GPS to a Joyful Marriage

As I prepared to post this, I was reminded that I planned to continue with  The Vision for Your Marriage.  I will go back to that next week as I feel compelled to share this article with you. Okay, I know I promised to stick with marriage talk, but I can’t ignore the affect that nutrition has on our lives and our relationships.  It’s become a great passion of mine, so bear with me – it can also affect your marriage relationship.     I have mentioned before about the evil of sugar to my system.  It causes depression in me.  I usually stay away from it, but when I’m out of my routine, around company and friends, or away for a few days, I sometimes succumb to the lure of that sweet poison.  A little bit will not usually bother me, but it’s abstaining from that ‘just one more’ that I find difficult.  Sugar is a drug to me, and I am an addict.  One bite and I am hooked. Last week I had a few days of my ‘funk’-- sugar induced from a week of family visiting.  I am not the best pe

My new book, GPS to a Joyful Marriage  is finally out.  You can purchase it from this site or get one personally from me.  This is a small, easy reading book that shares biblical truths about what marriage should be.  It comes from the information Rick and I have identified, in over twenty years of marriage ministry, as the common causes of marital conflict.  We then applied the Biblical principles that help couples navigate down the road to a Joyful Marriage. M ost women, as little girls and teenagers, even adults, visualized about the biggest day of our lives – our wedding day.  We tried to imagine what that day would be like and dreamed about it for years.  My friends and I continuously held pretend weddings in my backyard when I was a child.  Usually, I wrapped myself in a soggy beach towel to symbolize my make-believe wedding dress (we had a swimming pool and lived in bathing suits all summer.)  There was always a handsome prince waiting at the end of the aisle to sweep me off

1.        Say “I Love You!” to your spouse at l   east twice a day.  Get into the habit of saying it when you leave, when you return and whenever you talk on the phone. 2.         Touch often – a pat on the arm or back can be very healing.  Hugs and kisses are even better!  Practice hugging and kissing whenever you leave and return, like you did when you dated. 3.        Keep your comments positive.  Learn to think before you speak.  Ask yourself if you would relay that thought to your spouse if Jesus were standing in the room with you.  *Proverbs 15:1 “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” 4.        Practice forgiveness – Matthew 6:14,15  “For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.” 5.        Practice humility; learn to say “I’m sorry.”  - Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humil

Fear – anticipation of the possibility that something unpleasant will occur; a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. How interesting that these definitions of fear claim - “Anticipation of the possibility ” and “Whether the threat is real or imagined. ”  Most fears are irrational thoughts in our head with no concrete reality in our personal experience. According to StatisticBrain.com, 60% of things we fear and worry about will never come to pass. Most women spend a lot of their time in worry and fear.  Maybe it’s part of our personality.  Maybe it’s part of the hormones that affect our bodies.  Maybe it’s the way God made us.  I have struggled a good part of my adult life with fear.  Fear of the unknown.  Fear for my children.  Fear for the direction our country is headed.  And the list goes on…and on…and on. I feel like an inadequate Christian when overco