MARRIAGE TIPS

SPIRITUAL

Prayer prompts
Choose a landmark on your drive home from work, or a task such as brushing your teeth to act as a reminder to pray for your spouse. Every day, when you drive past the mark or paste your brush, lift up your spouse's needs or simply thank God for him or her!
 
Pray without ceasingPray spontaneously as you’re driving, shopping or making dinner. When requests and praises enter your mind, join hands with your spouse and speak them out. These quick prayers help build spiritual connection, even for the busiest couple! And spouses who are uncomfortable with long prayer sessions appreciate these informal chats with God.
End each day with prayerPray as a couple after getting into your bed. Give thanks for the day, pray for tomorrow and lift up any concerns or worries. Use this time to ask God to continue to strengthen your marriage.
Growing together in faithFor spiritual formation in your marriage, try memorizing Scripture together. Whether you’re cooking, cleaning or driving somewhere together, see if you can recite the week’s passage to each other. You’ll have God’s Word dwelling in both your hearts and minds week by week.

Friendship in marriage

Friendship in marriage

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Written by Debra Evans

When you hear the word “companion,” what does the term signify to you?
Given the dictionary’s definition of a companion as “somebody who accompanies you, spends time with you or is a friend,” do you currently see you and your husband companionably drawing together or separately drifting apart?
Author Sheldon Vanauken warns:

In Genesis 2:18, we hear these words echo across the centuries, still vitally relevant to our relationships today: “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’ ” Consider that the Hebrew word for helper is “ezer” – remarkably, the same word used in Psalm 118:7: “The LORD is with me; he is my helper (ezer).” Keeping this idea in mind reinforces the essential role we play within our sacred partnership. The blessing of friendship and tenderness in marriage honours this unchanging truth: A wife's loving companionship was designed by God to meet her husband’s number one relationship need.

First steps

When in-laws don't accept you

When in-laws don't accept you

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Written by Romie Hurley

Heather and Steve have been married almost four years. They love each other very much, but relationships with their in-laws have always been strained.
Heather feels Steve's mother is overly critical of how Heather parents the children. She also gets upset over her mother-in-law's statements about how Steve works much too hard; she sees them as attacks on her choice to be a stay-at-home mom.
Steve has great difficulty connecting with his father in-law, who seems to live for sports. When Steve and Heather visit his in-laws, Steve is especially disturbed to see Heather share her father's sports mania – leaving Steve feeling like an outsider.
It's normal to want to be accepted by your in-laws. But feeling that you need to be accepted can bring complications, causing you to be uncomfortable and unnatural around them.
Unrealistic hopes cause problems, too. Many parents are initially over-protective of their own child, or have expectations that no spouse can meet in the beginning.
Often, new husbands and wives assume they'll be loved and accepted by in-laws on the merit of having married the in-laws' child. This may be the case, but it usually takes time to establish trust and respect. Just as it takes time to build other close relationships, gaining acceptance into a family doesn't happen instantly.

Married with kids: How to keep your relationship strong

Married with kids: How to keep your relationship strong

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Written by Amy Van Veen

If you’re married with kids, you’re probably keenly aware of that all too elusive commodity – time.
Your kids are in school, their schedules are packed with extra-curricular activities and you might both be working. Maybe you volunteer in your community, stay connected with friends, go to a Bible study and make it home with just enough time to do some chores before falling asleep when your head hits the pillow.
When life gets this busy, it can be tempting to cut some corners – like pushing aside time with your spouse so you can focus on your family. But when the kids are grown and gone, you’ll realize you neglected the core relationship of your family: your marriage.

16 pieces of marriage advice I remind myself of as often as necessary...

Am I an expert? No. Do Nick and I still have issues? Yes. But we are keenly aware of how important our relationship is to the health and well-being of our family as a whole, so we have always made us a priority. Here's how.

By Erin Zammett Ruddy 0

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Erin Zammett Ruddy

Before Nick and I decided to have Nora, he said, out of the blue one day, “I think we should have another baby. It will ruin our relationship, but I think we should do it.” I laughed, of course, but then I started thinking. Would having two kids ruin our relationship? Was it really a foregone conclusion? And why is it such a cliché that kids kill marriages? Is it because…it’s true? A while back, while researching a story on the subject, I spoke with John Jacobs, M.D., a New York City couples therapist and author of All You Need is Love and Other Lies About Marriage. He said, “Couples often think that children solidify a marriage but the truth is they are a serious threat. The transition from couplehood to parenthood marks one of the greatest stressors on the life of a marriage.” While that stress may dwindle over the years, it never completely goes away. And, says Jacobs, the wear and tear kids inflict on marriages is at an all-time high, thanks, in part, to helicopter parenting. “We’ve become a society that is hyper-focused on the emotional well-being of our children,” he says. “Sometimes too focused.” It makes sense: The more time you spend on your kids, the less time you have to focus on the well-being of your spouse—and the well-being of your marriage.

Well, Nora is now three and while her arrival slowed us down a bit in the beginning, it certainly hasn’t knocked us out. In fact, we're probably in better shape now than ever. We go on dates, we talk, we have a rich social life, we laugh a lot and have fun together, we even wait until the kids go to sleep so we can dine a deux many nights. I always thought that was just about us being food obsessed/selfish (we like talking to each other without having to spell every other word and we like to eat without stopping to clean up spilled milk or wipe butts), but it turns out we’re on to something.

Relationship Help

Advice for Building Caring, Meaningful Relationships that Last

An engaging, secure love relationship can be an ongoing source of support and happiness. Good relationships strengthen all aspects of life: your health, your mind, and your work.

DO NOT EVER BEAT YOUR WIFE NO MATTER THE PROVOCATION

I had a misunderstanding one night with my wife. We were exchanging words,but hers was the loudest,she lamba GBst me,insulted my head and Holy Moses,finished me with her mouth,she was even saying she hate me with a passion,she regreted the day she even fall in love with me. I was moved to beat her that night,but I remember the words of my father,"DO NOT EVER BEAT YOUR WIFE NO MATTER THE PROVOCATION." There are are lot of punishment you can give her and will hurt her. I wanted to take a walk,but it was night. I absolve the pains of the insults,we slept. The following morning,she came and knelt down,apologised and we move on. After then,I told her if not for my fathers advice I adhered to,I should have beating her mercillesly. She also told me,she was expecting a beating and she had kept "Tabarya"(Pistle) that she will used to hit me in the head had it been I beat her. My people,na the biggest pistle of the house. Na dead be dat oooooo! She will be arrested and my family is gone because one of us doesn't have patience and devil will be rejoicing.
As a husband and a father, you need to be patient and exhibit a lot of maturity. Do not react to every provocation from your wife. If you react to everything that your wife does, you w
ill almost kill her with beating. I understand that women have sharp mouth.