Posts Tagged ‘relationships’

Enjoying Intimacy In Your Healthy Marriage – 7 Steps To Get There

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

Do you have a Healthy Marriage and desire amazing Intimacy to enhance things? God has supplied us with enough sexuality to make this happen. Since he is the creator of our sexuality and he ordains marriage as a unity between man and woman, He also intents for you to have this enjoyment and pleasure in your marriage. Genesis 2:24-25 gives a snapshot of the intentions God has for married couples in the department of Sexual Intimacy and Satisfaction. As He desires us to become one flesh, sharing our bodies with one another in marriage, this also pertains to an intimate unity. Adam and Eve were created and in their nakedness, had no shame. They were free to desire one another and express love as one flesh.

As we continue to study God’s Word, we find that scripture continuously addresses Intimacy and Satisfaction in marriage. We find that when Intimacy and pleasure is experienced by a husband and wife as designed by God, it brings great joy to the relationship, which in return cultivates a Healthy Marriage.

There are some truly amazing scriptures that give deep definition of what this intimacy and delight in marriage encompass. Here are a few:

Song of Solomon 4:9-12 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice! Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like that of Lebanon. You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.

Song of Solomon 4:16 Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.

Song of Solomon 7:10-13 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. Come, my beloved, let us go forth to the field; Let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; Let us see if the vine has budded, whether the grape blossoms are open, and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. The mandrakes give off a fragrance, and at our gates are pleasant fruits, all manner, new and old, Which I have laid up for you, my beloved.

We see in these passages great passion and how intimacy is described for married couples. This is the purest form of Intimacy and is set aside for the unity of couples in marriage to enjoy. Coming to an understanding of God’s intentions regarding intimacy in your marriage is key to putting together a plan to actually experiencing this degree of pleasure in your marriage.

Here are 3 Steps that will have you well on your way:

(1) Effective Communication: It is important to have healthy communication with your spouse with listening being the most important aspect. Communication issues will definitely get in the way of sexual desire and will prohibit you from having the level of Sexual Intimacy you desire in your marriage. Begin working on being able to effectively communicate with your spouse while remaining open and honest about your feelings, concerns and fears.

(2) Make Some Alone Time: Make time for each other. Many times our hectic schedules and family life can literally snuff out all of our time. Typically, Intimacy increases when more time is spent alone together and dating is experienced again.

(3) Move Passionately Slow: Taking your time to show that you love and care for your spouse can equate to heaps of pleasure. Being passionate goes a very long way.

Having a starting point is crucial to getting a healthy cycle going to experience increased Sexual Intimacy in your marriage. By using these beginning 3 steps you will begin a very lucrative road for a truly juicy intimate life with your spouse.

Need more on Intimacy? Go to http://mychristianmarriageadvice.com/intimacy. Also go to the Healthy Marriage Secret to find out how to get you spouse to fall head over hills in love with you forever.

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The 4 Step Plan To A Successful Marriage Restoration

Friday, August 6th, 2010

The main key to Marriage Restoration starts with forgiveness. Although often times it can be difficult to forgive, it is essential to truly having success in both our marriages and our own individual lives. If your desire is to restore your marriage it is crucial to understand the power of forgiveness and how it greatly support Marriage Restoration. In order to achieve the greatest growth and success in your Marriage Restoration plan, you must follow a solid plan of action. Below are the 4 steps that will help you achieve this foundation.

1) Commit to God’s Will both separately and together. It is very important to not only speak to God one on one about the issue at hand, but to also come to Him together as one body.

- Come to agreement with your spouse to tell the truth at all times. Remaining truthful to one another is key to building trust in the marriage again and sets the stage for unnecessary doubt to flee.

- Allow communication and discussions to be without attacks, while giving each other respect and uninterrupted time to express feelings, thoughts and concerns.

Step 4 – Agree to bury the past and never bring it up again. Pray over it and move forward. Bringing God in the equation as the foundation of your new action plan is like the icing on the cake and the filling. He is the one that will supply you with the strength, wisdom and patience to endure through the Marriage Restoration process.

