The differences that nearly ended their marriage were woven into their DNA.
By his own admission, he grew up a pampered Hollywood child actor. She was from a hard-working middle class family in upstate New York and later became an actress herself.
The external pressures they faced were immense as well. No city can exploit a couple’s differences quite like Hollywood. So when actors Kirk and Chelsea Cameron married in 1991, they committed to building a life together in a place notorious for tearing them down.
They spent the first several months together on the lookout for outside dangers to their relationship. That was until the day they realized the culture around them wasn’t the most significant factor in whether or not their marriage would be successful.
That became clear one night in their kitchen.
It all started with a loud crash after a piece of crystal shattered in the cast iron sink. What happened from there is murky. Why? Well, there are always two sides to every story, right?
Kirk raced to the sink where Chelsea was unloading the dishwasher. Chelsea had been putting their wedding crystal into a cabinet and had – he says – carelessly broken one in the sink. She insists she wasn’t careless. It was an accident.
“Honey, you’ve got to be more careful,” he said. His tone was one of concern … he says. She’ll tell you it was more like, “Honey! You’ve got to be more careful!” She felt like she’d been scolded for making a mistake.
She stared him right in the eye, pulled another piece of crystal from the dishwasher, held it over the sink … and let it shatter into the sink below.
On that point, they agree.
And on this: They both thought, “What have I married?”
From that point forward, their differences became more and more glaring each day. But Kirk and Chelsea also both agreed that they shouldn’t spend the rest of their lives trying to change each other. That never works. The only person we can control is ourselves – with the help of the Holy Spirit.
On our broadcast today, we’ll hear a portion of Kirk and Chelsea’s journey recorded at a Focus on the Family marriage event a few years ago. They’ll share how God led them through their differences, and the conflicts that erupted as a result, nearly tearing their relationship apart.
Over the years, they learned the threat to their marriage wasn’t primarily “out there” in the temptations of where they lived or the industry in which they worked. It was an “inside” job. A strong marriage wasn’t to be found in moving farther away from Hollywood. It was in moving closer to one another and by digging deeper into His Word and their relationship with Him.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to join us for “Making Your Marriage a High Priority” on your local radio station. Or tune in anytime online or via our free, downloadable mobile phone app.
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