taught a little bit at a marriage retreat a couple of weekends ago. Just kind of curious, what was your maybe favorite part or takeaway from that?

SPEAKER_00 0:32

I think because we speak at a lot of these things, it was nice to absorb and for us to kind of reconnect a little bit ourselves and be able to go on a walk or a bike ride.

SPEAKER_05 0:44

Can I just say the pool? Is that gonna be a bad thing? The pool with no children and just getting to relax. That's my favorite.

SPEAKER_06 0:55

Especially because it was supposed to rain the whole weekend and we actually had an afternoon assumption.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Yeah, we printed that off.

SPEAKER_06 1:07

Anything you remember?

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Oh, I didn't mean you were gonna ask me that.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Surprised.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Actually, similar to what Sean said. You know, we're I feel like you and I are so often leading and teaching it these things. And although we did that for some of this, it was actually nice to be able to just enjoy and participate. And I think for me too, because usually there have been times when I've been at women's retreats where I feel like I'm responsible for doing so much. And then to have you there with me, I felt like I could relax even more because I you lead these things so well, so I can just kind of rely on you a bit more, and I don't feel like I have quite as much responsibility. So thank you. That was a respectable thing to say.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

Are we doing the respect one right now? Or is that always no?

SPEAKER_05 1:51

I agree with Sean. Like I even when we were leaving, I was like, you know, I thought we were coming to like teach, but and I didn't really, I didn't ingest the fact that we were actually gonna be listening. And I was like, we really needed that. It was very helpful to not have to just teach, but to ingest and see, oh, these are areas that we could work on in our marriage. So yeah.

SPEAKER_06 2:14

I think I know you guys had to leave a little bit earlier to get home to the boys, but one thing I'll share that you missed a couple spoke where she came from a mission, a mission background. And she said that a lot of other places in the world they love the ones they get married to, whereas in the US we marry the ones we love. And I thought that was so interesting because she says, look, a lot of places around the world marriages are arranged and they learn to love the ones they get married to, as opposed to the US, where it gets flipped uh and then people struggle to maintain. We learn how to stay in love. Yeah, stay in love. So I thought that was interesting. I thought it was an interesting comment from somebody who had more, you know, a global perspective, having grown up, you know, in on the missions field. But I think it's good talking a little bit about that retreat because that is where the four of us originally met. I think more than eight years ago, we went on a retreat together. We didn't know each other right before we went to that retreat. In fact, I don't think we really wanted to go on the retreat.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

No, we said no at first. I was like, you need to be there. So we came back and said, Can we still go?

SPEAKER_05 3:25

We didn't say no, we just said no, we're not carpooling with people we don't know.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Yeah, it was a long drive to Colorado.

SPEAKER_05 3:31

And then we were like, and if we don't like it that much, we can just jump in the car and leave.

SPEAKER_00 3:37

We were learning to be authentic because we we told each other on the way up there, we're not gonna share everything because nobody needs to know everything about us, right? And that changed very quickly when the leaders were very authentic, which enabled us to become authentic. And I think that's why this relationship grew so much because all of us shared from the depths, right?

SPEAKER_02 3:58

And uh yeah, and it's interesting because there were five couples there and one of them has moved away, but the four of us, other couples, have really just stayed together and continue to do life together and are you're our people, right? Yeah, which is such a blessing.

SPEAKER_05 4:14

It was one of the biggest blessings of our entire life.

SPEAKER_02 4:17

So ours too. And we didn't know we needed that. Yeah, and if some of y'all were praying for community, we're gonna pray for community.

SPEAKER_05 4:24

I don't think that we understood the extent of community, like even when praying for it, we just thought, oh, we want, you know, friends that are believers. We did not truly understand what that really looked like and how it's played out is so much deeper than what we could have ever imagined.

