Sharing My Jennarocity

  Thank you so much for joining me on this journey and sticking with me!!!   If there was one thing I'd hope you would take away from this month, it's to lean on God and make Him the most important thing in your marriage. God has the power to heal all wounds, right all wrongs, correct all paths, change hearts, alter the course of relationships, and allow forgiveness. In fact, He is the only one who has that power, no matter how smart and educated we think we all are. Lean on Him and you can never go wrong.   I am praying for you!!  

  Something that simply can't be overlooked is having your own identity and having your own walk with the Lord. Just because you are married doesn't mean you have to share everything with your spouse, as in, you need to do everything as a married couple. You are on your own journey and need to have your own personal conversations and studies with God. You need to be able to pray for things that sometimes just need to be prayed for individually. God can teach you things about your own personality on your own and help mature you in His ways and doing these things by yourself can work wonders in your own life.   Joining a ladies' or mens Bible study can incredibly beneficial. It allows you to therapeutically work through sex-specific concerns with other members of your own sex. Retreats are another great way. I encourage everyone to have a life of their own, in addition to having a life with your spouse. '

  Sacrifice for another person is a lost art. Most people just aren't willing to do much sacrificing. "It's my way or the highway!!"   Sacrificing your belief in God or your morality isn't what I am talking about, here. I am talking about now having to always have things your own way. And it's not needing your needs met on a 24 hour a day basis. Sometimes, you have to meet someone else's needs, despite not meeting your own.   Perhaps it's giving a back rub that really don't want to give because your spouse has had a stressful day. Maybe it's giving up your savings for a new purse so your spouse can have that new golf club he wanted. Or, allowing your spouse to sleep in, even though you are tired as a dog, to make them happy.   Sacrificing your own needs for your spouses, and not for the idea that they will return the favor, can be very freeing. These small acts, listed above, can mean the world to your spouse and can heal a lot

  I personally believe this is something that happens more commonly in marriages than anyone ever talks about. People have this idea that once you get married, you will always make decisions that are in tune and align with the other person's decisions. You will both always be on the same wavelength and have the same dreams and ambitions.   Well, this just isn't the case. Let's pop that bubble now, shall we?   We are all on a journey. Some of us are on a journey as individuals and as a married couple, so it can be difficult to always be headed in the same direction. Selling a life-long family home and traveling the country, quitting a job to start a new business venture, having kids now or later, living in Texas or another state, these are all times when dreams and ambitions clash with the demands of family life.   At one time or another, you will probably be asked to put a goal on hold to be supportive of your spouse's journey. And guess what - that is

  Trust is a very important part of a relationship, I don't think any would argue that fact. When that trust is broken, it is hard to get it back.   Broken trust is something I think almost everyone goes through at one time in their marriage. It doesn't always have to be in the way of infidelity - it can be one spouse sharing confidential information with someone else, spending money without the other knowing, or keeping things secret that shouldn't be a secret. When your spouse violates your trust, how do you deal with it?   I know we'd like for our spouses to be perfect and never do anything wrong, but the fact is that is just not true. People are going to make mistakes from time to time. Sometimes, letting it go is the best way of dealing with it. However, sometimes letting it go just isn't an option. If your spouse is violating trust by keeping secrets or spending money you don't know about, it might be the symptom of a larger issue or addiction

  There are things we do to each other in a marriage that are devastating. Infidelity, secrets and lies, abuse. Coming out on top after situations like these is incredibly challenging. It takes two people who are very committed to making things work, who've prayed about it and asked God for continued support, and above all else, are willing to let the past go to move on to the future.   All too often, we can really hold on to hurt and allow it to consume our lives. For some, it's challenging but not impossible to let the hurt go, but for the majority, the hurt lingers for months and even years.   If there are still unresolved circumstances in your marriage, the past can never be let go. Consider joining a marriage healing group or attending a marriage conference to learn new ways of replacing the hurt with joy. In fact, that is probably one of the best things you can do. Knowing that you are not alone in your hurt and other people are in your same situation can be

