Olympian Explains Why Grace Is So Important Marriage

Published: January 9, 2026

Shawn Johnson, Andrew East — NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 30: (L-R) Andrew East and Shawn Johnson attend the The American Heart Association’s Red Dress Collection Concert 2025 on January 30, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for The American Heart Association)

By Gavin Boyle

Olympian Shawn Johnson East explained why grace is such an important part of our relationships and how expecting others to be perfect can be suffocating.

“People make mistakes. We all deserve a chance to be redeemed. Whether we choose to take that, that’s up to us. But when it comes to your marriage, [husband] Andrew and I would say, we all let each other down in some aspect or another, whether it’s big or small…” Johnson East said. “We’re all going to fall short and let each other down…So, that takes some of the edge off the hurt there to some capacity.”

“Something so easy can all of a sudden become impossible. It’s like if I put an expectation and standard on you to be a perfect spouse, to make no mistakes, it can be crippling…” she continued. “But if you allow this belief that they know, ‘I’m going to fall short and they’re still going to be there and they’re still going to love me and they’re still going to help me through it.’ It makes you feel like you have so much more value, and it allows you to be a better spouse.”

Johnson East approaches this idea knowing that we are all sinners, and we all fall short of where we hope to be. At the same time, however, believers have all received grace from the Lord, which is why we are able to extend that same grace to others.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as Christ God forgave you,” Paul writes in Ephesians 4:32.

To help prepare their relationship for when they need to extend grace toward each other, Johnson East and her husband root themselves in the Lord together every day. They read the Bible together and pray for one another so they are ready when the trials come.

“I think the best way you brought faith into our marriage — to start, we did daily devotionals,” Johnson East said. “Like, the Bible felt a little too intimate to start with, so we started with devotionals.”

“Something else…we do always is pray before dinner, pray before meals,” she added. “We always pray before our meals, even with company, so if we have 100 people over, you better believe we’re getting in a big circle and we’re doing a prayer before dinner.”

Our marriages are the most important relationships in our lives – which is why Satan constantly attacks them. Rather than allowing resentment to grow through unforgiveness, it is important to show grace to our spouses so we can continue to have healthy marriages.

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