Will I benefit from relationship counseling if my spouse isn’t interested in attending?
I receive this question quite often. The short answer is, “Yes, of course you will.”
Marriage is a system of three people (husband, wife, and God). If any one of the three change something for the better, then the overall marriage will improve. We know God can’t get any better, so that leaves husband and/or wife. If both of you are believers in counseling, then of course this is better. But don’t underestimate the power of God working in your life. Are you willing to volunteer to go first?
There is one scenario where individual meetings for marriage counseling won’t work. That’s when one person comes to counseling to complain about the other in hopes that they will change.
But, counseling doesn’t work that way. And, counseling doesn’t have to work that way. You can receive care and insights from counseling that bring relief from hopelessness and frustration. Even if nothing else changes, if you’ve reached a place where you have energy to put back into you marriage, you gained something invaluable.
If you’re feeling stuck, you need new input. When something is changing, hope is alive! I discuss this and more in my book Marriage From Roots to Fruits.