Hey, everyone. This is Tony and before we dive into today's episode, I want to ask you a favor.

We love to serve you and we want to serve you better in 2020 and beyond.

And to do this means we need to know you better and we need to hear from you.

And to this end, we put together a brief survey that takes just a few minutes to fill out.

And many of you have already taken the survey. Thank you for doing that.

We want to hear from you. What do you like about this podcast? What do you not like about this podcast?

Tell us. Go online to desiringgod.org,

forward slash survey. That's desiringgod.org, forward slash survey.

And I'll mention this address again at the end of today's episode, which starts right now.

Will God give my future spouse a similar calling to the calling he has given me?

Should we expect marriage to be a harmonizing of vocational passions?

The question is from a listener named Ariel. Hello, Pastor John, as I look forward to marriage,

Lord willing. I wonder if the partner God has for me. My future husband will have a similar

calling for God's specific purposes. For example, will he give my husband the same level of desire

I have for missions? Is that what God designed for marriage to be a union of purpose?

Or is this naive? Are marriages more likely comprised of a husband and wife who are on their

own individual trajectories with unique and different callings? In your pastoral experience,

how does this normally work? Perhaps I should start with this sentence. Marriage is not fundamentally

the linking of arms in the pursuit of an agreed upon vocation. Now, here's one of the ways to see

why that is true. When you get married, you have no certainty whatsoever that the person you marry

will not undergo profound changes. Your spouse may become an unbeliever in 10 years. He or she

may totally change his or her mind about vocation they want to go after. They may experience deep

...