God desires reconciliation for all of us and that is why Marriage Restoration is so very important in our marriages. Implementing these steps will help you to begin revitalizing your marriage and placing it on the road of Marriage Restoration success. Just as Jesus Christ forgave as He died and saved us from our sinful nature, we too need to strive to model this type of sacrificial love and forgiveness in our marriages.

Matthew 6:14-15 For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

Seeking tips and advice on strengthening your Marriage? Go to http://mychristianmarriageadvice.com/ to get more helpful resources on Marriage Restoration.

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The Art Of Communication In Christian Marriage That Works

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

As we have found many times before, communication is definitely an essential component of marriage success and growth. Mastering the primary guidelines to communicating effectively is absolutely necessary to the success of your marriage or relationship.

Even though communication in marriage and relationships has been a very well spoken subject, many times the extremely important factors that create healthy communication patterns is overlooked.

If you have gone through great conflict in the area of communication with your significant other or are losing the battle of succeeding in your marriage, using the key principles to building healthy patterns is the primary step of not just developing your communication with your significant other, but also saving your marriage from a very dangerous path.

You can find a strong connection between unhealthy communication and a declining marriage or relationship. Frequently married couples bring very destructive practices and patterns into the marriage. These unhealthy communication habits are usually emotionally and mentally abusive in nature. When emotional and mental abuse is not a factor, in many cases a wife or husband may find it very challenging to talk about stressful matters.

If you are having this sort of disconnect with your spouse, how you respond to them can be the main difference between preserving your marriage or ruining it.

Saving and growing in your marital life must be preceded by developing and saving healthy communication in the relationship. A somewhat difficult, but effective element to moving along in the direction of developing healthy patterns is to first recognize and embrace vulnerability. As a result, you then begin the beginning of true change in your marriage and communication patterns. Learning to talk about your stresses and fears with your spouse in an affirming way is important to this course of action. By understanding this principle, you then can begin experiencing a transformation in the manner that your spouse perceives communication, which can cause them to be coaxed out of communication avoidance.

By communicating your love language through these fundamental principles, it can help your marriage to blossom and obtain the foundation of healthy communication patterns:

Involve and ask free of accusations . (Proverbs 15:1b “…but a harsh word stirs up anger”)

Dissipate intense disagreement with a gentle reply . (Proverbs 15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath…)

Lavishly affirm your partner with words . (Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen)

Control your tongue from what you say . (Psalm 39:1 I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin; I will put a muzzle on my mouth…)

Don’t store up anger inside your heart, instead bring it out in a Godly manner to make certain you’re not “reacting” but instead are “responding” to the problem at hand (Ephesians 4:26 In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry…)

Because marital challenges have different causes, applying healthy communication as the Bible instructs us and ways in which God wants for all of us is vital to ultimately saving your marriage of much sorrow and pain as well as learning effective forms of communication that transforms your relationship while taking it to new heights. When you’re able to make this process crystal clear and apply it in your life free of objection, you can then realize the actual power in it and enjoy the returns of its fruit.

For more tips, strategies and advice on how to have an great Marriage that others only imagine, be sure to check out our exclusive insider Christian Marriage Resource at http://mychristianmarriageadvice.com/ for all your Christian Marriage Advice needs.

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Show You Care By Listening

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

You’ve heard the saying, “Talking is sharing. Listening is caring,” haven’t you? I saw it on a sign in front of a church a couple of years ago, and it caught my eye. In the last few weeks, I’ve seen it again several times. I’m not sure who first said it, but it really is true.

In a past devotional I shared an event that happened to me that week, and how I found God’s thoughts toward me to be such a comfort. I have to confess, I wasn’t prepared for the response I got. Most of my close friends contacted me to express their concern for me, and to reassure me of their prayers. A few even said, “If you need to talk about it, give me a call.” (That’s supposed to be my line since I’m the counselor!)

The fact that these people were willing to take the time to write an encouraging note, or even to call, meant so much to me. It should me that they were listening and that they cared about me. Those facts were obvious and it had a big impact on how I was feeling.

Our lives are crazy, always going straight from one thing to the next with little time to think or relax in between. In these busy times in which we live, many of us are not as committed to listening as we should be. It’s easy for us to be like this, but making some changes in our habits can make a big impact for others.

