Keys to Living Happily Ever After
If you’re married or engaged, you need to know this: Marriage is not a competition.
It’s about loving and being loved. So you have a choice: Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happily married?
When you listen and respond to your partner instead of correcting him/her, you will learn a lot about how he/she thinks and feels.
Good News: You don’t have to agree. But if you listen long enough to what your partner has to say, you may find out that your disagreement was really just you jumping the gun before you’d heard … the rest of the story!
He who answers before listening—
that is his folly and his shame. (Proverbs 18:13)
The Truth About Relationships
Filed under: Biblical Principles, Counseling, Dating, EFT, Emotions, Engaged, Marriage, Relationship Patterns
I’m amazed at the effectiveness of pop psychology. For years we’ve been told that people need to be complete in themselves (i.e., independent) before they can find a meaningful relationship. It reminds me of what my son said to me when he was a teenager looking for his first part-time job:
Mom, they all want to hire someone “with experience.” How can I get “experience” if no one will hire me?
As Christians, we do that, too. It’s like trying to get it all together before we come to God for help, which, by the way, is a very unbiblical approach. How can he supply our needs if we deny that we have any?
In sum, our culture (both inside and outside the Church) tells us that we need to not need anything before our needs can be met. Does that sound as crazy to you as it does to me?
The truth is that we all need. It’s a big part of what makes us human and, therefore, not God. As a friend once put it, “Saying someone is ‘too needy’ is like saying they’re ‘too human’!”
The truth is we need relationships because we are needy people. We’re dependent whether we’re willing to admit it or not. It’s as certain as the Law of Gravity! Even if you don’t buy the whole “gravity thing,” every time you leap into the air, you will still end up on the ground!
Like gravity, our neediness is part of our God-given human nature. We need, and we must depend on others (God and people) to meet our needs.
The question, then, becomes whether we have learned to be “effectively dependent” or to be “ineffectively dependent” on one another. In our upcoming posts, we’ll be exploring the varied ways we are “ineffectively dependent” on one another.
Free Marriage Videos Online
What are the danger signs that a marriage is in trouble?
Why we fight: The good news about those four main reasons
Blame Takes Us Away from Ourselves
Listening is not the Same as Agreeing
Listening is About the Other Person
This best-selling relationship book from the popular author duo of Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend now comes with two FREE audio CDs – one from Dr. Henry Cloud encouraging women through the difficult but rewarding process of successfully relating to their husband, and the other from Dr. John Townsend who helps men change those “dumb” attitudes and behaviors that will sink a marriage.
Marriage Ministry
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Pastor Raul Ries |
Marriage Ministry @ Calvary Chapel Golden Springs (Diamond Bar)
The Marriage Ministry seeks to teach and promote the application of biblical principles for Marriage and Family with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, being the necessary foundation.
Marriage Dinner Fellowships: On the 1st Saturday* of every month, there is a potluck dinner fellowship for married couples where couples meet for fellowship, dinner & desert, worship, a devotional Bible study related to Marriage and Family, communion and prayer.
There are 5 different locations that meet the same Saturday evening and teach the same lesson:
1. Diamond Bar area and North Orange County
2. East Foothills (La Verne, Glendora, San Dimas, etc.
3. San Gabriel Valley (Covina’s, Baldwin Park, La Puente, etc.)
4. Whittier area
5. Inland Empire
Premarital Classes: (’Already Married’ couples are also welcome) These classes are designed for engaged couples. The first of 6 weekly classes begins the 1st Sunday of every even month. The classes go from ‘principle to practical’ beginning with teachings on biblical principles of marriage and family, and then move into their practical application in everyday living.
* For more information: 909-396-1884, ext. 9637 (voice-mailbox)
FREE Books
