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Countless divorcees have told us over the years that had they known the Love and Respect truth underlying the negative cycle they found themselves constantly on (which we refer to as the Crazy Cycle), they would never have divorced.
Husbands and wives are going to disagree . . . many times. They’re going to have arguments . . . many times. On top of that, husbands will disappoint wives, and wives will disappoint husbands, bringing reason for the offended or hurt spouse to broach a possibly sensitive or tough topic.
There is an axiom that I have used in my teachings for as long as I can remember that, to this day, I still fully believe in its simple but life-changing truth: “My response is my responsibility.”
When I was on staff at a church in the 1970s, we sought to serve widows and orphans. Though they were not all widows, we decided to lean into assisting single parents specifically.
Wives are driven to connect, to be understood, and to receive empathy, which is a wonderful characteristic of God’s beautiful pink design of them.
Guys, now it’s your turn! Every wife I have met (given she is in love with her husband) would agree that she feels most energized in her marriage when her husband seeks to be close with her, open with her, understanding of her, peacemaking with her, loyal to her, and esteeming of her.
Have you ever met a wife who complains that her husband talks too much? That he seems to always want to share what’s on his heart and talk face-to-face with her in the evening, even when the game is on?
An adult child wrote me, saying about his parents, “Most remarkable has been the transformation in my parents' marriage. During your [Love and Respect] conference, a light bulb went off for both of them, and by the end of the conference, they were both crying together and asking each other’s forgiveness for years of misunderstanding.
Have you ever met someone so optimistic that you considered them more naive than realistic? Because they believe everything to be hunky dory, they blind themselves to the red flags leading to bad decisions and painful consequences.
Which is heavier, a pound of feathers or a pound of lead? Did you have to think about that one for a second? Don’t worry, you wouldn’t be alone if you did.
Have you ever asked yourself either of these questions? Have you ever wondered what God’s will was for you when it comes to marriage in general or marriage to a specific person—whether it’s getting married or staying married?
In Ephesians 5:33, husbands are commanded to love their wives, and wives are commanded to respect their husbands. One obvious question that I often receive concerning this is, “Why aren’t wives commanded to love their husbands?” The answer I always share is that God is not in the business of commanding us to do things that we naturally do on our own. Put simply, women love to love. And in a marriage between a goodwilled wife and a goodwilled husband, she doesn’t need a biblical command to love her husband unconditionally—she does it already!
Last but not least, I cannot overemphasize enough the positives that can result from any gray-area disagreement when one or both spouses focus on looking for the common ground in the disagreement.
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