A Healthy Marriage Series: How Your Children Can Strengthen Your Marriage

If you are a parent who has done any amount of reading at all about marriage and children, I’m sure you’ve heard the negative statistics surrounding this topic. According to studies conducted by Discovery Health, the thought that “babies bring you closer together” is ranked number 4 on their list of Marriage Myths. Studies suggest that having children is a major source of stress that bring marriages to the breaking point.

I’m not here to try to convince you that these studies are right or wrong. These are tough times we live in, and raising a family can certainly have its stressful moments. Most parents are aware of that. But instead of focusing on the possible negatives, I want to give you a fresh perspective of how children can bring your marriage closer than it ever was before.

Psalm 127:3 tells us that our children are a blessing and reward from the Lord. This means that the addition of children to a marriage should have a positive effect, right? If you’re not exactly in that mindset right now, just keep reading. The following tips are designed to help you to make a few adjustments which will create a better atmosphere for the blessings and rewards to become evident.

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A Healthy Marriage Series: Love is the Fuel

What kind of marriage do you desire? Have you ever really thought about it?

Do you wish you were more strongly connected, closer, and happier in your marriage? Don’t settle for a ho-hum, distant, tolerable relationship. It doesn’t have to be that way.

If you give your relationship the proper fuel, you can have exactly what you desire.

Fuel powers your marriage and takes it to a deeper level.

So, what is the proper fuel? It all comes down to the language of love.

Are You Aware of Your Spouse’s Love Language?

Gary Chapman has an excellent book called the Five Love Languages. In it, the five different ways an individual likes to be loved are revealed. Everyone is not the same and every person does not receive or recognize love in the same way. We each have at least one distinctive way to feel truly fulfilled in our relationships.

Have you ever thought about how you prefer to be loved? What about your spouse? This is a wonderful discussion to have during your next date night. (If you don’t have a scheduled date night…quality time set aside just for your spouse…you are already behind the game.) Read more

A Healthy Marriage Series: Whose Behind the Wheel?

A couple of my friends are coming up on some serious anniversaries. One of them is 24 years. As I consider what this entails; the good times, the arguments, and the hurdles, it inspires me. Marriage is a wonderful union between two people that takes a lot of time, effort, love, forgiveness, and grace.

Unfortunately, a 24 year anniversary is not the norm today. Why do you think some marriages stand the test of time while others end in divorce? I’m sure if we took a poll, we could pool all of our knowledge (or collective ignorance) and come up with hundreds of reasons. Once the reasons were in place, there would be groups of us who would disagree on what ‘exactly’ constitutes grounds for divorce.

All that sounds pretty messy, so instead, we are going to go with a series of informative and fun posts that will help keep the health of your marriage at optimum levels. Just like checking the oil in your vehicle, you need to keep tabs on the health of your marriage. Our first post, Where Exactly Are We Going will help you to figure out if you both are moving in the same direction with the same goals in mind. That’s step one: Read more

Planting Seeds of Faith in Your Children

Most of us have heard Christ’s parable of the farmer sowing the seed, found in Matthew 13:3-9 and 18-23. The story talks about different types of soil and how the seed (or the Word of God) thrives in various conditions. We can learn a great deal from this parable, particularly regarding the condition of our hearts and minds when receiving the seed, or Word of God into our hearts.

However, as a parent reading this parable, let’s take a different approach, placing yourself in the position of the sower instead of relating only to the conditions of the soil. As a Christian parent your primary task is to sow seeds of faith into the hearts and minds of your children.

This is a big responsibility. But don’t let it be a source of stress, because along with any task, comes the grace of God that will empower us to fulfill it. Read more

How to Keep Your Marriage Healthy and Strong

There are many seasons that a marriage goes through. Of course, we all enjoy the elation experienced during the courtship and honeymoon period, but like all marriages–life happens and seasons change. We talk a lot on this blog about healthy living. Another piece to that puzzle includes a healthy and strong marriage.

With divorce statistics holding at over fifty percent even in the Christian world, have you ever wondered how some couples seem to run a steady and stable course, during the ups, downs and cycles of life? How do these couples keep their marriage healthy during times when life’s demands seem to be pulling for every bit of attention and somehow a 24-hour day just doesn’t seem to offer as much time as it used to? As the Word of God reminds us in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” What worked for mom and dad, grandma and grandpa, still works for us today. The key is to take these principles and apply them: Read more

How to Maximize Your Family Life

Fulfilling Your True Destiny Begins at Home

Your Christian walk and path of spiritual maturity involves so much more than leading a Bible study, hosting a support group or giving to a particular ministry. Are all of these things important? Yes. In fact, offering our time and resources to others takes us outside of ourselves to impact the world around us. A lifestyle of unselfish giving sets an important standard for our family and especially our children.

But, as in all things — proper balance is key.

Unfortunately, as with all things, there is a dark side just waiting to creep in–even in the area of giving, volunteering and ministry efforts.

The Dark Side of Serving

Even the best of intentions can become a tainted mess if we do not follow the wisdom and direction of God: Read more