STORIES
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2/17/2009
I am a 50 year old mother of two ... and divorced ... with a long term boyfriend. I had heard the movie was a good one, never knowing what it was really about, and went ahead and rented it to watch with my two daughters, ages 15 and 12. Caleb could have been my ex-husband and Katherine myself. My ex-husband had joined an on-line dating service, was addicted to porn sites, and had beaten up my 15 year old daughter (then 9) which was the demise of our marriage. He had no patience, appreciation for anything I did, and was (and still is) very selfish. I just withdrew further and further from the relationship. While watching the movie, my daughters blurted out ... "if only you two could have watched this movie together, maybe our family would still be together." It broke my heart. Coming from a divorced alcoholic home, I wanted nothing more than to have a successful marriage and happy life with that special someone.
I have a very good relationship with my boyfriend, except for his inability to commit to marriage after 5+ years together (he's been divorced twice). I plan to purchase the Love Dare book to read and maybe do for him. And, although I am a Christian, I need to recommit my life to the Lord. I find myself feeling really empty a lot of the times even though everything seems to be going well and now I know why. I haven't been to church but twice in 3 years but I am definitely going back.
I pray for ALL of you out there with all my heart!
Laura
2/17/2009
2/16/09
I watched the movie on Valentines Day, alone. I saw the DVD on the shelf earlier in the month and from the cover, thought it was a search and rescue movie. I didn't pick it up. I asked the young man at the counter, he said it was about saving marriages. I knew I didn't want it, still fuming at my 3-month seperation and continued fighting with my husband. But on V-Day my husband sent me an email explaining why he was taking off his wedding ring and would not be putting it back on, as our marriage was a sham, and it sent the wrong message to the community. Still too angry and blaming my husband for being an angry, selfish, violent man I watched with mixed feelings, but at the end, like most I cried. Not out of happiness of the two main characters, but at the revelation of the quiet commitment the mother had to take the dare with the father. That blew past all my sterotypes and dreams of the "manly rescue". I'm going to take the dare, not sure what will happen with my marriage, because honestly today, right now, I don't want it, it's too scary the fighting, the hatred, the inappropriate sex, adultry but who knows what God has planned. Also, I'm not sharing it yet with anyone, could lead to a false start, power struggles, blaming with the husband. I do know one thing, it will draw me closer to God and I don't want to miss out on that.
2/17/2009
February 17,2009. Day (16) of my Love Dare on my loving Wife, Judie. We are currently seperated by households with no communication or contact. I am continuing to fulfill my Love Dare daily challenges either by " voice-mail", or, by leaving acknowledgements on the seat of her car. "Absolute Silence" is the common theme, for the moment, which sacrifices much needed, healing communications and pastoral counseling. This consequence resulted from my continued, open expressions of hopelessness, that the seperation of (2) years, would ever come to an end. I began this love Dare, under the same selfish and self-centered influence, as when I viewed Fireproof-for the first three times. I thought I understood. My most important part of the movie was not the Fire Station scene, near the end. it was the bedroom scene, in the middle, when Caleb realized how sorry he was his selfishness and bad behavior. He realized: "...Love honors even when it's rejected. love treats its beloved as special and sacred even when an ungrateful attitide is all you get in return." (With much saddness in my heart and tears welling up-right now)-Jesus, forgive me for mistreating Your beloved daughter You entrusted to me. When she tried to love me, I rejected her-I was absent in love, heart and warmth. My Wife endeared me with loyalty, committment and prayer. I responded with "me-first"arrogance, and withdrew my affection and conversation. She loved me as long as she could-unconditionally-until hesitation, doubt and mistrust, set in. Forgive me, Lord, for my impatience and frustrations, it humbling to be wrong-and know it. This Love Dare is not about her, at all. It is truely about me daring to challenge myself, into humble submission before God-sacrificing pride for unconditional AGAPE love. I asked the Lord for a sign-something that even I would understand:"What are You going to do with this marriage?" His answer-TRUE EVENT>While sitting at a table in a cafe, reading this Love Dare book challenge for the next day, an old man- stopped at my table and said: "Sir,Sir, "GOD said I was suppost to tell you this: 'JESUS loves you!' He then walked away! I was stuned. I began to cry, as I watched him leave. Jesus heard my prayers. He sent and angel to restore my hope. "Start pouring into your marriage and investing where your heart is suppost to be." "The more you invest, the more your heart will value your relationship." Love Dare-pg. 213. "LOVE NEVER GIVES UP ! "
Gary Vidovich
Springdale Pennsylvania
Gary
2/17/2009
For Valentimes my husband bought me fireproof. I watched the movie by myself as I normal and that is when it hit me to do the 40 day love dare. I think it is exactly what my marriage needs! I order my book and have already started. I am very excited for the first time in a very long time.