SPEAKER_06 4:42

Yeah, I think that's what's interesting. Most people should know, right? We we came into relationship first, right? So our relationship was first, and and now we do ministry together, but really the relationship was first that came. And uh it's one of the reasons I think we like doing this podcast together with the two couples because we bring some different backgrounds. You know, Brooke and I married at 21, married over 30 years, you know, two adult children, essentially empty nesters with me in early retirement bring, you know, a different perspective than you guys have, but we enjoy the perspective that you guys bring as well.

SPEAKER_05 5:18

Bring the crazy. Is that what you're saying, Chris?

SPEAKER_00 5:23

You bring the stability, we bring the crazy, is what I'm just saying.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

And we balance.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Somewhere in the middle, it's good.

unknown 5:29

Oh my.

SPEAKER_06 5:30

I think that's right. I think that's what you said, though. You started to say what's what's great about that is that you know, initially, I think we we kept getting together because it was fun and we made each other laugh. But how quickly that grew much deeper, right? How much quickly we grew to uh seeking the Lord together, praying to go together, and and just that relationship really grew uh very quickly onto a deeper level.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

And that's one of the things I love about when we do get together is we we certainly laugh, we certainly eat well. Um but there are times, especially if we've had an event where we've taken prayer requests from Love for a Lifetime, that will just sit around the table and we we just pray and we intercede for people, we lift them up. So in one evening, I mean, we can go from laughing till my stomach hurts to crying because we're praying for people and and it's all encompassing. And and another element I've loved of that is when our kids were at home, they got to see that and they saw and heard all the authenticity in all of it. But what a way, I mean, to model for them biblical community because it's been everything. And there have been times when we've gotten frustrated with each other and had to like confront one another or lovingly or you know, address it. Because I remember one thing happened with one of the couples that could have kind of stopped the the friendships or the relationships, and we're like, no, this matters more. We need to bring this up and talk about it and address it so we can move forward because the enemy wants nothing more than to break up our friendships, and that we cannot let happen. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 7:05

So community in marriage is just it's so important, right? And I think, as we said, we didn't know we needed it, um, but we've seen it have a dramatic impact. In fact, Sean and I talked on a previous podcast about some early struggles in our marriage, multiple moves, some financial struggles. And it was interesting to me. I just recently realized that things got better for us when we started going to church together. Um, and it's kind of interesting to look back on it, you know, over 20 years later and go, oh, wait a minute, I just finally made that connection. I'm a little slow, forgive me. Um, but community is just so important in marriage. Um, you know, maybe what's some of the things that you think you guys get from the community that's important to you?

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Well, we get to see we we come from broken marriages in the past. We've been married 10 years now, um, have older children that are out of the house, and now new children in the house. We get to do things very differently in our marriage, but we get to see how you guys and our other friends raise their kids and how when their struggles, especially, you know, most people struggle with children at some point. That's just the reality. I know they're called the blessing, but it takes a while sometimes to get to that blessing. Um, and I, you know, with you guys, you've been very authentic with your children, so we get to learn how to do that. Um, Ron and Robin, they have adult children who um sometimes come and live in the house with them and different things, but in all of the stresses that they have, they love each other very well.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

I do.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Um, and and Joe and Allie are in the in the midst of doing um starting a church and um having financial hardships at times, and we get to see how they navigate their relationships through that. We get to pray for everybody, everybody prays for us, you know, when when we're struggling. And what we found is there's a group of four couples who are for all of our marriages. Yeah. And I think that that knowing that you have that in your corner really does help, you know, when you're dealing with things.

SPEAKER_05 9:14

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I was looking up, I think this is this was interesting. Like, you know, we have community at church, we have, you know, you're our main community, but of course we've got community at church and stuff. And, you know, it says in um, this was just an experience that I had recently. It says in James 5, 16, therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. Um, the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. And I was struggling with some fear, and I went up to a friend that we are, you know, we do community with them, and I had shared that. And literally, I and and the thing is, is like I know the people that I'm in community with, and I know that when I ask for prayer, they're really going to pray for me. A lot of times they'll just pray right then and there for me, you know, but I know that they're interceding on my behalf, and you guys, we we have a you know, a text thread where we're constantly putting stuff and we intercede for one another, and I immediately felt the fear leave, and God brought this scripture to my mind because I was holding on to it. I didn't want to share that I was struggling with fear, I was just like, oh, I don't want to like bother somebody about it. And you know, I've been a like a believer for a long time, but you know, the enemy will get you with like just silly things like that, like of course, like and so, but God brought that scripture to my mind because it was like instant. I confessed what uh my sin was, what I was struggling with, and and she prayed for me and I was immediately healed. I was immediately healed from that fear, and I saw the result of what God's word really says, and that's the importance of a big importance of community. Um, people, biblical community that people really miss if they don't have it.

