Has your life been turned upside down? Are you walking through hardship? Do your future plans feel completely shaken up? If so, you may be in the midst of what I like to call a “life quake”. A life quake is what happens when our circumstances change drastically, and...
Can you remember your first breakup? Even if you parted ways amicably, you likely questioned if you were good enough, if you made the right choice, or even criticized yourself for not doing enough to try to make it work. When we journey through breakups, infidelity,...
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;...
If you have been following us for any length of time, then you know Mark and I are passionate about marriage. Our own marriage went through a dark crisis about 10 years ago, which is an experience we are really open about. However, it is often hard to find other...
On today’s #MarriageMonday, I’m answering an email that was sent in about the difficult journey of healing from painful memories after infidelity. Sometimes there are photos, destinations, people, or other triggers that bring up strong emotions, often...
This week on #MarriageMonday, we’re following-up on our post last month all about the power of our words. But this time, we’re talking about the one scenario where words really aren’t the most important thing! Jill: Ask any marriage expert about the...
Mark: Jill and I spent this past weekend with over 2500 moms at the North Central Regional Hearts at Home Conference. While I go with her to serve and work the conference, I also get the opportunity to hear some wonderful speakers. At this conference, I really...
Mark says: Jill and I have always been proponents of marriage counseling. We’ve talked about it openly in our marriage and tried our best to help couples know that “asking for help” is an important part of the marriage journey. Jill says: ...
There were so many resources that helped us on our No More Perfect Marriages journey. (You can find all of our posts in the No More Perfect Marriages series here.) Today we’d like to share them with you. The first resource we want you to know about is a FREE...
This is Day 10 of a 10 day No More Perfect Marriages series chronicling our journey from infidelity to restoration. You can click here and find all of the posts in this series. Jill says: Mark returned home two months after Easter. We continued counseling for another...
This is Day 9 of a 10 day No More Perfect Marriages series chronicling our journey from infidelity to restoration. You can click here and find all of the posts in this series. Mark says: When sharing my story with others, I have often said that I identify with Peter...
This is Day 7 of a 10 day No More Perfect Marriages series chronicling our journey from infidelity to restoration. You can click here and find all of the posts in this series. Today we’re offering the perspective of one of our children. Our oldest daughter, Anne, will...
This is Day 6 of a 10 day series. You can find the other days here. Mark says: In all areas of my life: in ministry, in my job, with God, and in my marriage, I didn’t feel like I was “enough.” It felt like I was falling short in every relationship I had. The only...
This is Day 5 of a 10 day series. You can find the other days here. Jill says: I sat across from my emotionally closed off husband in the marriage counselors office. He indicated that he knew the affair was wrong, but he did not want to stop it. Mark says: I had shut...
This is Day 4 of a 10 day series. You can find the other days here. Mark says: Yesterday we talked about pursuing honest communication. One of the biggest blocks to honest conversations are defensive responses. Defensive responses are self-justifying and...
