1. How old were you when you met your spouse? ...
30 (my wife was 27, and neither of us had been married, or even engaged to be married)
2. How long did you date before getting married? ...
15 months
3. How long have you been married? ...
31 years (32 years this August)
4. What do you think it is that makes marriages successful and long-lasting? ...
Letting my wife have total control of the TV remote ....Kidding ... well, sort of
First and foremost, I believe that our marriage has been successful and lasted as long as it has because we built it on a solid foundation from the get-go. IOW, our marriage was built on Biblical principles
(which includes principles that are directly concerned with marriage .. e.g. Ephesians 5:22-33, as well general principles, like the ones that you'll find in the verses/passages below in my signature line), with the Lord Jesus Christ at the center of it all.
Along with pastoral counseling, my wife and I also attended marriage conferences, like Cru's
(Campus Crusade for Christ's), "Weekend to Remember"
(both as an engaged couple, and then later as a married couple), and we have continued to do our best apply what we learned throughout our married life together.
God bless you!
~Deut
p.s. - all of principles you see below are extremely important to strengthening a marriage. I'll highlight the ones that have proven to be the most important to my marriage.
1 Corinthians 13
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails.