5 Ways to Keep Family Dysfunction from Ruining Christmas
Family is a big deal around Christmas. The memories you have of Christmases past – both good and bad –…
Relationships
Intimacy Is A Choice: How to Move Closer
During the early days of your relationship it may have seemed you couldn’t get any closer. The emotional highs made…
How to Fall Back in Love with Your Spouse
Feeling in love is a heady exhilarating experience for most people. Your stomach has butterflies, your eyes only see stars,…
How to Have a Money Talk Without Fighting
Are you rarely or never able to agree with your spouse when it comes to money? Is one of you…
How to Get what you Want from your Spouse
You’ve tried to change your spouse, but it’s not working. You need them to communicate better. That annoying habit of…
Submission in Christian Marriage
Hear the words “submission” and “marriage” in the same sentence and you may feel something visceral rise up in your…
When Your Past Complicates Intimacy
People who research such things say that somewhere around 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men have been…
Responding to #MeToo with More than a Hashtag
Gretchen Carlson. Alyssa Milano. Angelina Jolie. Katie Couric. Lady Gaga. Beth Moore. Kay Warren. Thousands of women from every walk…
5 Reasons Christian Marriages Fail
Some people love to point to reported statistics that say 50% of even Christian marriages fail. Others find faith an…
If Opposites Attract, How Can We Get Along?
Do opposites really attract? In many marriages it seems so. No two people are exactly alike, but if opposites attract…
Love is not Wimpy
Say love and chances are your immediate mental picture is soft, squishy, and colored in pastels. If you’re over 40…
What Intimacy in Marriage Looks Like
Whether you thought of it this way or not, you undoubtedly got married hoping for intimacy. And if you hope…
When Is It Abuse?
God designed marriage to be a transformative, healing, growth-producing, fulfilling relationship full of intimacy and love. In our sinful messed-up…
How God Uses Marriage to Heal You
God uses marriage to heal you. It’s one of the most important and effective tools He uses to bring you…
Married On Purpose: Intentional Relationship Investments
Too many people slide into marriage without much intentionality. It’s just something you do – “if we feel like it.”…
Keep Your Sanity when your Spouse Doesn’t Meet your Needs
Your spouse should do more to meet your needs. Really, how could your husband or wife be that insensitive, clueless,…
When you should NOT have Sex with your Spouse
If your marriage is relatively happy and healthy and your sex life together is satisfying, this is not for you.…
5 Healthy Steps to Handling Conflict in Marriage
Money. Intimacy. In-laws. Parenting. What do you and your spouse fight about? Conflict happens in any marriage. The complete absence…
Seeking Intimacy – Married or Single
If you’re married, chances are good intimacy was high on the list of what you were looking for when you…
Why Get Married? (It’s NOT for Happily Ever After!)
People get married for all kinds of reasons. In our modern Western society perhaps the most frequent reason is a…
Pornography and your Christian Marriage
If the gospel is good for anything it must have an answer to the worst problems humans face. As believers…
5 Things Your Husband Needs From You
So many people look at marriage as a way to get their own needs met. In a godly healthy marriage…
5 Things Your Wife Needs From You
There’s the saying, “Happy wife, happy life.” While only partially true, as a husband you have a tremendous impact on…
Your Spouse’s Bad Behavior: 5 Things to Do
Your spouse’s bad behavior can make your life seem as though it’s falling apart. Your psyche is stretched to the…
What God’s Communication can teach us about Communication in Marriage
When we asked couples what they struggle with, communication was Number One. It can feel as though you and your…
Translation Aids for Man-Speak and Woman-Speak
Perhaps Rosetta Stone, the language learning/translation software, should develop a program to provide translation aids between men and women. Listening…
When Your Marriage Fails Anyway
Sometimes all you’ve got is not enough. Sometimes even God can’t fix it. Sometimes all your tears and work and…
No Trust in your Marriage: 5 Steps to Care for your Heart
Your spouse cheated – emotionally or physically. You found pornography on their smartphone. Your spouse abuses alcohol or drugs, is…
Say This, Not That: Healthy Communication Examples for Marriage
Communication can be difficult. You and your spouse seem to speak different languages. Attempts at talking seem to end up…
When Your Spouse Will Not Communicate: 5 Things to Do
Communication is the fuel relationships need to thrive. When you first got together you couldn’t stop talking. But now you…
Avoid these 8 Mistakes in Communicating with your Spouse
“Honey, we need to talk.” How does that work out for you? Do you end up in a screaming match?…
HOLD the Communication! Do These Things First
The usual ways you and your spouse communicate lead to predictable results; frustration, anger, withdrawing, or fighting. Is it even…
Why Marriage Is So Hard
Sometime after the preacher pronounces you man and wife the unwelcome truth hits you; marriage is hard! That realization may…
Your Spouse is Emotionally Cheating: 5 Things to Do
It might seem simpler, though even more devastating, to walk in and find your spouse in bed with someone else.…
Pursuing Intimacy with Your Wife
(This is a message especially for husbands. Last week I talked about the other side – a post especially for…
Pursuing Intimacy with Your Husband
(This is a message especially for wives. Last week I talked about the other side – a message for husbands.)…
How Communication with your Spouse is like Tossing Fruit
Have you ever thought “It’s no use trying to talk about it. We always end up fighting.” Or, “Regardless of…
When You or Your Spouse is Angry
You do not want to be married to someone who never becomes angry. There is no more boring or superficial…
7 Things to Know if your Spouse is a Christian and Abusive
God-talk and violence – physical, sexual, mental, or spiritual – have mixed for centuries. Sadly that same mixture shows up…
If Your Spouse Suffers from Depression: 3 Things to Do
The quality of your home life and your marriage is certainly affected by your spouse’s mental health. When your spouse…
When Your Spouse is Emotionally Distant
He seems to pay more attention to his dog and his TV than he does to you. She is always…
What to Do when Your Husband Calls You Frigid
Your husband berates you when you turn down his requests for sex, or when you don’t want to do the…
When Your Spouse is Not a Christian
You cry. You pray. You wonder how long you can hold on. Guilt and loneliness may seem your constant companions.…
5 Steps to a New Marriage in 2017
(While this is written especially for my women readers, the principles apply wither you’re a husband or a wife.) Wouldn’t…
5 Things You Should Believe About Marriage
Recently I talked about the 3 biggest false beliefs people hold on to when it comes to marriage. What you…
The 3 Biggest False Beliefs About Marriage
Is your marriage turning out like you thought it would? Probably not. What you believed about marriage before saying “I…
7 Steps to Dealing with BIG Marriage Problems
You could handle the little things, or so you tell yourself. You could pick up his dirty clothes now and…
10 Ways to Show Respect to Your Spouse
A marriage without respect will not thrive. But sometimes it’s hard to know how to show respect to your spouse.…
Does Your Spouse Feel Safe With You?
Connected. Loving. Engaged. Invigorating. Happy. Isn’t that the kind of marriage you want? If you answered yes, then keep reading.…
Heavenly Perfume: How to Smell Good as a Christian
Jesus smelled good. Do you? I don’t mean Jesus showered every day; He didn’t. People used various methods to try to…
