Spring is in the air, and many of us are in the mood to purge, clean, and start fresh. While you're cleaning out your closets, consider making these five changes in your love life if your relationship isn't as fulfilling as you wish it was.
It's not even that I thought a "hello" wouldn't be well-received. Watching his body language, he seemed open. His face was kind, and his demeanor friendly. So what held me back in those few seconds where I felt uncharacteristically ready to abandon my inherent shyness? For the longest time, I couldn't figure it out. But I think now I know what it was. It was a sense of entitlement.
Think you're going to find The One at your home church, Christian ladies? Think again. "I've only gone out with a couple of girls at church, and I won't do it anymore," says Luke*, a 40-year-old Christian man living in Southern California. "At this point, I'm happily resigned to not ask a girl out at church ever again."
In the middle of this heated debate over birth control and religion, it's easy to get the impression that Christians are anti-birth control, and so is God for that matter. Yet, as a mom, a person of faith, a married lady and a birth control lover, I don't see it as so simple.
Over time, my husband and I have learned how to come to an agreement on more things than just everyday household decisions. And we've learned that selfishness and stubborn attitudes make compromising nearly impossible. But don't get me wrong, it didn't all happen overnight. We had to make some major adjustments on both of our parts to get where we are today.
Today, one in two marriages will end in divorce. So, how can any couple, well-known or not, keep their marriage divorce-proof? In honor of the Academy Awards this weekend, here are five tips that have guided my husband and me through the years. Follow them and you're more likely to have a marriage like Oscar darlings Streep and Bridges, instead of one that would easily fall victim to the Best Actress curse.
At 19, Kylie beat out 10,000 other girls during the 2009 "Victoria's Secret Model Search" for a contract with the lingerie giant. She strutted the runway as an angel during the annual Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, with the likes of supermodels Miranda Kerr, Rosie Huntington-Whitely and Doutzen Kroes. It was all she had ever wanted, but something didn't feel right. A young, newlywed Christian during this time, Kylie was beginning to read scripture more and more. As God's Word started to infiltrate her heart, she slowly realized that modeling lingerie wasn't in line with her beliefs. So when her contract was up with Victoria's Secret, she walked away. Now, at age 21, she's trying to be a role model for Christ. She's showing other girls that you don't have to be a sex symbol to be happy and accepted and successful. She's spreading a message of how our bodies are sacred, and meant only for our spouses' eyes. She's speaking out for modesty. And in a world where sex sells, it's a bold and brave message.
Call me a cynic, but nothing breeds disappointment and disillusionment quite like Valentine's Day. If you're in a relationship, then it's a day loaded with romantic expectations. If you're single, then you're likely to be dwelling on what you don't have and feeling lonely in the process. In addition, all parties—single, married, dating—will be suffering from a mild form of temporary amnesia. It happens every year. People tend to forget all the romantic gestures and moments they've experienced on the 364 days leading up to Valentine's Day, and all that matters is what happens on February 14, and February 14 alone. Call it amnesia, or tunnel vision. Both terms are rather accurate, and both require various coping mechanisms.
It was a quick wake up call to learn that my husband didn't feel I honored him--and then I set out to learn what honoring your spouse really means. In a world where traditional values pull us women in one direction and modern notions pull us in another, are we really still expected to submit to our husbands?
Before you start calling up wedding coordinators and venues, before you start looking for a dress and picking out a cake, put away your emotions long enough to ask yourself a few questions.
