Family by God&#039;s Design

The Top 6 Ways to Resolve Marital Conflict

A study published in August, 2024, and appearing in Contemporary Family Therapy offers interesting insight into resolving marital conflict. This study utilized data from 1,112 couples. Specifically, this study explored how the conflict resolution style each person brought to their marriage contributed to their ability to effectively manage conflict in the relationship. They identified 23...

Grace Honor

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January 18, 2025

What a Wife Wants

You’ve probably heard the saying: “Happy wife, happy life.” You may have even heard it sung: “What a girl wants, what a girl needs…whatever makes her happy.” Merlin even tried to teach King Arthur that “the way to handle a woman is to love her.” But what makes a woman happy? What expresses love? Let...

Honor

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August 28, 2023

Bridging the Gaps in Our Families

Gaps abound in families. We have the gender gap, the parent/teen gap, the older sibling/younger sibling gap. Statements like, “Things are different now, Dad” or “You don’t understand” or “You’ll get it when you’re older” reveal the gaps between us. Unfortunately, each of these gaps contribute to a communication gap and the communication gap hinders...

Grace Honor

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April 22, 2023

Want Your Child to Listen Better? Then Play!

Children don’t always listen the way we’d like. Who are we kidding? Adults don’t always listen the way we’d like either. In fact, I don’t always listen as attentively as I know I should. Come to think of it, if children learn to listen by following our examples, it’s no wonder they don’t listen the...

Celebration Family Shepherds

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February 27, 2023

The Humility of Listening

We all have a desire to be heard. That sounds like such a simple desire, doesn’t it? But “to be heard” is more than having people within earshot to hear our voice and the words we verbalize. We also want them to understand what we are saying—to truly comprehend the meaning, the intent, and the...

Honor

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October 31, 2022

The Threads that Bind Us Together

I really like this quote from Simone Signoret, a French actress: “Chains do not hold marriages together. It is threads, hundreds of tiny threads, which sew people together through the years.” This quote expresses a great truth. First, “chains do not hold marriages together.” Marriages are not supported and given life through demands and obligations....

Celebration Honor

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August 13, 2022

6 Ways to Teach Your Children Respect

It seems as though disrespect is rampant in our world today. We see it every day. But I believe that if we intentionally open our eyes and look, we also find respect alive and well in our world. And we want to keep respect alive and well… growing more prominent in our world. To make...

Family Shepherds Honor

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April 18, 2022

6 Tips to Make Your Marriage a Taste of Heaven on Earth

Marriage can provide us with a taste of heaven on earth…or leave us living in hell on earth. Unfortunately, we don’t generally receive training in how to make our marriages a happy, fulfilling experience. I know you can’t learn everything you need to know about a wonderful marriage in a blog but let me give...

Celebration Grace Honor

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September 25, 2021

The Job Every Teen Has & Every Parent Struggles With

Adolescents have a job in our society. Their job receives no monetary reward; and many parents struggle with letting their adolescent do their job. The job is to become their own person, to prepare themselves emotionally and mentally to leave home. To complete this job, our teens often withdraw some from the parent-child relationship. They...