In marriages, circumstances always change: it's a new job, a new house, a new environment, and a new baby. So, we are often adapting. While changes offer opportunities for growth, they can also cause couples to drift apart.

We have often experienced most of these changes in our marriage. We have lived in at least eight different places, worked in countless emergency rooms, spent several seasons abroad, and had a baby. While we have built memories and grown together, not all changes were stress-free for our relationship.

Amidst these transitions, we realized that an important factor in our growth was not the changes, but the constants. One of these constants is prayer.

Every night after we go to bed, no matter where we are; no matter how tired we are; we pray together. It doesn't have to be a long prayer, but it's an important conclusion to our day.

This habit has benefited us in many ways. For example, if there's something between us that has hurt us, it's harder to pray until the wrong has been righted. Not letting the sun go down on our anger (Ephesians 4:26) is a practical biblical principle that leads to a stronger marriage.

Prayer also helps us remember that no matter what our worries have been, we can take them to our Savior, for He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). When we place ourselves in His hands together, we find peace and confidence. Only then can we rest in peaceful sleep.

While this nightly prayer is a tradition for us, we try to ensure that we don't just mumble something and turn over to sleep, thus concluding the ritual. This is what the devil would want – to steal the benefit and blessings of this moment. Sometimes we share a heavy burden with the Lord in prayer that our spouse didn't even know we were carrying. This gives us the opportunity to understand each other better and helps us bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2).

Perhaps you've heard it said that the couple who prays together stays together. This is certainly true!

Beaver and Rebecca are establishing a medical aviation project in Mongolia, with their little daughter Zoe.

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