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WINNING WITH THE WORD “Winning with the Word” is a weekly blog that will help you to be a winner in life by applying God’s principles for living the abundant life as found in the Bible, God’s manual for life. An invitation for you: To subscribe to this blog, click here.  To subscribe to this podcast, click here. If this blog and podcast have blessed you, please encourage your family and friends to subscribe as well. Thank you! Be sure to check out our Featured Book of the Week at the end of this post. ______________________________________   Do you prefer listening instead of reading? Then click below to listen to today’s blog post on podcast. https://media.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/content.blubrry.com/winning_with_the_word/The_Four_C_s_of_a_Great_Marriage.mp3 ___________________________________________________________________________ Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, novelist and life coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, July 25, 2022, and this is Episode #30 of Series 2022. This episode is titled "The Four C's of a Great Marriage." _________________________________________ My younger daughter was married two weeks ago to a wonderful, Godly man in a beautiful ceremony. The officiating pastor gave a wonderful message on the three C's of marriage: Companionship, Commitment, and Covenant. I would like to expound on that message here and add another C: Communication. Let's explore each of these four C's of a great marriage one by one. 1. COVENANT. The most important point about a marriage is that it is a covenant. A covenant is more than a contract. According to Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary, the precursor of today's Webster's Dictionary, a covenant is "a binding agreement." In other words, a covenant imposes an obligation on the part of each party to keep the agreement until the death of one of the parties. Whereas a contract involves two people, a covenant involves three: the man, the woman, and God. Because God is involved in a covenant, it is deemed by Him to be unbreakable. Hence, His warning in Mark 10: 9 NASB: "Therefore, what God has joined together, no person is to separate.” A covenant, therefore, is sealed with a vow before God to honor the covenant until death.  2. COMMITMENT. The strength of a marriage depends on the integrity of the husband and the wife to remain committed to the marriage no matter what the cost of that commitment. Every marriage will have its trying times. Trials are part of God's plan to conform us to the image of Christ. Just as making a muscle strong requires repeated resistance, so does making a marriage strong require repeated trials.  One of the most important lessons I've learned about marriage and about life, in general, is that God's goal for us is not our happiness but our holiness. Trials help to make us holy if we maintain the Biblical perspective toward trials. Trials are for our spiritual growth. But whether we grow or not through our trials depends on our attitude toward them.  Something amazing happens when we resist and overcome trials. We not only become holy; we also become happy. 3. COMMUNICATION. Good communication is key in cultivating a good marriage. The Bible is full of principles for good communication. Here are a few of them: __James 1: 19 - "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry."  __Proverbs 10: 19 - "When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise." __Proverbs 12: 18 - "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." 4. COMPANIONSHIP. When the three elements above--Covenant, Commitment, and Communication--are put into practice, then beautiful, intimate companionship follows. Companionship is oneness of soul. The Word says that in a marriage, the two become one flesh (Mark 10: 8). The flesh is comprised of both the body and the soul. Therefore,