  If there is one thing that can speed-up the end of a marriage, it's endless discussion of your problems with others and taking the wrong advice.   One thing you should never (and I am using the word "never") do is gripe about your spouse publically, berate them, make fun of them, be condescending about them, or belittle them on any public forum, including Facebook, church, or in social circles. You are supposed to be a team, not one against the other, and in this instance, do unto your spouse as you would have them do unto you. First of all, it makes other people really uncomfortable because they don't really know what to say. Secondly, there are few ways to come back from that in a marriage.   If you are frustrated in your marriage and don't really know what to do about it, there are many ways to get help. Have you talked about it with your spouse and vocalized your concerns in a non-confrontational way? If so, and you can't seem to solve the p

  Part of any marriage is disagreements. You spend too much of your time with your spouse, the idea of getting along about every little thing every minute of every day for the next 40 - 50 years is just plain silly. I have always said that you'd have arguments and disagreements with anyone you spent that much time with for that long.   Expecting conflict is setting the expectation that life won't be constantly rosy, which I think is a good expectation to have. I don't think expecting marriage to be constantly hard is good either, because it shouldn't be hard all of the time. But disagreements are going to pop up from time to time. All too often, these disagreements are really not very important and the subjects on which the disagreements are built are sometimes silly, but can be turned into much larger issues if they are allowed to.   If you are arguing every day and unable to come up with any type of resolution as a couple, it is probably best to talk with

  Priorities are tough because our priorities seem to change with every passing day. there are some priorities that we set for our time and then priorities we set as examples for our children. Being intentional means setting priorities and keeping them, no matter what happens during our days. It can be challenging, but worth it.   Our first priority in our marriage should be finding time for God. How much time is up to you and God, but at least once a day, time needs to be set aside. Our second priority in our marriage should be our spouse. Whether or not we want to admit it, our spouse is who we've chosen to spend our life with, they need to be the most important person, aside from God. Our third priority are our children. It's tempted to make them #1, but we shouldn't.   After that, our priorities need to be decided between to the two people in our marriage. Questions like: Will we be a two-parent-working home or will one of us stay home? How many activities

  Something we don't think much about is that while we are busy arguing and not hugging and kissing each other in a marriage, we are showing our children what a marriage is supposed to look like. Modeling a marriage is incredibly important and how you need to do that is something you and your spouse have to be on the same page about.   When my husband and I got engaged, we started talking a lot about this. We knew that we wanted our kids to hear us argue, but also resolve it in front of them. We wanted to hug and hold hands in front of them so they can see good examples of affection. We wanted to talk about finances in front of them (to some extent) so as to not set unreasonable expectations and to know there are limits on things. We wanted to pray together so they could see how it should be. We wanted to volunteer and serve together to set the example for what they should do. We wanted to show them the important things rather than the material things that just don't m

  We are in a season now with constant activity. I hate it, personally. I love kids getting to participate, but I hate promising my Saturdays away to soccer or girl scouts or birthday parties. I am also in a season where it feels like my kids are getting all of our hard earned money. (Yes, we are going in to the Christmas season, so that might have something to do with it.)   So, the ways our kids run our lives are by time and finances. How to do you not let that happen? It's tricky and it requires you to maybe feel a little selfish sometimes. If you are like me, you are OK with walking around with holes in your shoes so your kids can have seven pairs at once. You will spend $50 at Chuck E Cheese but not spend $50 on a sitter and a good movie. You will buy the kids 10 presents each for Christmas and give each other things items you need for the house, like a toaster so you can "kill two birds with one stone". I am guilty of it as much as anyone. At some point, yo

  Kids take a lot of time and energy, don't they? If we aren't careful they can overtake our entire lives. I do think that's what they are supposed to do, but it doesn't mean they are more important than our marriages. Sometimes, they are. But not all the time.   Just for starters, to get this out of the way, I personally don't ever feel like it's one person's sole responsibility to raise the kids, even if that person is a stay at home mom/dad. When both parents are home, they are both responsible for the day to day stuff, like getting kids fed and bathed. And I don't think that just because one parent doesn't work outside of the home means that 24 hours a day, their lives should be dedicated to the job of raising kids. That's just my perspective. For one thing, it's ridiculous. For another thing, that person deserves to have 1) A life outside of the home from time to time, with other friends, and 2) They deserve to have a life where

