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What Can Genesis Teach a Wife about How to Encourage the Struggling Businessman?

What Can Genesis Teach a Wife about How to Encourage the Struggling Businessman?

It’s amazing how often our search for answers to conflicts and situations we are dealing with in the twenty-first century ends up taking us back to the beginning of Genesis.

Why She Shares, and What He Hears

Why She Shares, and What He Hears

When a wife dares to share her hurt and negative feelings with her husband, she does so hoping he will humbly apologize and make efforts to do things more lovingly next time. Her goal in addressing her concerns is to get rid of her hurt, be energized, feel positive, and respond to him in caring ways.

3 Steps to Reigniting Your Husband’s Love for You

3 Steps to Reigniting Your Husband’s Love for You

A wife who has been married for twenty years to a loving, goodwilled husband and father (her words!) found herself suddenly struggling to understand how their relationship had gone south.

A Kernel of Truth Does Not Justify the Unloving Gut-Punch

A Kernel of Truth Does Not Justify the Unloving Gut-Punch

In my book Speak Your Mind, I offer a four-point checklist that everything we communicate should be. Whether we’re talking to our spouse, our children, our boss, or the bank teller, we should ask ourselves, “Is that which I’m about to communicate: 1) true? 2) kind? 3) necessary, and 4) clear?

What Can Genesis Teach a Wife about How to Encourage the Struggling Businessman?

What’s the Point In Trusting God When Life Gets Worse?

What’s the Point In Trusting God When Life Gets Worse?

Joni Eareckson breaks her neck as a teenager but as a quadriplegic she entrusts herself fully to Christ. She makes herself available to the Lord for His purposes, launching a ministry called Joni and Friends. On the other hand, another person in a similar diving accident turns bitter toward God and everyone else. For decades this person remains wheelchair bound with no real friends.

Three Questions to Filter Your Words With

Three Questions to Filter Your Words With

A filter is any device that removes unwanted material. For example, an oil filter for a car lets the good oil pass through while blocking the crud and removing impurities. The muck and guck are detrimental to the engine and undermine the effectiveness of the motor. Some of us need a filter on our speech when we communicate. When we lack a filter we undermine our effectiveness in communicating with people, whether those are family and friends, coworkers and neighbors, or acquaintances and strangers. What is this filter? It consists of asking three questions before communicating in person, over the phone, or in writing.

Losing Makes Us a Winner! The Resolution: Lose the Weight

Losing Makes Us a Winner! The Resolution: Lose the Weight

From third grade to eighth grade I was overweight. I wore Husky pants. My legs rubbed together when I ran. My belly hung over the front of my pants. Sometimes people called me “fatty.” I cried. Iempathize deeply with people who struggle with their weight.I chatted last night with a good friend who told me that when she was in the fifth grade, she weighed 240 pounds, and in college over 300 pounds. My heart felt nothing but compassion.

What Else Might Linus Say to Charlie Brown About Christmas?

What Else Might Linus Say to Charlie Brown About Christmas?

Distressed over the insincerity of many concerning Christmas, the cartoon character Charlie Brown asks in anguish, “Isn't there anyone out there who can tell me what Christmas is all about?” Charlie’s friend, Linus, while on stage, beautifully and brilliantly answers his question. “Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you. Lights, please.” With security blanket in hand the miniature theologian takes center stage and exclaims,…

Are You Offended by an Inoffensive Person?

Are You Offended by an Inoffensive Person?

Though a person appears to be unloving and disrespectful, to the point where I even feel unloved and disrespected, could I have actually misinterpreted the appearance? When I feel offended by another, does that mean the other person is automatically an offensive person, or could I feel offended by something that in fact is inoffensive? This, of course, begs the question, why would any person in their right mind be offended by inoffensive actions? However, when I refer to “inoffensive actions,” I do not mean obviously positive actions such as gifting you with money. I am referring to actions from your spouse that on the surface could be labeled as “unloving and disrespectful” within the marriage.

How To Energize Your Marriage

How To Energize Your Marriage

Are you looking for some new ways to energize your marriage? If you are on board with love and respect as the two essential ingredients in your marriage, you may still be asking how it works.So let’s get practical.How do we show love and respect in practical ways? Following are several real-life examples that I hope will bring more clarity to how these principles play out practically.

In Your Marriage, Do You Listen To Both Sides Of The Story?

In Your Marriage, Do You Listen To Both Sides Of The Story?

How would you feel if someone took you to court and accused you of murdering another person but you were not allowed to verbally defend yourself or even have a lawyer? What if, after only hearing from the accuser, the jury convened and sentenced you to life in prison without parole? And here’s the kicker, what if you had an alibi proving there was no way you could have committed the murder and furthermore you had indisputable proof that your accuser was actually the murderer? But you were never allowed to defend yourself.If you had fallen victim to an inconceivable injustice such as this, you would be in absolute shock.What Happens When Hearing Only One Side?

When We Address a Man’s Needs, Why Do Some Women Hijack the Discussion? Part 2

When We Address a Man’s Needs, Why Do Some Women Hijack the Discussion? Part 2

In part 1 we talked about the tendency some women have to hijack a conversation about men needing respect and making it all about their needs as women. These women are not mean-spirited but they take over the conversation and completely ignore the male’s need. Some recent Facebook interactions I had provide a great example of this. Last week I posted three articles on Facebook. The first two challenged the husband (reaching together nearly 500,000 people). I titled them Should a Husband Submit to His Wife?, When a Husband Loves His Wife, Will She Respects Him?