Today I’m joining Faith Barista to write about the passion God has put on my heart. I think the timing of this assignment is, once again, so perfect. As some of you know, I have a marriage blog called, Messy Marriage. For many years, I’ve felt a huge passion for improving not just my own [...]
I’m so grateful that I was able to participate in the Proverbs 31 blogging “adventure” with Lara Williams this past month. Lara wanted those of us who helped with this project to share what we’ve learned from this month of meditation and reflection on the “Virtuous Woman.” I feel as if I’ve learned everything from [...]
I’m excited to announce that my first guest post has been published this morning on Lara Williams blog. Lara has been going through the verses of Proverbs 31 all this month of October, asking several other bloggers to help her in the quest to understand the Proverbs 31 woman. Thankfully, I was one of the [...]
When I was in my twenties and early thirties, I really had a hard time seeing my wrong behavior as . . . wrong. Or maybe it was just that I couldn’t bear to admit to myself that I was weak. I’d say, probably a little bit of both. Unfortunately, that meant that I rarely, [...]
Early in my married life, I made a mistake that I feel is very common for many couples who find themselves in trouble. This is how it worked for me: My husband did something that I perceived to be wrong or hurtful. I turned to a parent, in my case, my mother to vent about [...]
Have you ever tried to tend a garden? If you don’t have the plastic weed barrier firmly in place, then you might as well resign yourself to a long-term battle with your finger on the trigger of Round-Up—aiming to kill. In the same way that weeds can take over a flower garden, I allowed “weeds” [...]
For years, my husband and I went ‘round and ‘round when it came to conflict. He would do something that would yank my chain, and then all of a sudden he’d notice I was being extremely quiet. So he’d ask, “Is there something wrong, Beth?” I’d say, “No, I’m fine.” He would then go into [...]
I grew up in a family that didn’t really know how to resolve conflicts. My parents played opposite positions in times of conflict, but neither position was healthy. They were living examples of the extremes in communication. My mother would aggressively confront my dad regarding a problem and my dad would passively run the other [...]
1. Avoids the “Divide and Conquer” Game If you and your spouse disagree about a parenting decision in front of your children, you’re only setting up a dangerous dynamic that pits one parent against the other. When this happens, one parent comes off looking like the “good parent,” while the other appears to be the [...]
Let’s face it. There are major differences between men and women, and one of the big ones is the amount of communication women use versus men. Studies have shown that women use approximately 20,000 words per day compared to the measly 7,000 word count that men tend to prefer. You can tell this simply by [...]
