Are You Watching Romantic Comedies? Or Reading Romance Novels?

Americans fabricate an unidealistic version of marriage. We seem to believe marriage is like a movie. That we all have a Prince Charming or Cinderella that waits on us, but realistically these expectations are wrong. We have to create our own “perfect” marriage. Marriages can be everything, but perfect. The ability to create a successful and happy marriage requires both spouses to play a part in the marriage. In time marriages all have tough times that involve work, money, time, and love. Spouses can become unhappy when one spouse does all the financial providence and the other does all the housework chores. Spouses seem to like equality in the home. Imbalances in the relationship occur more often than not. The ability for a marriage to overcome these issues and the ability

Temptation is certainly one of the devil’s main weapons. It takes many different forms. He’ll try, for example, to tempt us with sins of the flesh. Such as immorality, pleasure-seeking, destructive habits, and more. But if those don’t work he’ll tempt us with sins of the heart or mind: evil thoughts, wrong motives, anger, jealousy, and so forth. He’ll also attack us spiritually, trying to fill us with doubts, attempting to convince us that God doesn’t care about us, filling us with pride, and so forth. As we can see the devil has so many tools to shift our focus away from God. Because we are not perfect, we are prone to give into things and many Christians can confess to falling under any weapon the devil has used against them. Being a christian myself, I

The second part of Franklins advice is equally crucial. Marriage is all about being forgiving, overlooking, and staying positive. The first is very critical when it comes to being in a marriage. Being forgiving is pretty much the same as being tolerant to towards one another. The dictionary definition of being tolerant from Oxford Dictionaries says that being tolerant is “showing willingness to allow opinions or a certain behavior that one does not necessarily agree with.” This definition explains why a lot of individuals who are married experience frustration towards their spouse. In many cases the person you are involved with will have a certain behavior or interest that the individuals you associate with won’t always agree with, but just because they have those certain behaviors or interests that others can’t seem to grasp doesn’t mean that it is going to ruin or even be the slightest bit harmful towards your marriage. A good example of this is say you are married to a man who has a habit of going to his favorite bar after work to have a drink. He

The majority of people who join together with their significant other through the act of marriage hope and dream that marriage will surround them with infinite love and happiness; unfortunately that is not always the case. In fact, “according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Community Survey, 10 percent of Maine women and 11 percent of men in Maine are divorced.”1 Though 10 and 11 percent seem like fairly small percentages, 10 percent of Maine women is approximately 67,831 women, and 11 percent of Maine men is approximately 71,506 men, which truly are not small figures to take into consideration. Since marriages do not always have a happy ending

Marriage requires effort and work. Many newlyweds come into a marriage thinking it is easy but do not consider the consequences of marriage that heavily rely on balances and partnership. Marriage is all about compromise. It is important to engage in a premarital program to allow both partners to learn what to expect within a marriage, how to face certain roadblocks, and to better communication when conflict is aroused so that divorce does not become an option. Gottman’s research (2009) has made a significant contribution to the study of relationship and marriage tying unity, harmony, and communication together to make relationship and marriage work. When a couple who does not have consummate love (intimacy, passion, and commitment), they often portray the six indicators of divorce: harsh startup, the Four Horsemen, flooding, body language, failed repair attempts and reflecting on bad memories (Gottman, 2009). Divorce often occurs within the first two years of marriages and almost half of divorces end within the first seven years (Bhutto-Ramirez, 2015).

Unsatisfied with their partners results in divorce rates and infidelity. These have increased over the years, blemishing the institution of marriage. People may believe that compromises and self sacrifice in a marriage make it a failed institute but the same reasons make a marriage successful. A married man has a constant in his life- his partner. The security and companionship in the relationship helps him achieve happiness. The same sharing is now a pleasure, a way to prevent loneliness (Argyle; 1999). Marriage is known to cause greater satisfaction, greater self esteem and less distress. Evidence shows that married men and women are happier.

I recently read The Screwtape Letter by C.S. Lewis, and the most striking thing I learned was that the devil does not put things in our mind, but rather lets us succumb to temptation on our own. In every instance of temptation, we must resist the urge to sin and grow closer to God.

Unhealthy Relationships “The greatest marriages are built on teamwork. A mutual respect, a healthy dose of admiration, and a never-ending portion of love and grace.” (Weaver). As nationally acclaimed author Fawn Weaver suggests, a successful marriage is based on the mutual infatuation within a couple, as well with the longevity of newly found love that is found in the premature ages of a relationship. Although it may not always be the most easy thing to do at all times, a healthy marriage should consist of the ceaseless admiration of the two through smooth as in rough.

We have to know our major enemies. It is not the devil or something else. It is ignorance on three main categories: fear, disappointment and anger. Do not entertain these three in your life. The fear of what am I going to do, the fear of the pressure from others, and the fear of ignorance, and the fear of man. We need to stand firmly on the promises of God by faith.

The devil's job is to steal, kill, lie, and destroy God's future hopes and dreams for you and mankind. Yet, the quality of good work you choice to give God may buy you some extra peace of mind. Help someone else and not just yourself, balancing your action, lifestyle and behavior. God gave us this precious time to safely learn, teach, and know that He alone is our Lord, Master, Father, and Savior. The quality of your good work and faith is God's Good Speed on your life, family, and

In my research I have found criticism among the top reasons for strife and failing marriages.

I have learned several things about myself that I feel I need to work on to better my marriage. I have always thought I have a good marriage and to me, it is obvious because we have been married over 38 years. What I learned the most from our readings this week is how much my husband works on our relationship. I now see the things he does that has followed “The 7 Principles for Making Marriage Work” by Gottman. My husband hasn’t read this book and he follows it better than I do. Our marriage hasn’t always been perfect, nor is it now but I see how he has worked hard to keep the flames burning and where I may have not always worked as hard in our marriage. I know I am not a failure because “it takes two to tango”, but our readings this week gave

Married life domesticates but also can cause strain and difficulties. There are new conflicts that arise from people getting married. Often it is the first major decision of one's life and soon there are more bills, more relatives, conflicting plans, children, your spouse might die, and annoying habits

You know to be prayerful and careful about who you share that information with during the initial stages, so now let’s move on to another question, “What if I feel God has spoken to me do something that I don’t know how to do or am not qualified to do by typical educational or even intellectual standards?” Well honey, join the club! God is just that awesome! It wasn’t long after I came to Christ, that I became acquainted with a scripture in the Bible, which is now one of my favorites, that states that God actually and very intentionally chooses to use foolish things and unexpected people to display His glory through. Let’s have a

A friend of mine has a relationship blog, and this is a very hard concept for unhappy single people to understand. But, unhappy married people, who thought that getting married was going to make them happier, should really be able to see this marriage quote for what it is.