Marriage is God’s creation, God’s idea, God’s gift. It is given for our fulfillment and for God’s glory. It comes packed with the promise of joy and love and intimacy.

Marriage can be so good, but it can also be so hard. Countless couples have experienced how difficult marriage can be. Some marriages fail. Others stay together on the outside but wilt on the inside. Relatively few marriages actually thrive and flourish, fulfilling our dreams of what marriage can be.

God wants to see marriages thrive. So do Chad and Kathy Robichaux, and that’s why they wrote this book, Marriage Advance.

Chad and Kathy have a remarkable story. I well remember this young couple coming to WoodsEdge, healthy, vibrant, athletic-looking. Chad was a veteran of Special Operations in the U.S. Marine Corps, and a world champion MMA fighter. You would not want to get in a fight with him!

On the outside, Chad and Kathy had a great life, three wonderful kids, a successful business. But there was also a dark side. After eight tours in the Middle East in tough places like Afghanistan, Chad carried with him some deep wounds and hurts that torpedoed their marriage.

By God’s grace Kathy did not give up and neither did Chad. They were surrounded by people who loved them and walked with them. God grabbed their hearts and transformed their lives. What God did to heal Chad, to heal their marriage, and to draw Chad and Kathy into a love relationship with Him, is one of the most thrilling stories that I have seen in over 30 years as a pastor.

God not only brought dramatic personal healing and healing to their marriage, but He called them to minister to other people, especially our wounded warriors, and to help bring healing to other marriages. The way God has used Chad and Kathy has been astounding. They have deep hearts for God, they have deep hearts for our Nation’s Heroes, and they have deep hearts for all marriages to thrive and flourish and glorify God.

Read this book with an open heart and ask God to speak to you…
I trust He will.

I was first introduced to Chad and Kathy Robichaux and the Mighty Oaks Warrior Program when they spoke at The Life Church for Memorial Day in 2014. Even though I have no military experience, I was drawn to their ministry through that story of second chances, while trusting God for the future. Chad and Kathy’s story describes the transformation of a marriage that had been claimed by the enemy to be destroyed, but instead, they were led to true restoration and victory. When I heard their story for the first time, I couldn’t help but feel compelled to take a harder look at my own marriage.

I had experienced personal tragedy just a few short years earlier when I lost my wife of 27 years to cancer. In the face of that type of adversity, we can easily be convinced there is no hope. In 2012, I remarried and learned, first hand, about having a second chance in marriage. When a spouse dies, it’s easy to get swallowed up in a pit of regret. I knew that I could have been a better husband, and I had been given a chance to prove it! I now feel compelled to challenge couples to never to give up before they have the chance to experience the marriage God intended for them. You have to hang in there a little longer and put in a little more effort. As long as you never give up and never stop trying to find innovative solutions to build a stronger marriage, you can overcome your challenges.

Struggling against the odds can be difficult. It is always easier to give up and surrender than to endure the hardships that come with holding on. But success can only come to those who find the fortitude to stay in the fight. When you give up, there is no chance of success.

Just as when a death occurs, giving up can also lead to regret. The moment we give up, we have zero chance of success, simply because we stop trying. As long as we hold on and keep moving forward, God will always allow us to be successful. Chad and Kathy’s stories will demonstrate that you can succeed against great odds, as long as you NEVER stop trying. In time, God will help you change the unfavorable conditions to favorable ones.

Chad and Kathy, like all successful married couples, still have “up” days and “down” days as well. Some days they are at the very top of the world and feel invincible. Still, other days, they feel defeated and fighting seems hopeless, but now, through their relationship with Jesus Christ, nothing can stop them from reaching their goals. They are reminded to allow God to change their perception. When they start to see things negatively, it means that they have allowed satan to gain a foothold. They have to challenge each other to put their trust in God to stay on the right path.

You will observe in this book that through God, we can ALL change the way we view any situation and press on once more. There is always hope in Him, a hope that allows us to persevere even through the darkest moments of discouragement.

Often the answers we crave are not immediately obvious. We may find ourselves disheartened by setbacks. But hanging on does not mean doing the same thing and expecting different results. It means trying Biblical, new, and novel approaches until we get the results God promises us we will have. Failure and mistakes are nothing more than lessons to learn. They are there to inform us that our approach is not getting the results we want. The only thing to do is to learn from our mistakes and adjust our actions until we attain our goals.