2/17/2009
My husband and I have been married just a little over a year. This was our second Valentine's Day together and we have had it very rough. He is a firefighter/paramedic, and I am an EMT on the fire dept as well. We went through a period of eight months he didn't have a job, and I remember asking for a divorce on our one year anniversary. Watching this movie put our lives in real perspective, and that things can always get worse. We are still together but this movie really hit home where our problems are. It made me feel that someone out there was going through the same things and hopefully this movie will help us get back on track.
Glenda
2/17/2009
Well today I am on my number two dare. And it is kind of hard to show kindness since we have not lived together for a while now. And yesterday I cleaned my room and made his area clean. I washed folded and organized his things. So today it was difficult. I show kindness daily but my mom told me that showing kindness when we don't live together will be slightly hard. So I ended up calling him and leaving him a voicemail just to say I love you and that was all the voicemail said. I love you. I don't leave voicemails that often because I know he never checks them. I love him. But I I think that this act of kindness should be appreciated. Guess I will find out once he listens to it.
Well he called me back while I was at work and told me that it was very much appreciated. Maybe this Love Dare is not that hard. Guess we shall see!
2/16/2009
My husband and I watched this movie with friends of ours, who are having some issues in their marriage, whom we really care a lot about. It sure was an eye opener, the movie was awesome! Its all about forgiveness, and accepting christ, and have him help you to lead you in the path of righteousness. Every one of us have our ups and downs, but forgiving and appreciating your spouse has worked in our life together. We have been married for 17+ yrs, and it has been a great journey, because I believe in the Lord who helped us to be married to begin with. The movie is very light, low key, but those of us who watched the movie know that they helped us to think again. Everyone who is in a relationship should watch this. I will recommend it to all my friends. Its easy to call it quits with a relationship, but its not easy going through it, it hurts. I am going through this with a friend, although I am not the one who's in the marriage having difficulties, it hurts, its very painful. Why should anyone consider breaking up their relationship when there are resources like this to help us come together and asking God for help. I am considering having my friends go through the love dare book, then again you have to decide yourself to have God help you. Its wonderful to follow God, and keep him as our savior. God bless us... fireproof us and all the relationships out there.
2/16/2009
My wife and I saw the movie when it first came out and I thought that this was a great idea. I did not do it however, now I have seen so much more that has gone on in our relationship and wish that I had the devotion to do it already. I have been strugling with my relationship with God lately and have not been living my life as I should be. I know what I need to do and I know that God is the one true savior. I am ow making a commitment to do the 40 day love dare for my wife and my realtionship with God.
2/16/2009
My husband is a firefighter and we've were married 29 years on this past Valentines Day. We separted last Wednesday, February 11. Valentines Day, I was out buying groceries for my new apartment home, my friend called me to ask, what we were doing for our anniversay, I lied to her because I didn't want to disappoint her by telling her the bad news so I told her I was out shopping and he had to go to work. Well she went on to tell me about her valentines day ventures which started with this movie at their church. I said "oh, what's the name of it"? "Fireproof your Marriage," I said, "What's it about? She went on to tell me a little about the story, I COULD NOT BELEIVE WHAT I WAS HEARING. I still did not tell her about my situation, however, I rushed out to the Movie Gallery to rent it, got home began to watch the movie, and I thought someone had tapped into my life at home, It was unbelievable how I've experience the same issues with my husband who happen to be a firefighter as well. So, of course I've taken interest in this awesome story of someone else's relationship that identifies mine and believe that devine intervention put it in my friends spirit to share this experience with me for what ever reason I don't know yet.
Teresa
Birmingham, Al
2/15/2009
Today is the first day of the Love Dare for me and my boyfriend. I got both of us books and gave it to him on Valentines Day. I texted him earlier today and said today I started MY Dare. As a redheaded female, I have never been one for any form of patience and today I have been very patient. I believe that it has worked well for me today. He said he was doing one of his hobbies and I said fine. I think that it will be a great journey for me and if he does not want to do it then that is fine. I know what I am capable of and I know that there will be hard dares to come along but I think in the end I wil find out what are relationship can stand and more on who I am as a female.
