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The applause fades. The real marriage begins. But the foundation is laid before you say I do. The Infancy of Marriage: Wisdom, Faith, and Honest Guidance to Sustain Your Covenant Through Every Season is for singles in courtship and for couples figuring out the early years. If you are asking how to choose the right person and build a marriage that lasts, this book gives you clear, biblical guidance for courtship that helps you heal your past before it damages your future. If you are already married and walking through moments nobody warned you about, this book walks with you. The first fight about money. The silence that goes on too long. Depression that makes you feel like a stranger to your own spouse. Desertion, when they are in the room but their heart left months ago. Grief. In laws. Seasons when there is more month than money. And that quiet decision, every day, to turn toward each other instead of away. I am Michael C. Amadi, a pastor and marriage counselor from Nigeria. My wife Precious and I wrote this book from our scars. We began with a courtship built on standards and prayer. Then life hit us. We lost a son. We faced a stillbirth. Hospital bills piled up and we could not pay. We knew the kind of loneliness that comes when friends stop calling. We stayed. God kept us. This is the book we wish someone had placed in our hands before we chose each other. Most marriages do not crash because of one big fight. They slowly come apart because the foundation was shaky from the beginning. Nobody taught us how to fight for the marriage instead of fighting each other. Nobody showed us how to break the patterns we inherited. The father who left. The home where love meant walking on eggshells. The depression we never had words for. This book fixes that. This book will help you: • Choose with clarity and peace using biblical guides for courtship, even if you never saw a healthy marriage growing up • Spot green flags, red flags, and non negotiables before you marry, including signs of emotional distance and hidden wounds • Understand covenant and why until death means something different from as long as it works • Navigate the first seven years with real help on communication, sex, money, in laws, faith, and mental health • Walk through hard seasons together like infertility, loss, depression, desertion, and financial pressure without giving up on each other • Break family patterns like father absence, emotional neglect, and generational divorce, and heal the wounds you brought into the marriage • Build daily habits with the 30 Day Newlywed Challenge and discussion questions you can use tonight Whether you are single, courting, engaged, newly married, mentoring couples, or leading a small group, this is a guide to choosing well, loving well, and staying married. Because a marriage built on God is worth every year it takes. Readers who love Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas, The Meaning of Marriage by Timothy Keller, and Vertical Marriage by Dave and Ann Wilson will feel at home here. Inside you will find: • Step by step guidance for courtship and choosing a marriage mate • 21 chapters, from Leaving and Cleaving to Growing Old Together • Scripture from the KJV • Real stories from African and global contexts, including walking through depression and father wounds • Tools for singles, couples, pastors, and counselors • The 30 Day Newlywed Challenge and Discussion Questions for Couples and Small Groups