Reality stars Lisa and Al Robertson have been vocal about their marital struggles. This month they are releasing a new book in hopes of helping other couples. I recently spoke with the Duck Dynasty coauthors.
Tell me about your book, The Duck Commander Devotional for Couples.
The Robertsons: Our devotional book was born out of a desire to have something that we could focus on every week to help our relationship grow closer to God and closer to each other. One of our biggest obstacles to deeper intimacy is busyness, and we figure a lot of other people struggle with that. This book is a tool to help couples slow down long enough to remember what is most important in growing intimacy—purposeful, spiritual time together with God and each other.
Why did you decide to write it?
After our book about our lives and marriage last year, A New Season, we were getting a lot of people asking, “Your book really helped us. What now?” So we felt compelled to put something else out there to help marriages strengthen.
Why was rekindling your marriage important to you?
We’ve been married 31 years, and the first half of that was a real struggle because of a lot of baggage we had never really given to God. The last 16 years have felt like such a blessing, and we don’t want to ever stop growing in our love and intimacy with each other or with our Creator.
What advice do you have for people who have lost hope and believe their marriage is over?
Read our first book and don’t give up yet. We were so close to divorcing way back in 1999, and just around the bend was the greatest blessings we could have ever imagined. Our daughters flourished because we held on and found healing, and they married great husbands, and now we have five beautiful grandchildren. If we had not held on and gotten help, we would have missed the life we live now. We urge folks to work it out and let God do what He does best: Restore and redeem relationships. It’s worth it.
What lessons do you want readers to learn after reading The Duck Commander Devotional for Couples?
We want readers to build a closer relationship with God and each other through scripture, talking to each other and talking to God in joint prayer. The two themes that are repeated the most in the book are honesty and forgiveness because that is what helped us get healthy and grow in our marriage the most.
In what ways do you feel your trials have made your marriage stronger?
We really believe we wouldn’t have gotten to the place we are today without trials. As a younger couple we couldn’t have ever seen the value in trials and would have avoided them at all costs. Now, we embrace whatever comes our way and ask God, “What do you want us to learn from this trial?” Our trust level in God and in each other continues to grow with this maturing attitude.
How do you juggle being married with pursuing your careers, and what advice do you have for other couples trying to do the same?
To younger couples with young children our advice is hang on. We know how hard it is to be building your marriage and your family and your career all at the same time. This is the time span in our marriage that we struggled the most. Our biggest advice is to not neglect your marriage for your children or your career. If it goes poorly, the others are going to struggle, as well. A healthy marriage will go a long way to help deal with the difficulties that arise in all other areas of life, so take the time to invest in each other. Pick up a devotional book (like DC Devo for Couples!) and work through it, have a date night, get away when possible, and go to a marriage retreat, seminar or class. Your marriage will grow from the investment of time and energy.
What’s next for Alan and Lisa Robertson (individually and as a couple)?
Amazingly at this point of our lives, there is very little we do individually anymore—almost everything we do is as a couple. We continue to appear on our family’s show, Duck Dynasty and are pursuing some other possible avenues to tell our story of forgiveness and restoration. We are opening a sweet shop with Miss Kay called Miss Kay’s Eats and Sweets in West Monroe this spring. Our youngest daughter and son-in-law will be involved in running the business. We continue to travel and speak around the country, and when we are home we love on our grandchildren.
Is there anything you would like to add?
We really want to encourage couples who are struggling to seek help from wise Christian counsel and decide you want your marriage to get stronger. We want to encourage solid marriages to commit to growing even closer and awesome marriages to keep it going and help someone else get there. We are poor beggars who found bread, and we want others to know how to find it.
(via Hope for Women)