Well today he tested my patience. He was supposed to call me right back and ended up calling me 3hrs later which was right before work. So I got upset and held my tongue. It was hard and I knew with my patience that it would be. But I did it. So I made it through my first dare:D
2/15/2009
Me and my husband have been together for almost 9 years and married for almost 5. We like many others have faced the rocky road. We got through most of them and we came to a point in our marriage where we knew we needed help. I started going back to church and after a couple weeks my husband followed and we hit another bump. At that time we went to our pastor for help and we went and bought the Love Dare after leaving his office. We both agreed to commit to the book and our marriage. We are at the beginning of the Love Dare challenge and just watched the movie. We both love each other and are hoping that this helps. It helped my pastor and my best friend so here we go. We are ready for the adventure to begin.
Jacquie
2/15/2009
I am on day 34. I found out 3 months ago that my husband has been having an affair with another woman for the past year. This horrible news, hit me hard and I had no idea that anything had been going on. In the beginning of December he told me that he wanted a divorce and since that day has made it crystal clear with his choices and actions that our marriage was ending.
On January 4, after finishing the book Fireproof, I decided that my marriage was too important to let turn to ash. With God's help, I have been faithfully and whole-heartedly following The Love Dare. Watching my husband leave to go to another woman's house and into another woman's arms is one of the hardest, most devastating things I have experienced. However, with prayer and daily devotions, and most of all strength from the Lord, I am almost complete with this 40 day journey.
My marriage is still in danger, but I had a wonderful, hopeful thing happen! My husband starting telling me that he loved me again, he started spending time with me, eating supper with me, taking walks with me, and being courteous to me. I must admit that it's hard not to want to "dive in" and think that this means our marriage is completely saved. But I am so hopeful that he wanted to spend time with me. We started talking, I kept reminding him that he could talk to me about anything, and in the last few weeks he's told me that he's had doubts about filing for divorce.
On Friday, February 13th, my husband came to my workplace, and told me that he has made a decision to either end his relationship with his mistress, or take a long break from her. Although he hasn't made a clear decision yet, I pray that he will make the decision to end the relationship, and he will turn to the Lord to guide his life.
Throughout this journey I have learned to have patience, and many times I have had to feverently pray for that. But I have, and just a few months ago my marriage was certainly headed towards divorce, but now I have hope. I have hope that this marriage can be saved~ Praise be to God!
To anyone who's going through this, keep steadfast in your faith and trust in the Lord. "For I know the plans I have for you", declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11). Keep your faith, patience, and trust in Him. Don't let fear rule your heart.
God has blessed me and I know that his plans are good for me, they are for you as well. Keep praying, keep loving, and don't give up!
2/15/2009
My wife and I watched Fireproof for the first time on Valentine’s Day 2009. I think it was the best Valentine’s present or date I have ever been on. Although we are not close to a divorce we have been in the past. We have grown lethargic in our relationship and seem to just exist day to day going through the motion or just not doing anything. This movie has opened my eyes and I am making a commitment to do the 40-day love dare and I pray that this will make me the husband my wife wants and needs and takes our relationship to the next level and makes it stronger than we could even imagine. We have been married 22 years and I want to make a commitment today that I will do everything in my power to make the next 22 the best ever for my wife and bring back the happiness that the Lord intended for us to have each and every day.
Doug
2/14/2009
It is February 14, 2009-Valentine's Day. I subhmitted my story the other day. It is Day (13) of my Love Dare challenge on my loving Wife, Judie. About three weeks ago, after a Pastoral counseling session, where I reinforce: "...it's hopeless. I hold out no hope that this seperation is coming to an end...",it appears to have come to an abrupt halt. After the session, my Wife Judie, kissed me good-by in the Church parking lot and we went to our seperate homes, in seperate vehicles, and we haven't spoken since. There has been no contact-other than my "creative", daily Love Dare challenges that I've done by voice-mail, or, by leaving items in her parked vehicle, at her work location. I realize today, the I must do some things that I've never done in my life. I must follow what the Bible is instructing me to do. "Always remain loyal to your wife." The Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made to each other on your wedding day..." "...A Husband must never leave his wife..." You must accept whatever situation the Lord has put you in, and continue on as you were, when God first called you." "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud, or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and keeps no record of wrongs...LOVE NEVER GIVES UP, NEVER LOSES FAITH, IS ALWAYS HOPEFUL, AND ENDURES THROUGH EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE." "Love never fails."
Dear Jesus,
Today, I offer You my loyalty and pledge to You my faith, trust and commitment. I submit to Your words:"The Lord hates divorce." I ask, in Your Name, help save our marriage. Mold me into the husband and man both you and she, need me to be: honorable, trustworthy and humble. I commend my relationship into Your arms, to do with as You see fit, IN YOUR TIME. I ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom, patience and endurance to bear this trial. I know You send mankind specific help, during our hours of darkest needs. This love Dare is your answer for marriage. I commit to continuing these challenges-through the distances and circumstances of to my Wife and our family-the innocent ones-whose only crimes were unconditonal love, and a family position. Only You can decide, if I can be worthy to receive her back, once more. With Tears on my face, and longing in my heart,
Loving you, Love me.
