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…
Fighting for Priorities When Marriage is Tough
Priorities are and will continue to be one of the biggest issues in every marriage. When your priorities are out of whack, it hurts. And when they’re properly ordered, everything just feels right. What would you say your ideal priority list looks like? Maybe something like this: God Others (spouse, then kids) Everyone/Everything else Depending on the day you may be good at keeping those…
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:…
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…
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…