We don't think about how much the health of our marriage affects whether or not we enjoy our life.

It's really been a long journey of like realizing for us like the word no because when we get home off the road,

if people like, hey can we come by and we're like, no, no, no, sorry.

Hey y'all, welcome to the Christie Wright show where Faith meets personal development so you can have a bigger faith and a better life.

I'm so excited because today we are talking about marriage, specifically five things you need to have a great marriage.

And this is going to be a good one because later on in the show I get to sit down with multi platinum country music recording artists and very famous person,

Russell Dickerson and his wife, Kayleigh Dickerson, if you have not heard those names, I guarantee you you've heard the songs and y'all they have such a cool story and an amazing marriage and we're going to learn from them about what makes their marriage so great.

But first let's talk about my list that I have put together for you, five things you need to have a great marriage.

Number one, if you're taking notes, let's start writing them down. Number one, you need to be on the same page with your faith.

Y'all know I have to start here. Listen, if you're a person of faith and a lot of people that watch and listen to this show are, then being on the same page with your spouse of what your faith means to you, specifically building your marriage on a foundation of faith is absolutely essential to having a great marriage.

If you are not on the same page with your spouse with your faith, if for you your faith is the foundation of your life and for your spouse it's like this thing we do on Easter and Christmas, then your entire framework for viewing the world, your entire framework for making decisions is different.

Now I know that is something that you don't just flip a switch and you're on the same page, but I want to encourage you do not give up on this aspect of your marriage.

If you're a person of faith and you and your spouse have not seen eye to eye on this, maybe ever, don't give up on that. That's something for you to lean into. That's something for you to talk about. That's something for you to specifically pray for.

I know so often it hurts to hope and it hurts to pray for something for years and years and years and you still don't see the fulfillment of that prayer or promise, but our God is a good God and he is faithful and he sees you and he hears your heart and he knows your heart's desire.

So if you are a person of faith and you are praying for either your spouse's salvation or for them to have a renewal in their faith or for you guys to maybe just come together in your faith, I want to encourage you to pray for that fervently.

Do not give up on this aspect of your marriage. It is the most important aspect of who you are as individuals and certainly who you are as a couple.

So the first thing you need to have a great marriage is you need to have a foundation of faith.

The second thing that you need is you need to have fun. Now listen, when you start having kids and you start getting the mortgage and you got bills and jobs and responsibilities and laundry and dry cleaning and all the dishes, nothing will suck the joy out of your marriage like just the day to day grind.

I remember a counselor telling Matt and I years ago she said, if you're not careful marriage just becomes business, the business of keeping up with your lives. Have you got the kids? I've got the dry cleaning. Are you making lunches? Who's taking so and so to soccer and so on?

And it's just air traffic control, checking boxes, fulfilling responsibilities and y'all that is necessary, but it is not fun.

If you want to have a great marriage, you've got to have fun. Now that may look different for you and for your spouse that may look different for you as a couple.

For example, Rachel Cruz and I are really good friends and we always laugh because we vacation completely differently. So when her and her husband Winston go on vacation, they go to some remote island.

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