What if marriage was never meant to just be about your happiness?

In Part 1 of this candid and challenging teaching, Francis and Lisa Chan invite listeners to rethink marriage, family, and discipleship through the lens of eternity. Drawing from decades of shared ministry, they show that unity, joy, and intimacy in marriage are often the byproducts of pursuing God’s mission together... not the primary goal.

Francis and Lisa share vulnerable stories from their own lives: downsizing their home, giving sacrificially, moving in faith, fostering teens, raising children with an eternal perspective, and learning to say “yes” to God even when it was costly. They confront the cultural obsession with comfort and ask whether the Church has replaced God’s Kingdom with the pursuit of a “happy Christian family.”

This episode is a hope-filled call to seek first the Kingdom of God and trust Him with everything else.

If today’s conversation challenges you and you want to go deeper, visit youandmeforever.org. There you can order the book “You and Me Forever,” watch chapter videos, explore bonus content, and learn more about the mission behind it all.

Today, Francis Chan sits down with Joni Eareckson Tada for a deeply personal conversation about perseverance, joy, and enduring faith in a life marked by suffering. Joni shares how nearly 60 years in a wheelchair, seasons of pain, illness, and discouragement have become the place where Jesus meets her most intimately, strengthening her to “fight for joy” day after day.

Together, they talk about what helps believers endure to the end: partnering with the Holy Spirit, building a “repository” of Scripture to combat lies, and learning to see hardship as an invitation to know Christ more deeply (Philippians 3:8–10). Joni also reflects on the beauty of community that grows organically around weakness, the joy of serving “the least of these,” and the hope of heaven that shapes how we live now.

If you’ve been discouraged, tired, or tempted to give up, this episode will strengthen your faith and remind you that Jesus is near and worth holding onto.

And we encourage you to dive deeper into a revelation of the love of God with Francis’ latest book, “Beloved.” It’s available now wherever books are sold.

This is a sacred and deeply personal conversation between Francis and his close friend, Alan, shared with permission from the family.

In this phone call, a pastor nearing the end of his earthly life reflects on suffering, peace, intimacy with God, and the hope found in Jesus Christ. What unfolds is not a polished sermon, but an honest, unscripted testimony of faith, spoken in weakness, clarity, and deep trust in God.

Our hope is that these words would encourage those who are suffering, those walking with loved ones through pain, and anyone longing to understand the peace that Scripture describes as “beyond understanding.”

We invite you to listen slowly, prayerfully, and with reverence.

“He will never leave you nor forsake you.”