Do You Pray Together?

When Gerard and I were dating, we would usually end our time together by praying out loud with each other while holding hands. This was his idea, not mine, but I got to liking it because I felt he could be the spiritual leader in our relationship and it was important to me to find someone to marry to whom I would be willing to submit as I believe a good wife should.

Personally, I'm not one who is comfortable praying out loud. I look on my relationship with God as very personal, always have, and I pray from my heart sincerely so sometimes I cry. This is embarrassing for me and awkward for anyone listening to me. I just can't help it. This is why it was so wonderful that I found a guy who I was actually comfortable enough with to pray out loud about my feelings and concerns. I also discovered things that bothered him in this way.

After we were married though, we only kept this up for maybe a year. I'm not really sure why, but it just seemed as though we had a hard time finding the time that worked. In the mornings, we're both rushed and so having our separate devotions is faster. The evenings go by so quick and then we're tired. I miss it and did try to at least pray together on the weekends for awhile but that too didn't work for long. It seemed it just wasn't a priority and so other things would come up and we let it go.

Do any of you pray with your spouse regularly and if so, how does it work? When do you do it? How often? Do you think it strengthens or helps your marriage/family? There was an article in the Arts & Life section of The Plain Dealer--"When life tugs, prayer's the cord that ties spouses" by Terry Pluto which got me thinking about this.