SPEAKER_06 11:15

I think that's a great example, right? Someone who can pray together with you immediately, yeah, right. And as you said, bring it from the dark into the light, bring it into the light. Yeah, that's such a strong example. I think uh I think just over the last couple of years, too, the the experiences we've had, this our community of people having grieving with each other, uh, as well as the praise, the excitement, you know, of new children coming into the world. Um it's just answered prayers, not always the way we expect them to be answered, but not exactly always the not in the timing we expect or want, and not the way we expect it, but yeah, answered prayers. But just grieving together, praying together, worshiping together, so many things together. I think one of the big things is that we've always been united that we're for each other's marriage, right? Where it's not it's not that Sean is for me and doesn't care about Brooke, he cares about us together, right? And and and us as a unit and and and what we represent in our marriage.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

And I love that we met with you as a unit, right? You know, I think that really helps because we talk about your typical community, might be your parents, your siblings, friends from high school, those kind of things. But those people are generally for you. They're gonna be for you against whoever you have a conflict with, and that's not necessarily speaking truth in life into any of those situations, which is why I love we met all of these couples as units already. And um, that relationship developed like that, which is good because I know we are all for one another's marriage.

SPEAKER_05 12:48

And in fact, but even if you have a friend that you didn't meet as a couple, I would just encourage that you are for their marriage, yeah. I would regardless of how close your friendship is, because really that's loving them well for being for their marriage, you know, because it's it's a lot worse to go through divorce and the heart of that and all the things that come with that. Um so even if you didn't, I think encouraging.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Yeah, and I think a lot of times when couples, you know, they may be very strong, but they're gonna hit little rough patches. And if they don't have a community that really cares about their marriage, they're gonna struggle with one another and not have anybody speaking that life into them from an outside perspective that is not geared towards one or the other. And I think that's where we've come in. We battle for one another. Um, and I think it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_06 13:42

Yeah, I think it's a good observation. I think about we've talked about isolation, right? That the the enemy, devil, tries to isolate us, right? And isolation is bad. And I think about generally, you think about marriages that get isolated, you know, probably they go one of two ways. One way they just think they're broken and no one else is like them and they're unsalvageable. The other extreme maybe they think, oh, we got it all together. We don't, we're perfect, we don't need any help. And kind of that isolation probably leads to one or the other of those extremes. And you you need, especially when you think you're broken, you definitely need other couples speaking into you and letting you know, hey, guess what? We struggle with maybe some of the same issues, right? Uh, so that you're not alone, that you're not just broken and suffering.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Because no marriage is perfect. No, we might look like the other side now, but it's not. So I think it just takes that step of being vulnerable and saying, hey, I'm we're struggling here, I'm struggling here. And just be careful who you go to. I think we've talked about that too. But you might not want to go to your parents if you're frustrated with your spouse because they're gonna take your side and might not give you unbiased, and you're gonna forgive your spouse before your parents forgive them for hurting you. So just be really careful who you go, seek wise counsel and be wise about who you seek.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

I think there are very few parents these days that have allowed their children to leave and cleave. If they have done that and your parents are for your marriage, then they're absolutely good to go to. But if you know they're for you and not your marriage, you really probably don't want to go there because you're only gonna hear what you want to hear.

