Christian Marriage Advice-Should You Lower Your Expectations?
A commonly heard complaint from many of the couples we work with is that their married life is so radically different from their dating life. Boyfriends who used to open doors and pull out chairs have become husbands who no longer bother, and girlfriends who used to listen have become wives who nag. What you get is a marriage in danger and a lot of unhappy and unfulfilled spouses.
If this sounds at all familiar to you, I urge you to consider getting Christian marriage help. We have even put together a free DVD to help you! Together my husband Joel and I have been able to help over 10,000 couples overcome the problems plaguing their marriages. We would love to help you too.
We tend to accept this sea change in our marriages as a natural progression; we’re told that’s just the way it is. Conventional Christian marriage advice tells us that we are expecting too much out of our marriage, and we ought to just lower our expectations. Often the myth of married life as miserable is played up in sitcoms and on movie screens. But this is the wrong way to think about our marriage. You must never, ever lower your expectations for your relationship.
God didn’t give us the gift of matrimony so that we would be unhappy. God never once planned for our dating years to be wonderful and our married years to be miserable. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He never meant for our marriage to take on a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde life of its own. What we present to our partners is what we must continue living throughout our marriage. Joel and I believe that Christian marriage counseling should revolve around the fact that God loves us and wants us to love each other through happy marriages. This is why we should remember to honor our vows to love, honor, and cherish our mates today as we loved, honored, and cherished them before we got married. Through God’s strength and love, we can enjoy a marriage that is exciting and fulfilling for years after it first began.
Categories: Marriage Tags: Christian marriage advice, christian marriage counseling, christian marriage counselling, christian marriage help
Marriage Counseling For Christians
Lots of Christians hope that faith will keep them off the jagged rocks of modern marriage. But for most Christian couples, hope is not enough. Divorce is just as frequent for Christians as it is for non-Christians. And the same modern pressures trouble Christian marriages until divorce seems the only way out.
But God does not want divorce as the last resort for troubled marriages. If you and your spouse are floundering, there is Christian marriage counseling that can help you return to God–and each other–for the assistance you need to repair your battered relationship.
Is Your Marriage Struggling?
There are several common indications that you need Christian marriage counseling.
- A spouse feels unappreciated
- Constant fighting
- One spouse pays too much attention to members of the opposite sex
- One partner is working too much.
And there are less frequent, but more dangerous symptoms
- Abuse
- Infidelity
- Substance abuse.
If you and your spouse cannot talk without arguing, or discover that you do not enjoy spending time together, it may be time to try Christian marriage counseling.
Why Couples Struggle
Living and working with one person day after day, for years, produces enormous stress. It’s not surprising that lots of couples seek out Christian marriage counseling for help.
In many cases, each spouse focuses on the partner’s limitations. They forget their contribution to the problems. This is when they start playing the destructive blame game. And both spouses become resentful.
Eventually, the relationship hits a brick wall, and blaming and name calling and fighting and pleading will not get them around it. At this stage, they need professional Christian marriage counseling to get around the obstacle, and get their relationship back on track.
You Can Find Help
Often we hear lots of gloomy tales about sky-high divorce rates. And keeping a healthy, Christian marriage together in the 21st Century seems almost impossible. But, have faith! You can do it. Especially if you work with professional, qualified, experienced, Christian marriage counseling.
These professionals provide an objective perspective of your relationship, and can help you repair it. With the help of Christian marriage counseling, you can decide whether your relationship is worth saving, and learn how to do that according to God’s Word.
Marriage is tough, but you can find Christian marriage counseling. Through God’s Word and an experienced Christian counselor, you and your spouse can get back on track to a loving, healthy, satisfying relationship. And that’s just what God wants for you… and what you deserve.
