Did you know that your attachment style will determine how you form relationships, interact with others, and respond to conflict? We talk about attachment styles often because it was the number one thing that helped us understand how we relate to one another within...
Mark: When Jill and I look back at what contributed to the dark season in our marriage, we found that it wasn’t the big things that made a difference. It was actually the little things that simmered under the surface. These things began an unraveling that gained...
When it comes to conflict in relationships, things can get messy. It doesn’t matter if it’s a marriage relationship, a parent-child relationship, or even a friendship. Conflict has a way of dividing and destroying if we don’t have the necessary skills to repair...
Mark: I didn’t realize coming into marriage how much idealism and unrealistic expectations drove my everyday thinking and perspective. When my expectations weren’t met, my “slow fade of unrealistic expectations” led to disappointment and discouragement....
In our journey through life, we tend to think of surrender as a negative thing. For instance if I surrender, I’ll be taken prisoner in some way. Our American culture even teaches us to value our freedom and independence above all else. However, the reality is...
“I’m leaving. I have no intention of returning. I’m pursuing the other relationship and I want a divorce.” Jill: The hardest day of my life was when I heard those words. My husband walked out of the house and my whole life turned upside down. Mark: When I uttered...
Mark: Jill and I developed our marriage ministry because we wanted to use our own marriage pain and healing work to help others, and boy did we get a huge number of requests once we started offering marriage coaching. Jill: You know, we’ve received hundreds of...
Jill: If you’ve been following us on Instagram and Facebook or seen some of our past blog posts, then you know that we recently traveled to Uganda to minister to the marriages of pastors there. Mark: We were also able to teach on relationships at Uganda Christian...
Jill: Mark and I often say that we have been married for 39 years—29 of them happily. Mark: That’s right. In the 10 unhappy years, our marriage was a mess in many ways. You wouldn’t have thought it looking in from the outside because we were doing everything “right.”...
Dear mama, Thinking back, I remember the days each of my children joined our family like it was yesterday. The excitement. The fear. The love. The anxiousness. The unknown. I’m sure you do as well. For our biological children, I remember the hospital. I remember...
Our marriage went off the tracks in 2011, when Mark was in a full-on midlife crisis, affair included. It would take us two years to move from being on the verge of divorce to a healed and improved Mark & Jill 2.0. I wouldn’t wish anyone to go through infidelity;...
For this #MarriageMonday, I am sharing an adapted excerpt from my book My Heart is Broken: Your Next Steps for When Your Spouse is Unfaithful. When we are betrayed in our marriage, or when any hard things happen in our life, what can we hold on to for stability? “I’m...
Feeling connected in a marriage is essential. However, there are many threats that can undermine this connection and lead to a feeling of distance. In today’s #MarriageMonday, we’re exploring five of the main reasons couples lose that feeling of...
Infidelity: it’s not something we ever thought would be part of our story, but it happened to us. And we healed. Now God is allowing us to bring hope and help to those who are walking a similar journey. If you’re here because the bottom has just dropped...
Our thoughts are powerful. I remember the thoughts that caused me to leave my marriage eleven years ago. Those same thoughts fueled the affair I was having. And I’m reminded of those messages every time I spend time with a guy in crisis, because what he’s...
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