The next time you are at a restaurant, glance around the room and see how many people are actively engaging in conversation as they share a meal together. What percentage have their heads down with the light of their cellphone reflecting off their face as they text, tweet or update their Facebook page? Social media has become our constant companion. “There has been a shift in the way we communicate,” said Paul Booth, PhD, assistant professor of media and cinema studies at DePaul University. “Rather than face-to-face interaction, we’re tending to prefer mediated communication.” College roommates email or text one […]

This topic isn’t an easy one — our sexually powered culture, the pressure we put on ourselves and allow others to put on us, can be exhausting and confusing. I have wrestled with this topic my whole life. But in asking God to help me write this, He replied, “Julie, you are becoming whole in this journey, your wholeness is in me, your love is in me.” So I sat in a hotel room and listened to God. I asked him, “Why this ache God? I’ve had it my whole life, but now you’re beginning to fill the ache with […]

Research shows parents may have more to do with marriages than first thought. Two ways parents influence marriages Presently: How they behave as in-laws (or outlaws). Growing Up: What they taught us about marriage by either active teaching or modeling (the more powerful contributor). “Kids learn more from example than from anything you say; I’m convinced they learn very early not to hear anything you say, but to watch what you do,” said Jane Pauley Whether marriage is a struggle or deeply fulfilling often traces back to the habits and behaviors of our family of origin. “Oh No! I’ve become […]

  A 2014 Pew Research Center survey asked which of the following statements came closer to the beliefs of their respondents: Society is better off if people make marriage and having children a priority. Society is just as well off if people have other priorities other than marriage and children. Survey says… 46 percent chose # 1, 50 percent chose # 2. Among 18-29 year-olds, two thirds chose  # 2.   “Marriage should not exist” The world seems to be abandoning marriage. More heterosexual couples are opting for cohabitation, and while homosexual couples are fighting for the right to marry, […]