Listening says, “I value you. You are important to me. I’m concerned about what you are sharing because it’s important to you.” Yes, listening deepens relationships, builds trust, and affirms the other person. It’s a way of showing God’s love to those around us.

Throughout the Gospels, we see the Lord Jesus listening to people and their needs. In John 3, Jesus listened to Nicodemus, a prominent and righteous, Jewish leader who questioned Him about His teachings and His miracles.

In the book of John we read about Jesus listing to “the woman at the well” She was a shamed and sinful woman that he encountered at the well. Other religious leaders would have never thought to give her any attention, but Jesus did. None of the things that mattered to other leaders of that time (such as gender, religion, status, profession, etc.) stopped Jesus from listening to someone. He demonstrated an amazing model for us to follow.

Thank you, dear friends, for your care and concern. I want to let you know that my unpleasant event was resolved as well as it could be, and there has been reconciliation. Thanks for caring! Thanks for listening!

Heavenly Father, thank You for the wonderful people that You place in my life. Thank You for using them as Your representatives of love and compassion toward me. Please help me to be as thoughtful of others as they have been to me.

Ann Shorb is a counselor and the founder of CCES in Hanover, PA. They provide a variety of services including premarital counseling, marriage counseling, family counseling and much more.

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Interesting Benefits of Developing Relationships

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

We were created by God to have a relationship with Him and with others. The Bible clearly states that we have a need for strong and healthy relationships, and in Ecclesiastes Solomon writes about some of the wonderful benefits of having meaningful relationships with others.

Solomon writes about three particular areas that you will be blessed by friends.

First, a friend will help you up after you have fallen. Of course, this could be figurative, as a friend can help you to recover and “get back on your feet.”

Second, a friend or loved one will help to warm you in the cold by staying close by.

Third, when you face danger in your life, a friend will help to defend you.

These three examples speak to us of problems we cause ourselves, hardships produced by natural forces over which we have no control, and danger that comes from the bad choices or actions of others. Quite honestly, I can’t think of any type of problem that doesn’t fall into one of these three categories.

Solomon reminds us that friends will be there for us regardless of the situation and the circumstances. Following this, Solomon tells us that three is better than two!

Go out and make some new friends and build stronger, healthier relationships. Many of us hold back and “protect” ourselves by not letting others too close. Usually this is a result of hurt from poor relationships in the past, but we need to put that behind us and move forward to build good friendships.

Lord, I thank you for the amazing friends that have blessed my life. Thank you for the many things that they do for me and for how they show their love. I hope and pray that I can be as good a friend to them.

Dr. Ann Shorb is a counselor with CCES in southern PA. CCES offers Marriage Counseling, Pre Marital Counseling, and help for a number of other issues.

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Christian Jewelry Is The Ideal Gift For Any Occasion

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

Christian jewelry is nothing new, and has been around for quite some time. It just hugely popular with the younger crowd, everything from crosses, to Jesus fish, to the WWJD pendants, and bracelets.

Now a days, wearing jewelry is all about style be it christian jewelry, or regular jewelry. However, over the last decade or so, there has been an increasingly popularity of crosses, it probably has something to do with the rise in horror movies, or even celebrities that wear certain jewelry make it widely popular.

With the increase in certain vampire movies, sales in crosses as increased a huge amount, as they say, when a celeb wears something, everyone wants to wear it too.

Christian jewelry made from silver and gold are the most common, wood is till popular, but hasn’t gained much ground lately. And I’ve been seeing glass, and pewter gain more ground every day. There are some pretty cool things you can do with those 2 mediums.

However, if you still wear yours for your faith, then I admire you for that. Hey, just because they have gained in popularity does not lessen the fact the power of your faith.

Christian jewelry with its rise in style and popularity have become more than a symbol of faith. But when it comes right down to it, it is your choice, but there is no reason why not to wear them. Even if you choose to just buy it for the sake of collecting, or maybe as a cool gift for a friend, people are not going to think any less of you even if you do not have any faith.

When wondering what to give someone for a present you must consider christian jewelry. christian jewelry makes for a lovely present that people can wear anywhere.

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