SPEAKER_05 15:14

But also seek like when you are seeking wise counsel, you want that person to be seeking the Lord. Like that you know that person is seeking the Lord, um, that they're not just giving you head knowledge or things like that, but they are truly like gonna give you um Holy Spirit-led wisdom. You know, um and then I would also say too, like a lot of times I think we people can struggle with comparison too, and comparison is a thief of all joy. Um, and you know, God made you unique, your marriage is unique, it has a purpose in the kingdom. He doesn't want every marriage to look the same because he's got special plans for each one of them, and so it is not a good thing to compare, you know, like, well, they do this better than we do. Well, okay, can you grow in that area? Of course you can. Like, if you notice something and you want to grow as a couple, there's a difference between like wanting to grow and be better as a couple, and then there's a compare, there is a difference between true comparison and letting it steal all joy and um can you know, just well, that can involve lots of things too, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:36

You're gonna see marriage around you where somebody has more money or their sex life is better, or their relationship just is always so great and and you know, exciting and all of those things. And those can steal your joy because of the comparison that you're talking about. Um and that's not what that's not what this community is about. It is for people that um share life together, share like Chris was saying earlier, struggles together, but share joys together as well, right? And successes.

SPEAKER_06 17:06

So we told people community is important. You don't want to be isolated. Yeah. Um what would we say? What should people be looking for when they're trying to build you know a marriage community around them?

SPEAKER_05 17:18

Yeah, and I would just like to go back real quick, Chris, because we like to share scripture that gives insight to what what we speak about. It's not just, oh, this is we think that this is important, it's biblically important. Proverbs 13, 20 says, walk with the wise and become wise. Whoever walks with wise people becomes wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm. And that's just one of many verses. Iron, Proverbs 27, 17, iron sharpens iron. Um as iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. So I just want to go back to this isn't just us saying community is important. God says community is important. And if we trust what the word says, then we walk in that. So sorry, Chris. Going back, now how do we establish that, right?

SPEAKER_06 18:07

Is that yeah, yeah. What should people look for in in uh other couples when they're trying to look for building a marriage community around themselves? Um, I think well, the first and foremost one is is other couples who obviously are seeking the Lord, right? Or putting the Lord first. So I think that's um that's probably one of the first things that people need to look for when you're looking for other couples uh to be in community with. Um what else do we think about that?

SPEAKER_00 18:34

I think authenticity. Um people who are willing to be vulnerable, like we talked about being vulnerable vulnerable with your spouse. That can be hard enough. But as a couple, then being vulnerable about maybe issues that we're having together that might show us in a bad light. If we bring it to the light, it can be healed and the enemy won't isolate us in that in that.

SPEAKER_06 18:56

So it is vulnerability and and and humility. Oh, that comes with with that idea. I think that's a good one.

SPEAKER_05 19:04

Um, couples who tell the truth uh, you know, are gonna be like, uh, you were wrong, or you need to go and apologize, yeah. Um, or your attitude needs to change, you know. Um they're not just gonna be your cheerleader, you know. Um a lot of people just want people are about um like keeping your friends, right? You don't want to lose somebody, you don't want to say the wrong thing. That's not who you want in your circle, you know, that you could say one thing and your whole friendship could be ruined, right? Um, you want to have somebody who's going to speak the truth and that you can speak the truth as well, who's not gonna become offended easily. Um so I would say that that's definitely one.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

I think also look for a couple that you're like, there's something about them, like I like what I see in them, I like what I see in their marriage, I'd like to get to know them better. And um, again, coming back maybe to the iron sharpens iron, I mean, there are always things in you guys that were like, oh, they do this really well. How can we move in that direction? Or with the other couples in our group, like we've learned so much from each other.

SPEAKER_04 20:14

Right.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

So, and I think it can be um maybe even just a little scary to take that first step. But if you meet someone, I mean, because somebody's gonna be flattered, right? If they if you're like, I'd I'd just like to get to know you better, but like put yourself out there and say, Hey, can we can you want to come over for dinner? Can we meet for coffee? Like you have to take that first step because if everybody's sitting around waiting for somebody else to invite them or ask them, it won't happen. So be willing to put yourself out there a little bit.

