Matthew and his wife Hannah found out at a routine ultrasound in 2019 that their second son had trisomy 13. If you’re not familiar, it’s a lethal diagnosis. Their doctor said it plainly on a speakerphone call while they stood on their back porch holding their 18-month-old: your son is not going to survive. Standing on that porch, Matthew asked Hannah a question: are we going to lean into our faith, or lean out of it? They chose to lean in.

There’s a version of the Christian life that looks like effort all the way down. Pray more, serve more, do better, fix the next thing about yourself. Work hard enough, perform well enough, get it together enough, then things will be good.

Many of the conversations on this podcast have discussed why couples feel stuck, and oftentimes the time the answer people give is the same: we just can’t communicate. We don’t talk the way we used to. We’ve grown distant. If we could just get better at communicating, everything would be different.

Many of the conversations on this podcast have discussed why couples feel stuck, and oftentimes the time the answer people give is the same: we just can’t communicate. We don’t talk the way we used to. We’ve grown distant. If we could just get better at communicating, everything would be different.

In today’s episode of the Marriage After God podcast, Aaron talks about this with Emma Waters: policy analyst, an author, and a mom expecting her third daughter.