Who hasn’t heard a married person say, “I didn’t realize my wife was so….” Or “If I would have know that about him….” The truth is we never truly know the person we think God wants us to mary until after we’re married. But we can see some of the problems coming if we’re willing to ask the tough questions before we say “I do.”

In our own relationship, my wife and I talked through a lot of issues prior to getting married. Church and doctrine, parenting philosophy, the place of Scriptures in our decision-making, and a host of other issues.

We even went through a money-management course (which her father wisely insisted we take) so we had at least started the conversation about that potentially divisive issue prior to tying the knot.

But a lot of couples don’t talk about these and other significant life issues–and then they wonder what happened when those real-life issues hit them upside the head.