In this episode, Ryan and Selena discuss how our earthly marriage is simply a shadow to our eternal marriage with Christ, and the implications of living too focused on the happiness level of our marriage rather than the One we were created for can have … As marriage ministers, it’s important for us to continually point people to Christ and commission marriages for the gospel…
How is Your Phone Hurting Your Marriage (Part 2)
You’re probably using your smartphone to listen to this. Your phone is a great tool! But it can also create problems in life and marriage. (Side note: This episode marks 1 FULL YEAR of the Fierce Marriage Podcast! Thanks for listening!) Anyways… A few diagnostic questions you may want to ask yourself: Do you check your phone first thing in the morning? Do you spend…
3 Boundaries You Absolutely Need In Your Marriage
Healthy boundaries will protect you from overextending yourself in life. They will also protect the health of your marriage when they’re clearly defined. Every season of frustration in our own marriage (“season” = many months) can usually be traced back to some issue with boundaries. Usually I’m overworking, or we’re making poor decisions in areas where we haven’t clearly defined our “walls”. Boundaries are important, so…
3 Reasons You [Probably] Avoid Church and Why to Go Anyway
If you’re reading this, there’s a great chance that you identify with being called a Christian. However, that’s about where the assumptions stop. You might be married, you might read your Bible, and you probably (statistically) don’t gather weekly with other believers in your area. Life is busy and church attendance tends to get placed on the chopping block. Given our culture’s adversity to ‘organized religion’ and…
7 Reasons Why ‘Getting Away’ is Good for Your Marriage (and 10 tools we use for affordable travel)
Getting away with your spouse is a vital part of keeping things renewed and fresh. There’s just something special that happens when you leave your normal routines in favor of deepening your friendship with each other. This means taking time to intentionally disconnect from your everyday world and reconnect with your life partner. I strongly believe that getting away should be a regular (at least…
Your Marriage is Your Ministry (Part 1, Sharing Your Story)
When we live for God we are ministers of His gospel, period. You don’t have to be a vocational pastor or licensed priest, we are all lay-ministers of Christ (“lay” comes from “laity” which means common people). Ministry is a byproduct of knowing God intimately and allowing Him to pour out through us. I long for the day when Christian married couples en masse minister…
6 Ways to Affair-Proof Your Marriage
Affairs take two common forms: emotional and sexual. In either case, by the time an actual affair materializes, there have been latent and unaddressed problems for a long time. “Affair proofing”, if we can call it that, includes proactively building systems and rhythms into your marriage that will make it much less likely that you’ll start down the subtle path toward an affair. Today, at…
How Radically Pursuing Your Spouse Changes Your Heart (and Theirs)
Every marriage begins with purpose, passion, and intentional pursuit, but few marriages stay that way. Maintaining passion and joy in marriage is largely dependent both spouses committing to a lifelong pursuit. And a lifelong pursuit is only sustainable (truly) through experiencing the radical love of God in Jesus. In this episode, we explore everything we learned about pursuing each other while completing the 31-Day Pursuit…
Crafting a Family Vision Statement: What It Is and Why You Need One
Few things have been as impactful in our lives and marriage as our family vision. Years back when we felt aimless and flustered, we took the time to have in-depth discussions about what matters most to us: as Christians, as a family, and as a couple. The result was our family vision statement, which has helped us immensely since. Listen to today’s episode as we…
Resisting Unchecked Consumerism During the Holidays
The holidays are an incredible time to celebrate together with family. It can also be a very hectic, pressure-filled time for many. How can we maintain perspective (and our sanity) and not get swept away by consumerism? The answer? Jesus. In this episode, we discuss how to be consumed by God instead consumerism this holiday season. Feel free to review the [brief] show notes below…