My wife, Tara, and I will be happily married 11 years this December.

We were high school sweethearts, and have known since the early days of our relationship that we were to be together for a lifetime. We give glory to God for all that we have together.

We have two of the most adventuresome, unique and loving boys who have ever lived: Micah, 7, and Malachi, 4.

We have a richly blessed life. Because we live in a social-media driven world, you often see the best side of us. You see pictures of our best memories, smiles, experiences and conversations.

But the truth is, we conceal our worst moments from social media.

We don’t “Go Live” when there’s an argument in the house. We don’t send in “breaking news” when the boys are at war with each other. We don’t “hashtag” the struggles that Tara and I may have in our relationship.

Why? Because it’s none of your business (ha ha); however, it does hide the flaws of our family from public eye. Even as a pastor’s family, we are not immune to struggle, temptation, hardship and pain.

The truth is, family, marriage and biblical leadership of the home (Ephesians 5-6) are some of the most challenging journeys you could ever embark upon.

It’s not a playground at times, but a battlefield. It’s territory that is often waged for by the Lord and Satan. It’s not easily defended, but it easily defeated.

Being faithful to your spouse takes commitment, unconditional love and selflessness. Being a servant to your spouse requires one to be humble, gracious and kind. Being in love and staying in love means you are more thoughtful of your spouse than you are of yourself, and intentionally rekindling the flames of marital love often.

Sometimes, you have to breathe life into your marriage and believe in your marriage, even when the world around you says to drop it.

Adding children to your marriage relationship will bring plenty of joy and blessing, but if not maturely and prayerfully nurtured, having children can be hard. One of the greatest blessings in my life is being called “Daddy.”

I have a lot of titles in my life — maybe too many — but the title of dad is my favorite!

Every day, I am faced with the reality that I’m a dad. I am responsible for two sons who want me, need me and are looking to me.

I fail on a regular basis on being everything they deserve in a godly father. I don’t always father them well. I don’t always give them the time they deserve, and I haven’t always been aware of all that they may be going through — even at a young age.

But God is gracious.

He knows I am desperately in need of his grace as I try to be a husband, father and spiritual leader of our home. My wife and children have hearts that are loved and desired by our God, but I also know they have hearts that our enemy wants to destroy.

Satan is definitely no good. He is a liar, a sinful serpent, a tempter and a few other things that I’m not allowed to write, but he is good at what he does.

In the United States, 50 percent of all marriages — including Christian ones — end in divorce (American Psychology Association).

If marriages are falling apart, what do you think happens to their children? It leaves a multitude of fatherless or motherless children, or at least ones who split their time in two separate families.

It’s devastating to think that only 46 percent of U.S. children are actually living with both of their original parents (Pew Research Center).

The causalities on the battlefield are many. What are we to do?

I want to offer you a single statement that could impact your home forever, and it’s this: give your heart to God. If we could narrow all of the struggles that we face in our marriages, homes, children and in our individual lives, it is the reality that God does not have our whole heart.

Sure, it’s easy to sing about in church, read about in the Bible and say with our words, but if we truly gave our whole heart to God in devotion and worship, things would be drastically different.

If we did, more couples would stay together, more children would honor their parents and there would certainly be less divorce, division and family devastation in the world.

The heart of the problem has always been the problem of the heart.

In Exodus 20:3-5, God commands the Israelite people to have no other gods before him. The Israelites were not supposed to make for themselves idols or false gods of any kind.

They were not to worship or bow down before anything other than God because he is jealous for us. God is jealous for your heart, worship and devotion.

He doesn’t just want room in your heart. He wants the whole room to himself.

We struggle to fail and lead our spouses, children, and see change in the direction of the family in America because we struggle to surrender our whole hearts to God. Only God can heal the wounded hearts of countless spouses, children and families who have been hurt by this lack of worship and surrender.

The greatest thing that God is calling each of us to is to love him fully. Above loving our spouse, raising our children, working at our job, planning our future and even being involved in the local church is the call and command to fully give our hearts to God. We were created by God and for God (Colossians 1).

While my family may have its share of flaws and struggles, every day we have together is a blessing from God, and a new day to fully love him and worship him with all of our being. By choosing to live under his wisdom and word, we know that we can overcome any of the challenges that may come our way. Each day is a choice to serve and worship him.

Let’s keep praying for one another! God bless you.

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5 CSB)

Rev. Peter McDonald, Midway Baptist Church