  We've touched on this on other days, but it's incredibly important to surround yourself with not just good couples, but Godly couples. Couple who know and understand the relationship God wants us to have together.   I am always reminded of the movie with Kirstie  Alley and Tim Allen called For Richer or Poorer where they are forced into an Amish community in hiding. Before they go there, they have a horrible marriage and are surrounded by selfish friends who encourage them to be selfish too. When they are surrounded by strong people who encourage selflessness, they begin to change how they see each other. The movie is a little silly, but you get the idea. I've seen horrible advice given on Facebook especially to wives that encouraged thoughtless and selfish acts of retaliation to husbands. Look at many of the celebrity relationships, people with open marriages who allow their spouses to have relationships with other people. It is so easy to go, "well, if th

  The last thing a lot of people want to do is serve others. It's a commitment, it's time consuming, and sometimes, you feel like as a struggling couple, the worst thing is to have to spend time together, sacrificing your time for other people. However, serving together, even for one hour a week, can be hugely beneficial for your marriage.   The definition of stewardship is "the activity or job of protecting or being responsible for something." To God, this means our financial resources and our time. While tithing is important, serving together is also what God calls us to do. Serving someone or something else (like a ministry) allows you to see your spouse in a different light than maybe how you've seen them. It also allows you to work together for a common goal.   One of the biggest reasons people don't serve is because they don't think they are good enough, it's a commitment of time they don't have, or they don't think they know

  While I personally haven't experienced this in my marriage, my husband did in his previous marriage. And he was the culprit. There were times that he just didn't care. He was selfish. What do you do in those situations?   I think to say that every marriage goes through this is not exactly accurate, but it's certainly not uncommon. Especially if you've been having trouble for a while or you feel as though you are married to the wrong person. There are a million little reasons why marriages could end up this way. Lots of fighting, infidelity is rearing its ugly head, tons of reasons. If you are the partner struggling with feeling like your significant other just doesn't care anymore, it can feel defeating and hopeless. What is that saying, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink? You can't make a person do anything they aren't ready to do. And it's probably not the case that the other person just doesn't care, maybe th

  This is probably one of the biggest areas my husband and I are dealing with. I personally feel like in a marriage, after about a year of marriage, you stop being so courteous with conversations and start getting really defensive. Hopefully, within a few years, you can master the art of learning when to be humble, learning when to bite your lip, and learning when to just allow your spouse to make their own mistakes. I think all married couples have good intentions for "helping" their spouse with their choices. (How many of you have had the "Why are you going this way, highway such-and-such is so much faster" conversation?)   Lately, I've really been convicted with learning to keep my mouth shut in certain circumstances when my husband just won't listen to me otherwise. Sure, I help him with things, he asks my advice in areas of business at times, or other problems. And he appreciates my advice. But sometimes, when my advice hasn't been solicite

  When you have a group of friends, it's going to be pretty common that more than one of their marriages will be not only broken, but downright unbiblical and disrespectful. But what do you do when marriages around you are broken and your marriage is struggling right along with the rest of them?   The people you choose to model your marriage after is a pretty important thing, which is why we discussed joining a church together. When you are surrounded by marriages that are all just hanging on by a thread, it's hard to know where to turn when things in your own marriage start to get rocky.   If your marriage is strong and you are noticing a need for marriage help for those around you, it's a good opportunity to start a marriage Bible study in your own home and invite couples you know are looking for help and don't know where to turn. What a tremendous opportunity for a ministry!! If your marriage is suffering, consider your married friends and whether or not

  Anyone who says marriage is 50/50 is, well, incorrect. Marriage is not always an even distribution of time, energy, and work. Sometimes, it will be 80/20. Sometimes, it will be 10/90. Sometimes, it feels like both people are just as invested, just as hard-working, as their partners. Even in those circumstances, I really do not ever feel like 100% of the time, both partners are putting the same amount of work into their marriage.   I honestly feel like people who get married with the notion that one day their union will be even and stay that way are setting themselves up for a big disappointment. That's not to say that both people can't work hard and tirelessly for their marriage. I just think saying a marriage is a split partnership, right down the middle, is expecting your partner to do things exactly as you would do them and if they don't, you might start to feel like they aren't working as hard as you.   There are so many areas to which a marriage need

