Lorraine gave up on her marriage. “I don’t love Rich anymore. In fact, I don’t know if I ever loved him. We live separate lives. I guess we just grew apart.” Lorraine’s statement is ironically accurate. She stopped demonstrating love (action) toward her husband. However, her true reason for quitting is that she is not feeling loved. When asked about the vows she took when she got married, Lorraine got a deer-in-the-headlights look that said, “Vows. . . what vows?” Traditional wedding vows Although Lorraine has convenient amnesia now, she repeated these traditional vows when she got married: I, Lorraine, […]

When it comes to couples communication, a common complaint is, “We fight over the stupidest things.” Why do small issues generate such big emotions? It is usually because that small issue is symbolic of a core emotional issue in each mate. Communication skills are essential to solving the issues that come up in every marriage or relationship. If you do not learn how to communicate and resolve issues, you will just move from relationship to relationship. Why couples have issues Why would people not expect to have issues with all the differences involved in relationships? Here are just four common […]

Ocean Currents. They are strong and mighty fellas; convincing enough to sway everything in their path in one direction. Picture yourself right smack dab in the center of one. Waves are weighing hard against you, pushing you down the easy path, the path that requires little to no effort to wade through. Does this image remind you of anything?  As we take a moment to look around, it seems our culture today prefers the easy route. We are a nation conditioned to convenience, a nation that expects its desires to be met. Look anywhere and we can see businesses advertising […]

You’ve heard it said, “Confession is good for the soul.” Why is this true? Because we are not made to live with guilt and shame. True confession is how God designed for people to remove guilt from their conscience. However, true confession is more than just saying some words or going through a religious ritual. Guilt not properly dealt with has the potential to create a number of emotional and psychological problems. King Saul in the Old Testament is a good example of this. To engage in true confession, we must first understand why it is necessary and, secondly, how to […]