Gary Vidovich
Springdale, Pennsylvania
Gary
2/13/2009
My husband I have been married for almost 16 years. We have had our ups and downs like any couple. But recently the stakes have changed. The last few months have been some of the best and the worst of my life. The day after we finally received the word that we were going to be adopting three children, my father died of cancer.
When I was a little girl my parents separated. That event changed our lives. My mother found God while they were separated. God's love saved her, and through her, our family was saved. Thirty years later I watched my mother say goodbye to the man she loved.
I realized then that I wanted that kind of love for my marriage.
Now, there are three children that need that kind of love between their parents, and we have both commited to this. Tomorrow on Valentine's Day, my husband and I become parents. When I see him with those children, I know that God has a plan for everything. Sometimes it isn't what we imagined, but I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.
2/13/2009
I married my wonderful wife nearly four years ago but we knew each other 25 years ago. We reconnected about about 7 years ago. I have never known a love like my wife and we are not nessasarily growing apart but growing together. Our marriage does not have the passion it had when we got married and now we have two toddlers. We acknowledge between work, school full time, the children we are lacking much needed time. We still love each other and know we will be together forever because it was destined to be by God. We know our lives were shambles until he place us back in a path we would find each other. We know through God all things are possible. We know with Love Dare it will help. We are just beginning that journey and am excited to see how it may help. I love my wife through all of the Trials and would never want to walk those roads with anyone other than her. God is my life but my wife is my breath. I would go to the ends of the earth for God but will beg and plead to take her with me. God is what I breath but my wife is my oxygen.
2/12/2009
I am only at the beginning of this journey and right now I know that my fiance would never watch a movie like Fireproof. The enemy has such a strong hold on him that he feels like he doesn`t need God. To me, this movie was "Wonderful"...
It confirmed to me that I need to be patient and trust God to do what He has promised to do for me. It is encouraging to me that this works for other people. I thank God for all of the couples that have made it through the storm.
2/12/2009
my husband and i have only been together for three years and we got married this last september. i got pregnant with my son the first couple months of being together. so we really didnt get time to get to know eachother. i moved in with him 2 months before i had our son. and thats when we started having horribe fights. just fighting everyday and getting physical with eachother. its been going on for the whole time. i became severly depressed wanting to end my life everyday. our relationship was not good but we loved eachother so much we never wanted to leave. then this past june i cheated on him with another man. it was a one night thing. he found out the next day and we got decided we still wanted to be with eachother. all along i was a couple weeks pregnant. then we decided to get married in september. things were going pretty good and we new we wanted to be with eachother. our physical abuse stopped but our fighting hasnt. we recently watched fireproof and it really touched us. we are currently not living togethr to see what we should do . get a divorce or make this work. we really love eachother and want it to work . we just dont know where to start...
2/12/2009
I just watched this movie 3 weeks ago and boy did it make me cry and think. I will married 10 years this year although I am seperated from my husband at this time, I still went out yesterday and bought 2 copies of the Love Dare. I had him promise that he would read it with me for the next 40 days. It seemed that God put this movie in my hands for a reason. I love my husband very much but I am not in love with him. I know that with God all things are possible. Our problem is that my husband does not find me attractive anymore so we have intimacy issued. We have never cheated on each oher but we have grown apart. Please PRAY for us so we can find each other again and not let this marriage fall apart. I will also pray for all of those marriages that are falling apart. GOD BLESS !!!!
2/11/2009
My husband and I have just recently gotten married. February 23,2009 will be three months for us. I know at times I have felt if I am only this far into my marriage, then why in the world will it ever work.I know myself that I have cheated on my spouse in the past (before we got married) and felt like he just didn't understand me, like there was someone out there who would much more than him.I know there have been so many times we have started off with the simplest little disagreement and end up in this huge argument blown out of proportion!(This i just some of the issues in our relationship). My uncle, (who happens to be going through a divorce himself), recommended this movie to us, as well as his father who has had to go through a divorce as well. As we sat there and watched all we could do was hold each other. I don't believe there was a single second when we got up from the couch or even took our eyes away from the T.V. This movie is absolutely amazing. I am actually in the process of purchasing my very own copy of The 40 Day Love Dare. I have faith in God and I believe that there was a great meaning behind my father in law offering this to us. I want to say thank you to him and to my uncle. Thank You David and Lee.
Holly
holly
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