Parenting Marriage

Sex is one of the most common marriage issues (for example, almost 80% of couples are mismatched in how often they want it), but it doesn't have to be that way. Relationship researcher Shaunti Feldhahn and renowned sex therapist Dr. Michael Sytsma have identified eight simple, transformational factors to help you move from disconnection to delight. This is knowledge you can trust, based on vast clinical experience and their breakthrough research, including the largest nationally representative study ever conducted with married couples about sex.

You've met the partner of your dreams and have gotten your happily ever after, but now you've taken on a new role: stepmom. And you have no idea what you signed up for. Or maybe you've been a stepmom for a while now, but things are getting you down. Who do you turn to for help? Where is the stepmothering support group that'll give you the advice you need? A book for all the ins and outs of having a blended family? Who actually gets how hard being a stepmom can be?

Why do more than half of all marriages end in divorce? And why is there so much unhappiness in the marriages that survive? Greg Baer offers the solutions for a long-lasting marriage in his anticipated follow-up to Real Love: The Truth About Finding Unconditional Love and Fulfilling Relationships. No matter how many wounds have been inflicted in a marriage, Greg Baer believes that they can be healed, giving both partners the sense of fulfillment and joy they’ve always wanted.

We all know that the greatest commandment is to love. However, relatively few of us know how to express our love in the heart language of our family and friends. Fortunately, in The Five Love Languages Gary Chapman identifies the five primary love languages and teaches us how to use these languages to express our love.

Experience the blessings of an imperfect marriage. We all - at one time or another - have opportunities to act right when our spouses act wrong. There are no perfect marriages or perfect spouses. We know that having a good marriage requires effort and hard work. Yet we often don't know how to continue to love when we are angry, hurt, scared, or just plain irritated. Nor are we sure what that kind of love is supposed to look like.

In Ten Stupid Things Couples Do to Mess Up Their Relationships, Dr. Laura Schlessinger calls for a return to traditional courtship. Courtship allows couples and their families to get acquainted with each other over a longer period of time, and provides structure and guidelines for that important process.

Being a man is a full-time job, especially when you're married or in a relationship. Hold On to Your N.U.T.s-The Relationship Manual for Men can help build a life that fulfills both you and your partner by showing you how to confirm the ideas and causes you support - your Non-negotiable, Unalterable Terms. Your N.U.T.s become the framework for how you conduct your relationships, whether you're committed to spending more one-on-one time with your kids or not hiding out at the office to avoid problems with your wife.

Studies show that nearly 70 percent of divorces are initiated by women—women who are tired, fed up, exhausted, and unhappy. We’ve all seen how the media portrays divorcées: sad, lonely, drowning their sorrows in a bottle of wine. Lyz Lenz is one such woman whose life fell apart after she reached a breaking point in her twelve-year marriage. But she refused to take part in that tired narrative and decided to flip the script on divorce.

Narcissists are everywhere. It is said that we are in the midst of a narcissist epidemic. Some sources claim that one in four people is a narcissist. This means that your child, parent, neighbor, coworker, friend, or partner could very well be a narcissist. Narcissists are often not harmful when they keep to themselves. Their behavior becomes a problem when they try to interact with other people. They often don't know how to act, and thus they cause others a significant deal of pain.

A fascinating look at the key components of romantic love - sex, idealization, aggression, self-pity, guilt, and commitment - argues that romance does not diminish in a long-term relationship, describes the barriers to lasting love, and offers helpful advice on how to promote an enduring love by eliminating self-destructive efforts to protect oneself from its risks.

Millions of people around the world have insecure attachment styles. Anxious attachment is a common form of insecure attachment, and it creates worry and distrust in relationships. Twenty percent of all people have an anxious attachment style, which makes it hard for those people to build relationships that feel safe. When you have an insecure attachment style, you may tend to self-sabotage relationships, and you may feel unable to trust your partner’s love.

You’re probably familiar with the old saying, once bitten, twice shy. It describes a painful uncertainty many of us feel every day as we try to engage with other people. Acts of betrayal from our pasts can lead us into long cycles of wariness and mistrust. An inability to trust wisely can lead us to loneliness and isolation, or worse - putting our trust in the wrong people too easily. The good news is that the ability to trust is both a choice and a skill that you can develop.

The wedding is planned, but are you spiritually prepared for your wedding day? Trusted relationship author Gary Thomas coaches engaged couples on how to grow closer to the Lord in the days leading up to the wedding as a means of preparing them for all the days after the wedding. Providing encouraging entries that will help you deal with common issues such as what real intimacy means, how to celebrate your differences, and remembering to laugh together, Preparing Your Heart for Marriage will help you grow in your relationship as a couple as you become closer to God.

When The Dance of Deception was published, Lerner discovered that women were not eager to identify with the subject. "Well, I don't do deception" was a common response. We all "do deception", often with the intention to protect ourselves and the relationships we depend on. The Dance of Deception unravels the ways (and whys) that women show the false and hide the real - even to our own selves. We see how relationships are affected by lying and faking, by silence and pretending and by brave - but misguided - efforts to tell the truth.

Whether your marriage is feeling the affects of full blown starvation or just suffering from the munchies, this presentation will help you lift your relationship to an entirely new level. With his humorous and energizing presentation style, Matt Townsend will help you and your partner to connect your heads, hearts, hands and hopes.

Are you in a sexless marriage? Wanting more passion and intimacy and afraid that without it you’ll end up divorced? Do you yearn to fall in love again...adored, cherished, and enjoying the feeling that comes with knowing your partner is deeply devoted to you? A wife of 24 years and a mother of four, Alexandra Stockwell, MD started her career as a medical doctor and went on to become a relationship and intimacy expert. She has coached hundreds of men and women to transform their relationships and in this book she will help you too.

It can be hard when you are the partner with a higher sex drive. You can be left feeling rejected, unattractive, frustrated, and confused–and it’s likely your spouse doesn’t even realize you feel this way. And if you are the partner with the lower drive, you feel guilty, pressured, and frustrated, not sure how to move past this roadblock.

Authors Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker believe that every man can meet the secret desires of his wife. The problem is, most of us aren't exactly sure what that desire is and how we can go about fulfilling it faithfully. In Every Man's Marriage, you can discover the common misconceptions about what it means to exercise biblical authority and understand the role of submission in the marriage relationship.

Lasting marriages are built one defining moment at a time. Ultimately, these are invitations from God to consider our direction and pursue transformation. With 37 years of marriage and thirty-three years of pastoring under his belt, Dave Harvey has identified those life-defining moments of a post-newlywed marriage. He wants to help couples recognize them in their own relationships so that they can take a proactive, godly approach to resolving conflicts, holding one another up as change inevitably happens, and ensuring that their marriage survives and thrives.

Nothing destroys trust like sexual betrayal. Beyond broken vows, a woman who discovers that her husband has been viewing pornography or having an affair must deal with devastating blows to her self-image and self-worth. She must grapple with the fact that the man she thought she knew has lied and deceived her. She may even bear the brunt of shame and judgment when the people around her find out.