  As a Christian, single or marriage, picking a church is always a daunting process. Being married makes the decision a little more challenging.   I think picking a church can be difficult because it's hard to judge how well you will get along with others and it can be kind of tough to get to know people. We've been at our church almost two years and it took us a good year to really feel comfortable and get to know people. No one just walks in to church one Sunday and immediately feels like they are where they belong. I think you get a feeling from God that tells you that you are in the right place, but I still feel like there is a sense of uneasiness that lingers for a while. I am a social person and I have found church to be the hardest place to get to know people. I know that the reason it feels that way is because as much as we want to be accepted at church, we are terrified to show other members our true selves, especially our true marriages. You think you are aro

  Praying is a fundamental part of the Christian walk. As an individual, spending time with God in prayer is essential, but praying in your marriage, together, can make a world of difference There are so many benefits to praying together:   1) It is really hard to say ugly things to someone for whom you just prayed with/prayed for. 2) Praying shows you as a couple the path God wants you to lead. 3) It brings to importance the things God wants you to work on in your marriage. 4) It puts you both on the same page. 5) It helps you live in your role God intended within your marriage. 6) It helps remind you that marriage isn't fleeting, it is a promise.   I still remember the first time I ever heard Jason mention my name to God in prayer. No man had ever prayed for me or about me before. While I knew Jason was important to me, there is just a level of intimacy I gained knowing that he thought more about me than just a girlfriend, my spiritual life and my heart wer

  Some days, a marriage can feel like two people, working equally together, for the common good, overcoming all obstacles together. Other days, it feels like it's barely holding on by a thread. Is marriage really a partnership every day? Or is it two people, doing the best they can, which some days looks better than other days?   I personally feel like marriage isn't always an equal give and take, and it is certainly more than just a business partnership. Marriage was meant by God to glorify Him and gave us the other person to help us walk through this life in God's plan for our lives. We seem to forget that fact sometimes. We lean on the other person to always help us when we aren't strong, but it doesn't always work perfectly in that regard. A strong marriage is one where there is a third person - God - and He is the center of our lives together.  

  I think this is probably the number one reason people get divorced - not because of money or infidelity, those are just by-products of the idea that a spouse feels like they married the wrong person. I can tell you now that asking God into your relationship before you get married and making sure the person you marry is who God wants for you is incredibly important, but once you are married, it's God intention that a marriage stay intact.   We all know as Christians God didn't intend for marriages to end in divorce. So, what happens when we start to get the feeling you are married to the wrong person?   When you marry someone, you spend the rest of your life with them. The rest of your life is a long, long time. I think it is normal to go through periods of time where you feel less close to your spouse, or your lives start to change and you feel like two different people than you were when you got married. The less time you spend together, due to work schedules or

  I personally think this is one of the biggest challenges a marriage will face. As a "married couple," we feel like we are united in this life together and go through life in the same direction and with the same experiences. However, it often turns out that while we are a "couple," we are also two individuals who are in a Christian journey and walk with our personal Lord and Savior. There are going to be times when one of us feels weaker in their walk or less secure in their understanding. This can make life a little harder.   I think the only answer that truly works in times like these is prayer and spending personal time with God. Praying for each other regularly and with intention is something we should be doing always, but especially during times of struggle, praying for your spouse is incredibly important. Fighting and resentment can start to build up during these times, and not having regular conversations with God can certainly add to the problems.

