5 Things You Have to Do Well to Have a Great Marriage When studying in preaching class, the professor asked us what we should do when we hear a great sermon and would like to use it. He said it wouldn’t be right to copy it directly without giving credit and that it would be better to use the main points and make the rest of it our own. That...
How We Met Kim and I both grew up on farms. They were 5 miles apart near the town of Ligonier in northern Indiana. Kim is five years younger than me so we didn’t meet until after I had graduated from high school. It is common in our community for kids to gather at a house with parents who love to have the kids around, and Kim and I met...
It’s not if a miscommunication will happen, it is when it happens. Let's face it: miscommunications happen to us a lot more than we think they should. I had thought that the older I got the fewer miscommunications Kim and I would have, but since my hearing isn’t 20-20 anymore, it has opened up a whole new window for miscommunication. I will ask Kim, “What did you say?”...
Kim and I have a list of suggested reading for the couples we counsel toward marriage; Gary Chapman’s book The 5 Love Languages is always on that list. We believe everyone would profit from the straightforward, easy to grasp truths in the book. We also have each couple go online and take the free test at 5lovelanguages.com (I’ll link to the book and the test below). We would encourage you...
Q&A: What Does the Phrase Dying to Self Mean? Here’s a question we received from one of our readers: What does the phrase “dying to yourself” mean? There is one major obstacle to my marriage happiness… me. We mirror what we do on this blog and on our YouTube channel. I will have the YouTube link for you at the bottom of this post in the event you want to...
Q&A: Abusive Relationships: Understanding and Recovering From Them Here’s a question we received: As someone who has survived an abusive relationship prior to my marriage with the love of my life, my heart goes out to all people out there who are in relationships plagued by abuse. It is so easy to spot an abusive relationship after you have been in one yourself, but it is so difficult to...
What if your vision of marriage is shortsighted? What if the end goal of the marriage relationship is better than you have imagined? What if there is more to marriage than you anticipated? In this simple illustration, we’ll show you how God intends for marriage to be more than you could have imagined. Sometimes people that come for premarital counseling or meet us for the first time think we...
You aren’t as accurate at remembering as you think you are. In fact, many of the things you remember aren’t necessarily true. In some ways, we are like the old sailor that told the tale so many times that he started believing it himself. Let’s learn how to manage our expectations so that we have the best possible mindset. Have you ever been somewhere with your spouse and...
Twelve years ago, something happened in my devotions that became a milestone in my faith. I was reading Luke chapter 10 when a thought came upon me that I couldn’t let go of. This thought captured me and changed the direction of my walk with God. Over the years, it has become one of the foundation stones of my relationship with God. It has inhabited my mind...
This question was submitted to us by a couple of people in a couple of different ways. How can you sustain a healthy sex life after kids? Years ago, we were with another couple and the wife surprised us by saying, “I could care less if I never had sex again”. I wasn’t sure whether to feel sorrier for her or her husband. Kids are the culmination of...
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