Marriage & Family: Marriage: Help & Healing
Helping couples grow their marriage through biblical principles
while living in the real world with real issues.
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Recalibrating Your Marriage
Every marriage hits its rough patches. Here's how even the busiest people can get it back on track.Sort By:
Forbidden Fruit
The shiny BMW motorcycle startled me as it rumbled into my parents' driveway and stopped beside my husband and me. In disbelief, I watched John,* a high-school boyfriend from more than 20 years ago, dismount and remove his helmet. After a confusion of hugs and handshakes, John insisted I not let his surprise visit disrupt the after-dinner walk with my family we were just beginning. Instead, he invited ...
Related Topics: Adultery, Affair, Communcation, with Spouse, Conviction
"Advice for My Son's Wedding"
Just a few days from now, our oldest son, Ben, will marry the love of his life, Becky. I haven't been asked for much input on the day's events, which is probably a good thing. I have been told I have no coherent advice on how to plan a wedding. (This after suggesting pant suits for the bridal party, and a wedding cake adorned with cocktail franks.) I do think, based on 24 years' experience, that ...
Related Topics: Balance, Communication, Encouragement, Goals, Partnership, Wedding
Growing Apart Is a Myth
Rich and I have a good marriage. Yeah, we fight occasionally like anyone else, but we readily admit we're soul mates. The Holy Spirit brought us together. Most everyone around us recognizes it—even a United flight attendant, who remarked how much fun we seemed to be having as a couple.
That's all dandy, right? Well, sure, as long as your friends are in the same boat. Unfortunately, some of our ...
Related Topics: Honor, Partnership, Respect
The Death of a Dream
"I need to get a referral, please. My husband and I have been trying to have a family for more than a year and things don't seem to be working."
"So, you're infertile," the voice on the other end of the phone stated.
"Well, I don't know about that. Things just haven't happened as quickly as we thought."
"If you've been trying for more than a year without getting pregnant, you're infertile."
There ...
Related Topics: Disappointments, Grief, Infertility
Torn Between Two Lovers—Part 2
In part 1 of this series, I shared that Brian (not his real name) and I had been married 13 when I became a Christian. That set our marriage on a road to potential disaster, as I desperately wanted him to share the newfound joy and life that I had. But he wasn't interested; he wanted his old wife back!
It brought such sadness whenever I read the apostle Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15: "Do not ...
Related Topics: faithfulness, God's, unequally yoked
Torn Between Two Lovers—Part 1
God's Word is usually comforting, but to a person whose spouse doesn't share the faith, the words in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 are heartbreaking: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? … What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?"
Obviously, you love your spouse. But the deep ...
Related Topics: faithfulness, God's, unequally yoked
Bedtime Burdens
Elizabeth's Side: His sleep schedule is irritating.
After 18 years of marriage, you'd think we would have conquered the whole sleep schedule by now. But it's worse than ever! I need to go to bed by 10:30 at the latest. That means being asleep at 10:30. As a working mom, I need a solid eight hours of sleep just to survive.
Every night when I tell James that I need to go to bed, he always gives the same ...
Related Topics: Compromise, Conflict resolution, Schedules
A One-Way Turn Around ...
"I looked at every card in the rack. I just can't buy my husband a 'husband' card for his birthday. I don't feel like any of those cards." I sighed and turned from my friend Alene's sweet face to examine the ceiling. "I don't even know him any more. He works late, goes to bed early, and leaves before I get up. We never talk. We never even see each other."
Alene lifted my chin with her finger tips. ...
Related Topics: Marriage, Difficulty in, Patience
A Work in Progress
They mocked me for months. Every morning when I raised the blinds and looked out the window, I saw them. It was almost like they were winking: one Adirondack chair was a deep brick red; the other was white. White primer, to be exact.
We had not run out of red paint. My husband, Pete, had simply run out of daylight on the day he'd planned to paint both. And there they sat, still waiting for Pete to ...
Related Topics: Conflict, Partnership, Patience
Married ... but Lonely
"I thought I'd lost it," said Billie, a wife of eight years. "I was in the grocery store check-out line. The man in front of me glanced back and smiled. He looked so kind. I had an overwhelming impulse to ask him to hug me. When I got to my car, I burst into tears. I finally had to admit how lonely I felt."
"I'm tired of feeling alone," Diane, who's been married 14 years, commented. "My husband, Ben, ...
Related Topics: Companionship, Intimacy, Loneliness
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