Marriage Articles

Are You Humbly Voicing a Need or Formalizing a Complaint?

Why Does a Wife Not Hear That Her Husband Needs Respect?

Why Does a Wife Not Hear That Her Husband Needs Respect?

The idea of unconditional respect for the husband has always been the Love and Respect message’s unique feature, based on Ephesians 5:33. Many books stress Paul’s instruction for husbands to love their wives (“each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself . . .”), but few spend equal space if any at all, to the rest of the verse (“. . . and the wife must respect her husband”).

How Is C.H.A.I.R.S. The Key to Having More Meaningful Conversations With Your Husband?

How Is C.H.A.I.R.S. The Key to Having More Meaningful Conversations With Your Husband?

Many wives share disappointment that their husbands rarely talk to them at a deeper level. “Emerson, when we were dating, we used to talk long into the night getting to really know each other. What happened to him?”

Are You Humbly Voicing a Need or Formalizing a Complaint?

Are You Humbly Voicing a Need or Formalizing a Complaint?

In the beginning, after God had created Adam and placed him in the garden to cultivate it, He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18).

What Does Love and Respect Enable a Wife and Husband to Do?

What Does Love and Respect Enable a Wife and Husband to Do?

In the Bible, we find two realities to which we are to respond: God’s commands and God’s promises. God calls us to obey His commands and trust His promises. Most of us have sung the song "Trust and Obey,” which captures these two quintessential truths.

You Know What You’re Saying, but What Are You Communicating?

You Know What You’re Saying, but What Are You Communicating?

There are certain phrases we have been programmed to understand in a specific way whenever we hear them. For example, if someone says to us, “We need to talk,” we know there is bad news to come and we get in defensive mode.

What Does Love and Respect Enable a Wife and Husband to Do?

You Know What You’re Saying, but What Are You Communicating?

Do You Have A Goodwilled Marriage? [Video]

Do You Have A Goodwilled Marriage? [Video]

Proverbs 11:27 says, “He who seeks good finds goodwill, but evil comes to him who searches for it” (NIV). I am sometimes asked what I think is the most important principle we teach. Pink and Blue (not wrong, just different) comes to mind, but so does one simple word: goodwill. When you and your spouse see each other as good-willed, good things are in store for your marriage.

Pink and Blue: Not Wrong, Just Different! [Video]

Pink and Blue: Not Wrong, Just Different! [Video]

One of the most powerful and eye-opening concepts in the Love and Respect approach to marriage is the difference between pink and blue. We aren’t talking about how to decorate a nursery here. We are simply pointing out how God made men and women as different as the colors pink and blue.

My Husband Isn’t Who I Want Him to Be - Part 2

My Husband Isn’t Who I Want Him to Be - Part 2

Should a Wife Lower Her Expectations? Years ago I read on the side of a coffee mug, “Want to be happy with me? Lower your expectations.” We laugh since we interpret the comments on the side of the mug as lame excuse-making. Those of us who are “normal” insist that the expectations placed on another person are appropriate, and this individual is demanding license to be selfish and excused from responsible living.

My Husband Isn’t Who I Want Him to Be - Part 1

My Husband Isn’t Who I Want Him to Be - Part 1

In Jo Berry’s book, Beloved Unbeliever, she shares, "Diane confessed...she mentally put down her husband. She mocked his ideas and his reactions or responses and secretly made fun of his opinions…