SPEAKER_06 20:40

Yeah, I think you know, that's kind of that idea of speaking people who speak life into marriage, they're positive about marriage, they're positive about their spouse, they want to spend time together. They may, they know they're not perfect. They know that I mean you may be honest and truthful about their challenges, but they're really speaking that life saying, Look, you know, I believe in the covenant that we made to each other. I we want to sustain it. And you know, I believe, you know, I believe my spouse has good intentions. So I think all of those things kind of speak life into marriage, and you kind of observe that with others.

SPEAKER_02 21:12

Yeah. So and I think this could feel hard to find for people. So I think you probably always have to just be on the the lookout, whether it's in your workplace or at your church or at a kid's game, you know, and other parents, just be on the lookout for that. Um, if you live in the Houston area, I think coming to one of our date nights or our dinner with a purpose could be a great place to to get to meet like minded couples. Um, and and then just take the step to go beyond and say, hey, can we get together again outside of this?

SPEAKER_05 21:49

Um, because it takes intentionality to build a community. Um, just like intentionality in your marriage, it it takes that. So um And I think sometimes people don't want to do that because they've been so hurt and wounded. Um, you know, don't let that keep you from what God has for you. And I think God longs for us to be in community. There are many scriptures that talk about community and wise counsel, and um really wise counsel king is is your community a lot of the time, right? Um and I don't even know that if they had counselors back in the day, it was probably just your community that you went to, right? Like we now have a thing with counselors, which is fine. I'm not discounting that, but I think a lot of the times you don't have to necessarily rush to a counselor if you have a great community of people, right? Um, but you know, I think asking the Lord if if this is something that you know that you're wanting, and you know, I think from this talk, I think that we've tried to help you see that it's something that's necessary in your life and that God wants for you. But just like we did, we knew we needed it and we we wanted it, but we didn't know how to get it, and we just started asking God, like, Lord, we want community, please open up an opportunity. And then we it was we intentionally had to say yes, though. When we were asked to go on that trip, we had to we had to get out of our comfort zone and say yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

And even before being asked, we put ourselves out to a I think it was a marriage class.

SPEAKER_04 23:34

Oh, the class, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

And that's how we kind of started meeting people around us in the church. We go to a larger church, and sometimes it is hard to connect. Yeah, um, and so in those classes, it's that smaller setting that gives you those opportunities to connect, and that's where we connected with somebody that said, Hey, do you guys want to go on this retreat? So we were seeking it, but we were also putting ourselves out into different places within the church to God.

SPEAKER_05 23:58

Does want you to do your part in things too? Like you can't just sit on the counter and be like, God, bring me community and not actually go out and try seek and try to get involved in things, you know. Like it's not just gonna fall into your lap. Part of it is he's like, Okay, well, are you gonna take that step of faith and actually go out there and then I'll bring you what you need?

SPEAKER_02 24:22

You know, or it might be saying yes if you're asked, if you didn't know you needed that. I'm like, I think you prayed us to you.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

I didn't know we needed that, but we don't eventually say yes to that, retreat. Like from there. So I'm oriented in different ways.

SPEAKER_00 24:38

And don't don't judge a book by its covering, I think. You guys are very intimidating Christmas all suited enough. And you were very proper and put just love beautiful.

SPEAKER_02 25:01

We all kind of looked at each other in that space, like, well, yeah, wow, I don't I don't know. These people are quite different from the way we are, and each of our set of couples, we are quite different from each other. But it's been so beautiful how God's brought us together and how we now complement each other and we get to do ministry together. And obviously, the four of us do a lot together, the four of them actually do quite a bit, but then we mix around in different ways too, and it's just been beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 25:26

And we even have a pretty large age gap between the youngest and the oldest, right? I think it's close to 30 years or about that.

SPEAKER_04 25:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

You know, so that's kind of cool, you know. I mean, even you know, you don't have to stay in your own realm.

