Having a morning routine is like an anchor for my day. But all too often I’m content skipping what matters most: time with God. If I oversleep or grab my phone too quickly, I’ll lose track of time and get caught up with whatever tasks are on my plate for the day. I may read a verse somewhere online or say a half-hearted prayer, but…
What is “Your Best Us”?
A few years back, Selena and I were thinking about moving to Dallas for school. It’s a big decision so we decided to visit for a week. During our stay, a few things happened: God made it abundantly clear that we were NOT supposed to move there. We discovered how cold Dallas can get (temperatures in the mid-20s and gusts of wind over 30 mph) We experienced…
6 Ideas for Unified Prayer in Your Marriage
Prayer is a core part of the Christian life; naturally, it should extend to our most intimate relationship: marriage. One author and theologian, Henri Nouwen says: “a spiritual life without prayer is like the gospel without Christ.” Two common questions about prayer and marriage People often write to us asking about prayer in their marriage. These are two of the most common questions we receive:…
Leading With Genuine Love and Truth
This may strike you as a radical statement—perhaps even as one that overreaches: “A man cannot lead his family with genuine love and truth until he is lead by the love and truth of Christ.” However, let me explain. Note: the below can definitely apply to women as well! As a man, a husband, and a father, I’ve experienced a consistent connection between how well…
Fight for Unity, Fight for Your Marriage
Your marriage is a union forged by God! He has sealed your covenant and joined you as one. Let not anyone separate what God brought together. Fight for unity! Fighting for unity means protecting yourselves from division and divisive people. This is especially true if you’re going through a hard time. Always remember: you can still be unified during a disagreement. Selena and I recently…
A Fierce Family Update!
I told Selena I was going to write an update on the blog and she immediately called me out (she’s awesome like that). The thing is, I’m not usually a fan of what I call “meta” posts… or, talking about what you’re talking about. We’re here—Fierce Marriage exists—to connect lines from the gospel to everyday issues in marriage. I’d prefer to keep doing that over…
God’s Daughter First, My Wife Second
I’m feel like a blessed man, but not because of material things (though, I’m happy to say my family is warm, dry, and fed). I feel blessed because of the people God has entrusted into my care. Namely, God has graciously given me two beautiful baby girls. (They’re just about all I post on Instagram.) Every Easter, our church has baptisms (we also have them at other…
Video: 3 Bulletproof Ways to Build Unstoppable Unity
We’ve been through quite a bit in our 13 years of marriage. We’ve suffered loss together, faced life-threatening sickness, fought and argued countless times, and enjoyed a bounty of joyful seasons. It seems that most enter marriage expecting to experience the latter (joy) most if not all the time, but they forget to prepare for the difficult seasons. Every married couple struggles at some point.…
3 Steps for Creating Vision and Leading Well as a Husband
As a husband, Selena looks to me to lead our family. She desires decisive, meaningful direction in our marriage and in our lives (she’s told me this). Don’t get me wrong, she is definitely involved and vocal as we work together to craft our family vision. (Oh, how I married a strong, smart woman!) But as the husband, the buck ultimately stops with me. I’m…
My 3 New Goals for Pursuing My Wife
I’m not a natural romantic; but I think I can change that. I’m realizing that my ability to love my wife well greatly depends on my intentional, ongoing pursuit of who she is and what she’s feeling. That’s the essence of romance: intentional pursuit. I’m not just talking about covering the bed with rose petals and lighting a few candles. That might be part of it……