"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:4 (ESV) One Evening, Two Realities He walks through the door at 6:45, exhaling for the first time all day. The meeting went well, the traffic was brutal, and he made it home. In his heart, he has just finished a very long, hard day and was finally home. She has been watching the clock since 5:30. Dinner has gone cold, the children are driving her nuts, and the phone never

There is a strange thing that can happen in marriage. You can love each other, love God, be committed to your family, and have absolutely no intention of ending your marriage—and still slowly begin living like two people on opposing teams. My money. Your spending. My schedule. Your expectations. My needs. Your needs. My family. Your family. What I want versus what you want. And somewhere along the way, US gets lost. For Christian couples, that should concern us because God's

Growing Spiritually at Different Paces

"Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven." — Matthew 18:19 (ESV) ✦ DEVOTIONAL ✦ For many couples, the idea of praying together is simultaneously compelling and deeply uncomfortable. There is something uniquely vulnerable about prayer — it is an act of honesty before God, and doing it with your spouse means allowing them to witness that honesty too. That kind of spiritual nakedness can feel more

Conflict is not the problem, unresolved conflict is. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." — Matthew 5:9 (ESV) There is an important difference between peacekeeping and peacemaking. Peacekeeping avoids conflict at all costs — it sweeps things under the rug, stays silent when something needs to be said, and prioritizes short-term comfort over long-term health. Peacemaking is harder. It engages conflict honestly, with love and humility, for the pu

Marriage is more than a legal union or a romantic commitment — it’s a merging of lives, values, and dreams. But at its core, it’s also the creation of a marital identity: the unique, living expression of who two people become together. When you first fall in love, your sense of self is often shaped by I — your career, your habits, your goals, your social circles. But when you marry, those two “I’s” overlap, forming a shared “we” that still needs space for individual identity.

There’s one thing we can always count on. Change! In fact, many of us were excited for the change that marriage brought. It may have been...

There are 3 essential aspects of boundaries in a marriage. In this blog post, we want to delve into them to illuminate their value and...

It takes EFFORT! Sorry, but anything worth having is worth working for and fighting to keep. There is no stronger message Andrea and I...

Connection is a relationship in which a person is linked to another. The word LINKED takes the idea of relationship even further. It's defined as “a relationship …especially where one thing affects the other”.

Days after our 3rd annual ChurchLYFE Marriage Retreat, it is time to post our February blog. We thought it would be appropriate to dive...

Before we get to the answer to the question of this blog, it’s important for us to understand a few things: Are we clear about what our...

Recently Joseph and I went on a vacation with just the two of us. Over the years, we’ve found these types of vacations are important to...

In marriage, the question is not if we fight but when we fight. Conflict is inevitable in all relationships. It remains the most...

The national average divorce rate in the U.S. in 2022 was 2.4 per 1,000 people, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” One could argue this quote implies a slow death. This...

It’s a little disheartening when you do a Google search for what’s trending in marriage and the results show a plethora of topics like,...

Typically when you think of an island, you think of tropical plants, white sand, beautiful clear water and sunshine.

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. ~1...

After nearly 30 years of marriage, it is clear, listening is a valuable skill set in marriage. If you think about it, the vast majority...