Marriage After God is a weekly Christian marriage podcast hosted by Aaron and Jennifer Smith. We are going to share conversations on relevant marriage topics that will inspire couples to chase boldly after God together.
Is the word love and how we use it….diluted?
The definition of the word love as we use it today does generally cover a variety of connotations; from intense feelings of deep affection, to great interest or pleasure. The problem with this definition of love is when those chemicals subside, and those feelings in the body or the flesh become harder to come by, what are we left with?
All of us, on some level, desire transformation in our marriage. Whether that transformation is a small change, or a complete overhaul, we all want to experience more joy, peace, love and purpose. Ultimately, we are always going through some form of transformation, because we don’t remain completely the same. All of us are being transformed into something; the question is, are we transforming into what God desires, or something else?
How often have you had the intention to do something or change in some way, but in the end, you don’t follow through? Whether it is a promise you have made to another, or even to yourself, words have power. And when we use our words to make commitments, we should take them seriously. Oftentimes we find it easy to make promises with our words but have no intention of following through or find it difficult to keep that promise. Now, our vows may not always take the form of the words “I promise I will…” but instead may sound like “I’ll be there at 10,” or “I’ll pray for you,” Or “I am going to get up at 6 am and read my bible every day.” Many times, this leads to discrepancies between what we say and what we actually do. Scripture informs us to take care with our words and warns against taking oaths.
There is a spiritual truth that goes like this: what we feed will be nourished, what we sow we will reap, what we pursue we will find, what we water will grow.
…BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DONT?
The opposite is a spiritual truth as well. Stop watering something and it will eventually die. Stop feeding and it will diminish. If we dont sow, there wont be anything to reap. If we never seek, we will never find.
Our focus today is to examine these truths, hitting home the importance of continual spiritual and relational maintenance.
Self Discrepancy: Who We Are vs. Who we Want to Be
Happy New Year everyone! In our most recent podcast episode, we discussed a word we felt the Lord had for us this year: discrepancy. The self-discrepancy theory states that individuals compare their “actual” self to internalized standards or the “ideal or ought self.” Self-discrepancy is the gap between two self-representations that leads to negative emotions. Essentially, it is how we deal with the difference between who we think we should be or want to be, versus who we actually are.
January 6th, 2023, will be our 16th Wedding Anniversary. And with that, we wanted to share 16 of the best pieces of marriage advice and marriage tips we have learned along the way. These pieces of marriage advice have revolutionized our marriage in many ways, and some of them even played a large part in saving our marriage from divorce.
Please let us know which piece of advice was your favorite by leaving us a podcast review.
