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Browse through and read hundreds of articles on the topic of marriage
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.
Is your normally happy-go-lucky husband suddenly more sulky and moody? Has your typically fully engaged and intimate husband for some mysterious reason become more distant and even physically absent?
Do you have a specific sports team that you are outright fanatic about? Suppose you are a passionate Yankees fan whose white bedroom walls have navy blue pinstripes on them and your living room coasters have pictures of Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Derek Jeter, and other Yankees greats on them.
A couple attended the Love and Respect Marriage Conference recently, and several weeks later the wife wrote to me to share some of the reasons why they had attended, along with her frustrations for the lack of changes she had seen in him since the conference.
I have spoken often about the need to understand and appreciate God’s pink and blue design of women and men, respectively, because our differences undoubtedly go well beyond the biological.
Q: How do I respect my husband’s relationship with his parents, particularly his mother, when they are a disruptive force in our marriage? I can’t talk to my husband about this because he always sides with them. Dr. E says: First of all, unconditional respect means that you deal with situations respectfully. It does not mean that you agree with everything, or even condone everything. It means that when you confront a situation you disagree with, you do so respectfully.
We love getting stories from people who believe their spouse is the one with the all the problems, only to discover they have a part to play as well. Let’s hear what one wife has to say about her discovery of Ephesians 5:33. “I Don’t Respect You” My husband and I had been fighting, like really badly. I was so hurt and he kept telling me I needed to respect him and I needed to submit to him.
I believe God has something very good to tell you about what He sees you doing in your marriage, but He chooses to withhold this information until later. I base these comments on a story about a widow. What happens with this unmarried woman applies to the married! Let me explain.
I appreciate hearing from couples, especially those in ministry. Even those of us in marriage ministry can get on the Crazy Cycle or become disillusioned in our marriages. Jeff and Elizabeth share what profoundly changed their marriage when Elizabeth had finally “had it!”My husband and I were married in 1992 and from the very beginning, we attended marriage conferences, attended HomeBuilder groups, and then led HomeBuilder groups for 6 years or so. But one day God revealed a life-changing truth to me, and that is what I would like to share with you.
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