marriage Archives

Rethinking Godly Sexuality in Your Marriage

A lot of couples will want to “lean in” to my conversation with Dr. Juli Slattery on our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Rethinking Godly Sexuality in Your Marriage.”

Dr. Slattery is a clinical psychologist and the president of Authentic Intimacy, a ministry devoted to reclaiming God’s design for sexuality. She’s written the book God, Sex, and Your Marriage, which will be the basis for our conversation today.

She says that too many married couples are not experiencing the intimacy that God intended for them. For many, sexual problems are a hidden, shameful secret because they don’t know how to navigate their pain and frustration or even communicate about it effectively.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: faith, marriage July 14, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Embracing the Various Seasons of Marriage

Over the course of a calendar year, nature experiences seasons. From winter to spring to summer and fall, each season presents nature with both challenges and opportunities for growth.

And so it is with marriage.

When winter sets in, a couple’s relationship becomes cold. They don’t communicate well. They argue. They disconnect. But if they endure, winter will give way to spring.

Spring is an exciting time. The couple is forward-thinking, has great plans for the future, and anticipate a happy relationship together.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: marriage June 15, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Discovering God’s Design for Your Marriage

Howard and Danielle Taylor’s relationship is evidence that a biblical understanding of the purpose for marriage is the foundation for weathering the rough seasons of life … together.

Danielle grew up unchurched, and Howard was raised without a dad. Both adopted unhealthy cycles of relationship they’d learned from their parents. The result was not harmony and intimacy, but arguments, stress, and conflict.

Over time, they learned new patterns of relating and communicating with each other, all rooted in a biblical understanding of marriage.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: marriage June 6, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Taking Courageous Steps to Save Your Marriage

If your marriage is in trouble and you’ve lost hope, I encourage you to tune in for our Focus on the Family Broadcast “Taking Courageous Steps to Save Your Marriage.”

I’m talking with Ann White – a speaker, teacher, and author – about how God helped her and her husband Mike restore their marriage by having the courage to work through their issues to reconciliation.

Ann is refreshingly honest about how their relationship got so bad.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: marriage May 16, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Improving Your Health to Strengthen Your Marriage

“In sickness and in health” is one of the most important vows a couple can make to one another. Even when we are at our weakest physically, our marriage can be at its strongest if we’ll lean on God and on each other.

Authors Dave and Ashley Willis experienced the beauty that can arise from a crisis after Dave’s father endured serious health challenges. The bonds of his parents’ marriage were tested like never before. Through it all, Dave’s mom acted with tenderness and grace.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: faith, marriage May 12, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Discovering Your Love Style

Do you know your love style?

We’ve all got one. It started forming back in childhood when your mom and dad listened to you, encouraged you to share your feelings, and taught you how much you mattered.

Or maybe they didn’t.

For good or for bad, our earliest relational experiences form the roots for how – or if – we emotionally attach to others. Ideally, we had an abundance of positive moments that enabled us to become what authors and counselors Milan and Kay Yerkovich call “secure connectors.”

Jesus was the personification of the “secure connector” love style.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: faith, marriage May 3, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Nurturing Your Spouse’s Heart

My marriage enjoyed a significant boost a few summers ago on a family vacation to Glacier National Park in Montana.

Jean, the boys, and I hiked to a place called Hidden Lake. It was spawning season for the trout, and the bears were especially active. From where we were several hundred yards away, we could see the bears splashing through the water hunting for fish.

I should say my boys and I could see them. Jean is nearsighted, and we didn’t have our binoculars with us, so she couldn’t see anything.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: marriage April 27, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Encouraging Your Husband to Be a Hero

A lot of women enter marriage with high expectations. They expect connection, conversation, and intimacy with their husbands.

But when the intensity of that initial romance fades – as it always does – some wives begin to wonder, “Did I marry the wrong man?”

Dr. Juli Slattery’s answer to that question is: “The secret of intimacy in marriage is not finding a hero to be your husband but finding the hero in your husband.”

To achieve that, Dr.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: marriage April 21, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Staying Married Through the Storms of Life

Traditional marriage vows say, “For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health.”

When Jean and I got married, we assumed that life would mostly be “better, richer, and healthier.” While life with each other has been wonderful, we’ve encountered challenges along the way.

That should come as no surprise. Every marriage passes through some kind of relational storm: in-law issues, financial conflict, baggage from the past. The possibilities are endless.

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: faith, marriage April 12, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Making Prayer a Priority in Your Marriage

Married couples are designed for intimacy. Yet, like Adam and Eve in the garden, they often hide from God and each other.

Some couples pretend their relationship is healthier than it is because it feels safer than risking exposure and shame. Hiding feels safer in the moment.

But long-term, it has the opposite effect. Instead of feeling more loved, we feel more lost. Instead of feeling more accepted, we feel more alone.

What’s a good way for couples to break out of isolation and connect with each other?

Topics: Uncategorized Tags: marriage April 7, 2022 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura