Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Ephesians 5:25-27
Stormie Omartian gives beautiful insight regarding how marriage can bring various needs to the surface and ministry opportunities in her book entitled “The Power of A Praying Husband”…
“Our marriages would all be better if each of us were totally whole before we were married. But achieving wholeness can take a lifetime, and that’s longer than most of us are willing to wait before we marry.
However, often the very conditions we need for emotional healing are provided in the marriage itself. Emotional healing happens faster within the context of a committed, unconditional love relationship because the hurting person often feels safe enough to face the pain of the past. She doesn’t have to try to hold it together, or keep up an image, or pretend there is no hurt.
Husbands, if you found that after you were married a variety of hurts and emotions began to surface in your wife—things you had never been aware of before—rejoice that you have been deemed trustworthy enough to be her support through the healing time.
Don’t run from the task or be afraid of it. You are not required to be the healer, or to fix everything, or to have all the answers. Only God can heal damaged emotions, and He will do it from the inside out. But your prayers are crucial to keeping the devil at bay while that is being accomplished.”