Why be transparent about something difficult when it’s so much easier to just hide it? Quick answer: freedom. Nothing compares to the freedom of total honesty in a marriage relationship. Being totally honest can be scary. What if your husband/wife doesn’t love you once they see who you really are? While the proposition of rejection is scary, as those rooted in Christ, we have hope…
Q&A: Staying Connected, Porn Addiction, Military Spouses, and More
In today’s episode, we answer listener questions. Some on the lighter side, some tough, all honest.
Five Habits for Hearing and Being Heard
Communication is not just about saying and hearing words—it’s all about relaying ideas accurately with the intent of building a mutual understanding. When you practice healthy habits for talking, listening, and processing together, it’s for the good of your marriage and ultimately, for the glory of God. If we are to have marriages that are healthy, enjoyable, and intentional, we must learn and apply wise principles…
Irritating Car Rides & My Subtle Holiday Pride
Around the holidays my pride flares up in nuanced ways. It’s subtle, and you could even say it’s harmless but I assure you it’s not. As I’ve thought about it more, I’ve realized that I’m trying to be better than others — and it’s exhausting. Yep, I’m talking about the ugly kind of pride.
Devotion: Keep the House, Toss the Bulb
We live in a “throw away” culture. If we’re not careful this attitude can permeate our lives in areas that matter most, marriage included. The quote in the image below (author unknown) is powerful because it reminds us that we mustn’t be too quick to discard our whole marriage when parts of it simply need renewal, removal, or replacement. Otherwise, the cost is too great…
Video: 4 Important Things to Remember When Talking To Your Spouse
Communication is perhaps one of the most important aspects of your marriage. Many (like us) don’t realize that communication is a true skill: it must be practiced with mindfulness and diligence; otherwise you won’t grow. This all sounds painfully obvious, so I do apologize, but it’s still a huge problem area for most couples! Selena and I have definitely had our share of communication issues! However,…
5 Indispensable Habits for Rock-Solid Communication
There’s such security knowing that we’re both in this marriage thing for the long haul. Selena and I are far from perfect…FAR. In fact, we’ve had two significant arguments in the past 15 hours, and that includes 7-8 hours of sleep, hanging out with friends for 3 hours, and about 2 hours of work. That leaves about 2-3 hours where we’ve been alone together and we…
Our 7 Most Read Posts of 2015
This past year has been incredible. For us, it’s been a year of change, a year of momentum building, and a year of immense growth. Though God is present and working in every moment, in the past year His work has been especially evident to us. There have been hard times for sure (the loss of friends and family, sickness, and stress), but God was always…
3 Marriage ‘Mines’ and How to Avoid Them
No idea has impacted our marriage quite like the concept of biblical stewardship. When you hear that word you may have preconceptions about what it means, like how it probably has to do with your finances. That’s part of it, but stewardship is so much more! The biggest game changer for us was the notion that we are stewards, not owners, of everything we have.…
The Truth About the Lies We Believe
The other day, Dela brought her little children’s Bible over for me to read to her. She loves looking at the colorful pictures. Her and I started reading about original sin in Genesis and about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. As I was reading it to her, and we came to the part where God was confronting Eve about her sin (eating the fruit from the…