Marriage
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The Best Christian Guide for Fair Fighting in Marriage
Need some strategies for fair fighting in marriage? You’re not alone. Fair fighting takes practice in learning to communicate well and graciously handle conflicts. We sometimes forget we need to practice forgiveness and grace the most is at home. We let down our guard and raise our expectations with our families, which is a recipe for disaster. Marriage can bring out the best in us, but also our worst. We’re living in close quarters with another sinner. Our flaws and quirks are going to bump elbows sometimes. Sometimes, those elbows are going to hit sensitive places and arguments start. For me, it’s been a real work of the Holy Spirit…
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Learn How to Love Your Husband: the Key is Secret Service
Learning how to love your husband can be as simple as secret service. It was the key to unlocking my bitter, angry heart and learning to love my husband again, which, in turn, saved our marriage. What I really needed to learn was how to love your husband according to the Bible! We still really loved each other, but something was very broken. My husband was angry all the time. I was bitter. We could barely talk about anything without bickering, so we didn’t. I did my thing. He did his. We slept in the same bed, but we weren’t any kind of team. (keep reading for how dirty underwear…
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The Best Father’s Day Gift for Your Husband
Is there a best Father’s Day gift for your husband? What is it? A tie? A grill? A fishing trip with his best friends? Nope, the best Father’s Day gift for your husband isn’t a thing. Woo hoo! You mean the best gift I can give my husband on Sunday is free??? Yep, it’s an attitude and you don’t have to wait for Father’s Day either. My husband really enjoys having nice grill tools and quality fishing gear. He loves a new graphic-t or pair of sturdy hiking boots. This CHiPs shirt is such a favorite, that when he stains one, I have to buy him another. But all those…
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Solving Family Conflict in a Christ Pleasing Way
Family conflict is especially hurtful. We know the world at large will hurt us, but expect our family to be a safe place. We hope our family loves, respects, values, treasures us. So when family conflict surfaces, we are often surprised and find ourselves deeply wounded. But when we are hurt, we usually don’t respond well. Our first instinct is to get defensive. Our second is to wound back or withdraw. Neither response strikes at the heart of the conflict or reflects Christ. And families often gather at already stressful times: weddings, funerals, holidays. Emotions are already running high. One careless word can ignite a firestorm if we don’t focus…
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How God Can Use Suffering to Transform your Marriage
Transform your marriage through suffering? That doesn’t sound like the romantic vision of marriage most of us have when we walk down the aisle. But sometimes, God’s plan for your life is so much better, even when it involves suffering in order to transform your marriage. My marriage didn’t turn out to be the perfect romance I expected. I’ll admit, after my proposal, I had pretty high expectations! But, my marriage definitely didn’t fit the Hallmark movie ideal. At least, not at first. God used some hard things to take us from the brink of disaster to happily celebrating our 11th anniversary! (And two years more since I originally wrote…