Join us in the journey to a strong and healthy marriage “advancing” toward the ultimate success God had in mind when YOU said, “I DO!”

Couples today find that being married doesn’t guarantee that they will have quality time together. Chances are that you are both busy and you have to plan to spend time together.

Bottom line: If you don’t schedule time for one another, you won’t have the time.

Humberto Deleon and I had put on a show for the ten thousand screaming fans in the Houston Toyota Center… it was the big stage—at one of the most high profile MMA organizations. I had gone into the fight with a perfect undefeated professional record, having submitted all my previous opponents. Humberto was a highly touted up-and-comer professional with amazing striking skills. As an accomplished grappler, all the interviews leading up to the fight had questioned my ability to stand and strike with Humberto, and my ego got the best of me.

I tried to prove my ability to take the center of the cage and trade punches and kicks with him. We literally beat the heck out of one another for three rounds. I remember landing some great Muay Thai “Teep” kicks that hit Humberto flush in the face, but just when I was feeling confident, I found myself sitting flat on my butt! I didn’t even feel myself get hit, but I did, and I had been knocked down for the first time in my career.

Humberto swarmed on me, and I recall a moment of clarity thinking, how can this be happening to me? Knowing I had been knocked down made me angry… I knew it was time to turn it up. I abandoned all technique and got up and started fighting with every bit of aggression I could muster. I wanted the win so badly! Getting knocked down was one thing, but staying down was never an option.

As the referee raised my hand and the announcer declared me the winner, I felt like a champion once again… There I was on top of the world, on the big stage, and I looked like a rock star. Yet, reality would come back to me only moments later.

There were thousands of fans in attendance, but not one of them was my wife. Outside the StrikeForce cage and beyond the lights, Kathy and I were separated and my family was facing a terrible divorce. I had been knocked down in life, yet I wasn’t willing to get up or fight back. Looking back, that moment is a sad reflection of what was most important in my life at the time. I was willing to fight with everything inside of me to get up from Humberto’s devastating right hand… to press on, and win for one more notch on my record. Yet, why was I not willing to fight with the same passion and ferocity for my wife and family?

Years before I stepped into that cage in the Toyota Center, I had found myself in a dark place, knocked down by life, Afghanistan, and a long history of hardship. However, the downward spiral of my life and marriage wasn’t the direct result of the historical incidents of my life, but from the way I responded to those incidents and where I went to cope, seek comfort, or even escape my feelings.

In my own experience and in observing other broken people, one of the most common pitfalls I have witnessed is people chasing the wrong “gods” to fill the hole in their hearts. Sadly, I must admit that I tried to fill the “God-shaped hole” in my own heart with everything but Him…a square peg in a round hole! Being as stubborn as I am, I tried to make life work this way and was met with continued frustration. My Force Recon Marine, square peg in a round hole, sledge hammer mentality didn’t work this time…and I continued to come up empty as false idols, gods, and short-lived satisfactions left me feeling hopeless and incomplete.

I have always sought to prove myself, achieve, and move on to the next conquest. Recently, I was doing a live radio interview, and as the host introduced me, I heard accolade upon accolade: the titles and achievements from the military, law enforcement, academics…all good things, but somehow, instead of pride, I felt an overwhelming conviction. Ironically, after his long-winded introduction of me, the host commented, “Wow…what a resume! How’s listening to that make you feel?” It was as if he was reading my conscience or God was using this unwitting host as a vessel to bring me to a new revelation. I’m sure he didn’t expect my response: “Well, thanks so much for that warm introduction. You know, when I hear all those things about me, what I hear is a man who lived a discontented life.” What a revelation for me and for this subject matter. Again, don’t get me wrong; the things the guy was complementing me on were great things, but I had to question my motives! Why has my life been consumed with accomplishing one major achievement after another and never even taking time to celebrate, before moving on to the next conquest? If I’m being totally honest, it hasn’t always been about humility.

When I came home from Afghanistan in April of 2007, I was completely broken. One day I was the golden boy of an elite military Joint Special Operations Task Force, doing what I believed to be the most important mission in the War on Terror, and the next, I was benched…I was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)! I was pulled out of the fight, out of my role as a warrior, and removed from my team. It was devastating!