BMWK: Recently, I was inspired by the movie War Room to create affirmations specifically for my marriage. Where do you pull your daily inspiration from in order to keep that spark and love alive in your marriage?

LaShawn: You brought up the War Room, and that is old school for me. My father was a bishop, and everyone knows I’m a church boy. The war room is your prayer room. When situations come into your life, there’s only one way to handle things you can’t handle [on your own]: That’s to go to God in prayer. Inspiration draws from being well, from just being happy. It sucks to be pissed off.

[At this point of the interview LaShawn’s call dropped: the devil tried to get him off the phone from preaching God’s word but he did not win that battle!]

LaShawn (continued): See how the devil tried to get me off? See how the devil works? The devil loses here [laughs]. Like I was saying: it’s important for me to create an environment to where my wife wants to walk in the room and be silly. It’s important for me every day to try to create an environment where we want to be; an environment where we want to do things for and to each other.

BMWK: What’s one piece of advice you would give your younger self about marriage?

April: I would say patience in knowing that you’re definitely going to have troubles, but they aren’t [going] to break you, they are [going] to build you up as one.

LaShawn: I know I keep harping on this: it is understanding. The Bible says that in all you’re getting, make sure you’re get an understanding. Everyone thinks differently. If I understand that I’m going to pursue a relationship, I have to understand I’m dealing with a whole other person. And in doing so, I have to try and understand how they move and why they make certain decisions. This will help me counteract and deal with that.

I would tell myself: listen, you don’t know everything. I don’t know why as kids we think we know everything [laughs]. I’m to the point where I feel like my day has been slighted if I don’t learn something. You have to be able to take something away from your day and that’s a beautiful thing. Keep an open mind and don’t be too smart to try and get an understanding.

BMWK, what is some of the best marriage and love advice you’ve received?