A couple with the longest-running marriage in Arkansas shared some simple advice for a successful marriage: seek the Lord. Cleovis Whiteside, 102, and his wife, Arwilda Whiteside, 98, married in 1939. With 84 years of marital ups and downs under their belt, the couple recently delivered pointed advice to others.

Arwilda told USA Today, speaking to anyone considering walking down the aisle anytime soon, “Pray. Know how to get on your knees and get you a Bible because that Bible is going to have to take you through all kinds of storms.” The couple openly credited God for their long-lasting marriage, with Arwilda saying the Lord placed them together to “love one another.”

According to KATV-TV, she said, “We can hardly believe this is happening to us because we feel like we were the least, but God said, ‘No. You’ll glorify my name and love one another.’” The Arkansas Family Council, a Christian organization celebrating traditional families and marriage, honored the Whitesides. The organization honors the longest-married couples in the state, with the Whitesides reportedly holding the record for Arkansas.

The couple told USA Today about how their love story began, with the two meeting when Cleovis was 13 and Arwilda was 9. Arwilda told the publication the meeting happened “in the fork of a road.” Cleovis was with his stepbrother Elmo, who had a mental disability. His stepbrother often approached young ladies and grabbed their hands, said the couple’s daughter, Kathy Whiteside-Sims. Cleovis, who was taller, would often step in and tell him to let the girls go.

One day, as Arwilda walked down the road, her friend told her to run to the taller boy, Cleovis, because he would protect her. When Arwilda ran to him, he knew he would marry her, he said. He later saw her at a boxed supper event at church where girls and women made boxed meals for local boys and men to buy.

“Daddy bought her boxed supper for 40 cents,” Whiteside-Sims shared. The pair also went to school together because children attended a one-room school at the time. Whiteside-Sims said some students were older and sharecroppers, so they didn’t attend all the time. They were married on July 24, 1939, when she was 13 and he was 17.

The loving husband and wife had 12 children of their own and also housed others in need of families, with the duo being described as “pillars in the community.” Generosity, it seems, is ingrained in the fabric of the family, with Arwilda praising her husband’s kindness. She said, “He’s always trying to help people.” If you ask Cleovis to whittle down his love for his wife to one favorite thing, he simply can’t do it. Instead, he says, “I love 99 percent of her.”

Cleovis and Arwilda Whiteside are the perfect example of what happens when you keep God at the center of your marriage. After being married for 84 years, this couple has likely battled any marital issue possible. However, God’s grace has kept and will keep them together.