Category Archives: Free Resources for Couples

Posted on

Wishing You A Very Merry Christmas

Luke 2:1-20  

1 Around the time of Elizabeth’s amazing pregnancy and John’s birth, the emperor in Rome, Caesar Augustus, required everyone in the Roman Empire to participate in a massive census— 2 the first census since Quirinius had become governor of Syria. 3 Each person had to go to his or her ancestral city to be counted.

This political background isn’t incidental: it is crucial to the story. Conquering nations in the ancient world work in various ways. Some brutally destroy and plunder the nations they conquer. Some conquer people as slaves or servants. Other empires allow the people to remain in their land and work as before, but with one major change: the conquered people have to pay taxes to their rulers. The purpose of a census like the one Luke de-scribes is to be sure that everyone is appropriately taxed and knows who is in charge.

4-5 Mary’s fiancé Joseph, from Nazareth in Galilee, had to participate in the census in the same way everyone else did. Because he was a descendant of King David, his ancestral city was Bethlehem, David’s birthplace. Mary, who was now late in her pregnancy that the messenger Gabriel had predicted, 6 accompanied Joseph. While in Bethlehem, she went into labor 7 and gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped the baby in a blanket and laid Him in a feeding trough because the inn had no room for them.

8 Nearby, in the fields outside of Bethlehem, a group of shepherds were guarding their flocks from predators in the darkness of night. 9 Suddenly a messenger of the Lord stood in front of them, and the darkness was replaced by a glorious light—the shining light of God’s glory. They were terrified!

Messenger: 10 Don’t be afraid! Listen! I bring good news, news of great joy, news that will affect all people everywhere. 11 Today, in the city of David, a Liberator has been born for you! He is the promised Anointed One, the Supreme Authority! 12 You will know you have found Him when you see a baby, wrapped in a blanket, lying in a feeding trough.

13 At that moment, the first heavenly messenger was joined by thousands of other messengers—a vast heavenly choir. They praised God.

14 Heavenly Choir: To the highest heights of the universe, glory to God!
    And on earth, peace among all people who bring pleasure to God!

15 As soon as the heavenly messengers disappeared into heaven, the shepherds were buzzing with conversation.

Shepherds: Let’s rush down to Bethlehem right now! Let’s see what’s happening! Let’s experience what the Lord has told us about!

16 So they ran into town, and eventually they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the feeding trough. After they saw the baby, 17 they spread the story of what they had experienced and what had been said to them about this child. 18 Everyone who heard their story couldn’t stop thinking about its meaning. 19 Mary, too, pondered all of these events, treasuring each memory in her heart.

20 The shepherds returned to their flocks, praising God for all they had seen and heard, and they glorified God for the way the experience had unfolded just as the heavenly messenger had predicted.

(VOICE)

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.

Posted on

Free Relationship Tips For You!

Marriage is hard.  Relationships are difficult.  If you do nothing it devolves into pain. If you try to do something, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.  And sometimes encouragement seems to be missing from our friends, family members and spouse.  It is up to each spouse to find encouragement and find hope in a difficult challenging moment.

That is exactly why we develop and share relationship tips.  Originally we developed over 150 but now we have more than enough for one a day for a year.  And we post them regularly to encourage couples  for free on our social media posts.

How can you get your free relationship tips?

Like “LifeTogetherForever” on Facebook.

Follow @MarriageChamp on Twitter

Add +RoynDev on Google Plus

Follow LifeTogether on Pinterest

Share LifeTogetherForever on Instagram

Enjoy these tips to give you a pick-up in your relationship day by day and week by week.    Use them to continue to create the relationship your heart desires most!

Posted on

Prioritize The Meaning Of Christmas

Christmas is the one time each year all over the world that attention is paid to the story of Christ coming to earth. It is ultimately a story of sacrifice and love. It is because He came into the world that we understand grace, mercy, and unconditional love. It is because He came into the world to die, be raised and give us redemption that we find peace and joy no matter the circumstances.

Christmas time is a painful time for many. It holds memories of those who have passed as well as those that have left our lives. Many have horrible memories of the holidays with stressful family times. We end up sitting next to someone at the dinner table we would not have in our lives if they were not related. We have uncomfortable conversations about topics we usually avoid.

Christmas time is stressful with all of the long To-Do lists. Decorating, Christmas shopping, wrapping, Church programs, card writing, cooking, traveling, etc.! It is a tough time of year!

Keep The Meaning of Christmas This Year

Posted on

When Your Spouse Doesn’t Have Any Common Sense

Jessica was on the phone with us scheduling a Marriage Intensive. “Austin doesn’t really love me because if he did I would not have to tell him to do the things that any man who loves his wife would do.”