SPEAKER_06 25:39

I mean, we've got new kids and old kids, and you know a lot of perspective comes with that. So I think one of my um we're talking about this idea of community, one of my favorite verses is Hebrews 10, 24. Um let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, and that idea of you know stirring each other up, love and good works, that process of sanctification, that we all push each other towards God, right? We push each other more towards God. So I just really like to really enjoy that verse and thinking about how we engage, you know, build each other up to love and towards good works and service.

SPEAKER_00 26:15

Yeah, and we've been able to, I think one of the going back to what what do you look for in other couples too might be a couple that you can serve together with, right? To to be on mission with, right? For the kingdom and and you know this has been a wonderful, we never none of us ever planned on serving together or doing marriage ministry, right? When we went on that retreat, that wasn't what we thought we were gonna be doing, but God brought us together and and and ultimately out of that group gave us purpose together, and it's been been very, very cool, and I think we've all grown tremendously since that time.

SPEAKER_05 26:48

Oh, and serving somewhere with your spouse might be a place to meet another couple too, because you're like-minded in that cause or whatever you're serving, so or get involved in a small group, you know, like if your church has small groups, just take the next step and get involved, you know, and or offer to start one.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Or offer to start one. Because they maybe they don't have one, maybe, but you can say, hey, you guys want or invite some people over and say, Hey, I'd love to start a small group and see what happens. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 27:18

So I think we need to go ahead and start bringing this one to a close. Any any final thoughts or comments or scripture anybody wants to share?

SPEAKER_05 27:27

No, I would just say if you're not in community, why you know why aren't you in community? You know, if it's something that you've been hurt from, um, you know, God can heal that because he wants you in community. And um and then I would say ask him where that might be, or opening up doors and start the direction of being in community because it's so important for your life, and God will bless it. Like, even what you were saying earlier is like, look at what God has done with when we just asked for community. All we wanted was just believing friends, you know, that we could um have a good time with and we could have and we could know that we were all believers. We did not understand the extent of what God would do with that and how deep we would all grow together and learn from each other and the kingdom impact that our friendships have had. Um, like the Lord is so cool in that something that we envisioned so small has gotten to be so incredibly huge and and kingdom impactful. Um, so like God is a big God, and just like trust him and like just step out because he has something so much greater in store than you could ever have for yourself.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

And he's given us more than we abundantly more than we could ever think or imagine.

SPEAKER_04 28:58

And he's definitely done that he is that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_06 29:02

That's beautiful. You want to pray for us, Brooke?

unknown 29:05

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Sure. God, thank you. Thank you so much that you have created us to live in community. You model that. You are the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. That's community, Lord. And um, thank you for the opportunities that you give us to do that. For people who are seeking for that, I pray that you open doors for them. Let them not use busyness as an excuse to not get involved in community because this is important. So help them decide together to make time to make this happen, to um, to be vulnerable, to reach out to people that they think they might like to get to know, and um to be open and honest, God, because that's what you desire for us. You want us to live this life and live it fully, and that's with your people and and uh just lifting each other up and supporting one another and crying together and laughing together and all the amazing things that this life brings, but also with that kingdom perspective of how can we be serving you and encouraging others to be all that you've created us to be before the sake of eternity, God. So I thank you for Sean and Lauren. I thank you for um Joe and Allie and Ron and Robin who you've brought into our lives and and lots of other community you've given us as well, Lord. We just feel immensely blessed, so much so that now that the Christians have even semi-retired, we feel we can't move away because our people are here, Lord. We thank you for that, I think. God, just thank you. I pray for blessings on every single couple in person listening to this, that you would grant them um community, Lord. Grant them people who will walk with them through this life. And we thank you that you are good and you are faithful. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Amen.

SPEAKER_06 30:50

Amen.

SPEAKER_05 30:51

Yeah, you're not working.

SPEAKER_06 30:52

Well, we we hope this uh conversation has blessed you, encouraged you. Most of all, we we hope that if you're not in community, you get out and uh and seek some. So we're Chris and Brooke, they're Sean and Lauren with Love for a Life Times Authentic Marriage Podcast. We will see you next time.