  "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,." Ephesians 5:22-23   As a Christian wife, God has called us to submit to our husband's authority as the spiritual leader of our families. This is hard from some women to do, for sure. While the wife manages the household, he husband is the spiritual leader. Sometimes, these roles can get a little "mixed up." A lot of women, especially non-believers, get caught up in the word "submit" and seem to equate that word to be a form of slavery of some kind. This is not how a Christian relationship is to be. Submittin

Technical difficulties with my computer have let me get a little behind!!!     As we've mentioned before, the man is the spiritual leader of the household.   "But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. " 1 Corinthians 11:3   It is the expectation of the Christian husband to be the spiritual and physical leader of the family. Husbands are to strive to be complete in their walk with Christ, thereby being able to lead their family in matters of Christianity. This includes teaching and leading their family in quiet times, spiritual direction of the family, prayer, serving, and all other Biblical matters.   "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, " Ephesians 5:25   "Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them." Colossians 3:19   It is also the expectation that the Christian

Do you ever sometimes feel like your marriage is on auto-pilot?   Marriage, after a while, become a business partnership, in which both people are striving to meet certain "quotas" to keep things going. Pick up the kids, drop off the kids, make dinner, get to the soccer game, get sleep, etc. It's just one "check" on the to-do list after another.   How often do we stop and actually think about our spouse and their needs in our day? The answer for all of us, is probably an ashamed "not very often."   It's not just about putting together a last minute date night or doing the dishes so they don't have to. It's actually stopping and thinking about them, then intentionally and purposefully living a life where they are mored than just a last minute "thing" to think about. It's about getting to know them, every year. Getting to know what they are thinking, what their goals are, how they feel about things (both in the f

  I think this is probably something all of us know, but the Bible tells us that the husbands are to be the spiritual leaders of the family. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 5 that the husbands are the head of the wives as Christ is the head of the church. This chapter tells us as wives, we must submit to our husbands. It goes on to say that this means that husbands must love their wives as they love themselves and wives must respect their husbands.   However, the New Testament doesn't get super specific on the exact ways a husband should be the spiritual leader, does it? It leaves the term "spiritual leader" and what requirements fall into that category pretty open for individual determination, much like other things in the New Testament. I tried to find the chapters and verses that said, "Husbands, you need to take your families to church twice a week and participate in Bible studies every quarter, be a deacon in church, do a family quiet time every day,

  So, we know what fruitful is. We know where we are starting from and where our weaknesses may lie. Now, what do you do if you are started from a place of being "broken" or "breaking?"   If your marriage is breaking or broken, have hope that you can change it. It will be work and it will take doing some things differently than how you've done them in the past, but you can change the fate of your marriage. It's God's intention that marriage is a convenant that lasts "till death to you part." The marriage you are in is a marriage that God wants to last.   There are so many reasons a marriage can break up. Too many to even considering listing. A lot of times, we get to a point where we feel like there is no return and have a hard time finding our way back after months or years of hurt. Broken promises, disrespect, lack of a common ground, these are all things that can go on for such a long time that it can be hard to figure out how t

  Before you can know where you are going, you have to know where you are starting. Today, we will look at our marriages from their starting points.   Here are a few questions to ask yourself to determine where you are starting off from.   How are both of your relationships with Christ?   Do you have a church you attend regularly?   Do you both put regular effort into the success of your marriage?   Is your spouse supportive of your dreams and desires?   Is your spouse attentive to your needs?   Do you pray for your spouse and with your spouse every day?   Do you argue with your spouse more than you spend not arguing?   Do you tell your spouse you love them every day?   Are you more attentive to your child's needs than your spouses needs?   Do you have a group of supportive friends/couples who share the same beliefs as you?   Do each of you have an outlet or place to grow your own individual interests and walks with God?   If

  Many of us are either just married, still young in our marriage, experienced in our marriage, or senior in our marriage. At every point, there comes a time when the marriage is either stagnant, unsatisfying, too hard, too easy, or just plain boring. When you look at marriage from the perspective of being "successful," what does that mean? One that is happy most of the time? One where the two people in it simply stay married because they don't believe in divorce? It is so difficult to define marriage in those terms. I think the word we should be looking for is "fruitful."   Having a fruitful marriage is one where the love of Christ is shown to each other, to our children, and to others, on a daily basis. It's one that produces fruit; one that is purposeful. It's a marriage in which the two people in it have a purpose with one another. It's a marriage where they know their place with each other. It's a marriage where both people love eac