“5. 4. 3. 2. 1. 0. All engine running… Liftoff! We have a liftoff!”

In the summer of 1969, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldren, and Michael Collins were strapped to the tip of a rocket containing over 500,000 pounds of fuel, staring at the sky. 

The burners had been lit, and the rocket catapulted them towards a mission that had never been accomplished before: Putting a human on the moon.

I can’t imagine what was going on in the astronauts’ minds at that moment.

What I do know is that for the years leading up to this mission, the astronauts, and the teams at NASA who built the rockets had been doing something VERY important… pressure-testing.

The rockets had to withstand over 7.6 million pounds of thrust without exploding in order for hte launch to be successful. 

That’s more power than 85 Hoover Dams.

So, before the launch ever happened, the teams at NASA would pressure-test them. They would pump the prototypes full of gas or water at insanely high pressures to simulate the pressure created during launch… and they’d look for weaknesses.

Pressure exposes weaknesses.

This isn’t just a literal principle. It’s also an awesome metaphor. 

High-pressure situations also expose mental, emotional, physical, and relational weaknesses.

(This is why astronauts have such intense training. They try to simulate the chaos that can occur during a rocket launch to strengthen their weaknesses so they don’t panic if something terrible or unexpected happens.)

And right now, most of us are under some real pressure!

A worldwide pandemic. Social isolation. A suffering economy. Depression and anxiety. Kids out of schools. Family members in possible danger. 

And if you live in my neck of the woods... earthquakes. *ugh*

All of this pressure will expose the weaknesses in your marriage.

The arguments, insecurities, tensions, and frustrations you already have will be amplified.

If gone unchecked, the pressure can tear your marriage apart.

In China, as mandatory lockdowns were lifted a few weeks ago, the divorce rate skyrocketed.

But this doesn’t have to be the case for you!

If you’re in a difficult spot right now, and it’s being exacerbated by the conditions of the world, you can choose to see this time of high-pressure as a gift.

You’re being exposed to your weaknesses. Weaknesses that might have otherwise been invisible to you, or easy to ignore.

Now, you get a chance to fix them! You can face them head-on, create a plan, and patch them up before they do irreparable damage.

Pressure exposes weaknesses.

The pressure isn’t going anywhere for a while.

And you get to choose how you deal with it.

It can accelerate and amplify the things that are already broken... 

Or, it can be a gift.

If you choose to face it head-on, it can open the door to a marriage far better than you ever could have hoped.

What will you choose?