God created us for an intimate relationship with Him and others. We are born with biological needs for bonding and closeness. We’re physically needy. We need food, clothing, water and shelter to survive. We’re spiritually needy. Man needs communion with God and freedom from guilt and shame; we need forgiveness, mercy and grace. We’re also emotionally and relationally needy. We need a relationship with God and others. We’re intellectually needy; we’re born with intellectual capacity, but we need instruction and information.    Unaware, many of our deepest and most potent desires are wrapped up in our desire to have our […]

Working with marriages and families over the past twenty-plus years has been illuminating for me. I’ve found that most of us don’t know ourselves well. Like others, we know things about ourselves, our favorite colors, our taste in food, where we were born, what we like to do, who we hang out with, what we do for work, and what our talents are, but if someone asks us what our core beliefs and values are, we might have to pause.  As a Christian, I could answer without hesitation that I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, born of […]

Marriage relationships expand, contract, ebb, and flow with seasons of joy and pain. It brings out the best and worst in us. It exposes our weaknesses and our strengths. It matures and refines us. As we age and transition within the stages of life, our marriages evolve. The person we married in our younger years may not have the same carefree and adventurous spirit after children, but they may have grown in kindness and patience. Let’s look at some of the stages of marriage. Some scholars say there are many more stages than I’ve mentioned, but I consider these primary.  […]