For the first few years after Jessica and Austin married, nine years ago, Jessica felt like they were truly in love with each other. But for the last seven years, Jessica has been repeatedly hurt by his unwillingness “to love me”. This has built such resentment and bitterness in her heart that affects everything.

Holding onto past hurts and allowing resentment to build in your heart makes you act in ways that pushes your spouse away from you. Eventually it leads to, at best, a home with two people living independent parallel lives, or at worse, actions that finalize the end of the marriage in very hurtful ways.

Common Sense Is Not Common

Like Jessica and Austin, every marriage has dashed expectations. When the movie playing in your head about how you and your spouse should interact and what each should do does not happen, it can be very hurtful.

You assume that the movie playing in your head about how things should happen is the same movie playing in your spouse’s head. But it is not. And it is not the same movie playing in everyone else’s head.

The Movie Playing In Your Head

Posted on

Five Questions Every Married Person Should Ask Their Spouse

James and Sara came to a Marriage Intensive after thirteen years of marriage. She felt like she did not have a voice anymore in the marriage and that he would not listen to her. He felt like she did not put any effort into the relationship and would rather spend time with her friends than with him.

Near the end of the first hour, it was obvious what had happened. As soon as they married, they stopped doing the things that made them fall in love in the first place. No more dates. No more long conversations discovering each other. No more checking in with each other about what is going on in their worlds.

Over time, in the absence of emotional connection, they began to shut down. Not doing the things that connects your hearts leads to a barrenness and absence of warmth. Lack of heart connection is the foundation for negative interaction. The longer the lack of connection, the more frequent and intense the pattern of negative interaction.

We believe that almost every broken trust in a marriage can be traced back to a pattern of negative interaction that started with disconnection of the heart.

Five Questions That Will Connect Your Hearts

Posted on

Be Courageous In The Face of Criticism

Stewart tells us that he takes a beating every day. “I come home physically and mentally tired from working twelve hours for my family and she’s right on me the very minute I come in the house.”

Stewart and Brianna had been married less than a year when he called for a Marriage Intensive. “I can’t take it anymore. I can never do anything right”.

Criticism In Marriage

Stewart and Brianna are like most couples. There always seems to be one spouse with a sharper tongue who is not afraid to use it to express how they feel or what they want. Criticism is one of the four Marriage Killers that, left untended, will destroy a marriage relationship.

The truth is that all married couples experience criticism. In fact, all spouses at some time in their marriage will employ criticism. All spouses at some point in their marriage will feel the attack of criticism from their spouse.

‘…you shouldn’t exhaust yourself in bickering; instead, be gentle… ready and able to teach, tolerant without resentment,’ 2 Timothy 2:24b,d (VOICE)

Courage When Under Attack

Posted on

Are You A Good Husband?

It seems like the definition of what it means to be a good husband keeps morphing over time. What was once heralded as good is now looked upon as being controlling or inadequate.

We believe that when a man seeks to marry, he wants to be a good husband. But too often he is ill equipped to be all that his spouse needs and wants. And it is unrealistic to meet a moving target of what it means to be a man, much less, a husband.

1950’s Assessment of What It Means To Be A Good Husband

Dr. George Crane published a test for husbands in the 1950s. Here are some of the items on the list:

Positive Attributes:

Posted on

Making Your Wedding Anniversary Special

We recently celebrated our twenty-eighth wedding anniversary! It’s hard to believe that we met and started dating thirty-four years ago. We have done a lot of life together!

Unlike most of our blogs, this one is a glimpse into our personal life and the celebration of our twenty-eighty wedding anniversary. We hope by sharing you will be inspired to create your own unique and fun wedding anniversary.

Each Wedding Anniversary Is Unique

Each wedding anniversary is different. Some years we were very connected and things were strong between us. Other years we were so busy with careers and raising kids that we were not very deeply connected. Some wedding anniversaries fell on dates when one or both of us were between jobs. Other wedding anniversaries happened amidst medical issues for ourselves or one of our family members. Sometimes our wedding anniversary fell around the time we were grieving the passing of a loved one.

Posted on

Why Your Marriage Photo Is So Powerful

God built us with incredible senses.

We walk into a room with a smell of baking bread and it triggers the memory of a visit to our grandparents home when we were children.

We see a piece of artwork that takes us back in time to a place with deep meaning for us.

Laying almost asleep, we hear the faintest whisper from our loving spouse, “I really want you right now, are you still awake?”

The Power of The Human Senses