"We were just living as roommates. No communication, no intentionality towards our relationship."
Darnel and Ebonie have a big family with lots of kids. Life was busy. They were focused on day-to-day survival, but never connecting with each other.
Then they spent a weekend at our Nashville workshop in January 2026.
What changed? 💙
"When we came in, our marriage was dead and now it has literally been brought back to life just by the tools and the skills." - Ebonie
After 18.5 years together and over a year in marriage counseling, Randy and Samantha were stuck in a constant loop of conflict. They came to our Atlanta marriage retreat at what they describe as "a low point" in their relationship.
What happened in just 2.5 days surprised even them.
"We've gotten a lot closer in the last two and a half days than we did in the year of counseling," Randy shares.
"Using the tools we learned, I finally felt heard. I was skeptical about how the religious part of the weekend would play in. Without prompting, without pressure, I now want to put God first. I’m looking forward to us praying together for so many reasons
"This weekend has been a life-changer for us. There were so many eye-opening moments. I realized: I could be singlehandedly ruining this marriage. I learned a lot by myself and how I could be a better spouse."
"We were in a really bad place. We don't have anybody to mirror as a couple. I was really skeptical. We've been to a lot of marriage counseling. This marriage retreat has been a real game changer for us."
"I didn't know what to expect and I didn't know I was fighting for my marriage. I learned to express myself and my feelings better in a constructive way, instead of my past pattern which I see now was destructive. I remembered again what my spouse means to me."
“Before we came, we weren’t hopeless, but we were close. We were nervous about coming, knowing we were struggling with some deep-seated issues. We followed the tool and it allowed us to communicate to one another about our hurt and to have empathy for one another. We would not have discussed these issues to that depth without these tools.”
“We were arguing a lot, even about things that happened 15 years ago. We had a lot of unresolved issues and didn’t know how to deal with it. We tried couples counseling for over two years. Finally, the tools we were given this weekend allowed us to get to the root causes and work through the issues.”
"We’ve had a rocky marriage since our honeymoon. This retreat gave us language to deal with conflict in the moment, so it doesn’t fester and become bigger."
"A big thing in our relationship was communication. We were both set in our ways. This conference gave us a lot of tools in the area of communication. We were able to use the tools we learned to forgive each other for a lot of the old wounds."
"We had very toxic communication skills. We couldn’t get any conversation put together without arguing. Everything was a fight. We had never given tools like this on how to communicate. Through this marriage retreat, we learned amazing ways to reconnect with each other and communicate. Honestly, for the first time in a long time, I feel like there’s hope. I believe this workshop saved our marriage."
“We learned how to speak to one another, without anger, so that we each understand how the other is feeling. We got the tools we needed to slow down and make one another feel like we care.”
“The weeks before we came, our marriage seemed to be deteriorating more and more. The enemy worked so hard to keep us from being here, but the battle was Christ’s the whole time.”
“The amount of growth and potential and hope that we’re leaving with is immeasurable.”
“I learned that my job does not come first. I need to put my faith and my family first.”
“I was skeptical. How could we have a breakthrough in just a few sessions over a weekend?”