The Marriage Mirror Challenge

By: Shawnee Eskridge , Faith Based Clinical Therapist Bible Tools: Don't Look Back , In Security , and Soul Detox Additional Resources: Soul Ties by Del Lawrence I don't know if it's that we don't realize it or that we don't like to to talk about it, but sometimes there is a very present third wheel during marital disagreements. The third wheel is Satan. His agenda to steal, kill and destroy is very real. Number one on his list is your marriage to your spouse. Second on his list is your marriage to God. If he can get you to destroy the former, getting you to doubt the latter is a child's play to him. The key is to not give him that opportunity. Help Satan destroy my marriage . . . who would willing do that, Shawnee? You, me, anyone when we're so caught up in our feelings. We forget to forgive or pray for God's guidance through a difficult time. Even forgetting to ask God for his guidance to continue good habits in marriage can be costly. Com...

By: Terrence Eskridge, Marriage Mentor Bible Tools: Love and Marriage  / Becoming The Husband She Needs My wife asked me to define romance. Well, I always pictured romance as flowers, candy and the like. Honestly, I don't have a clue besides the basics. So to me, romance is to make someone else happy by showing them you love them. For Shawnee, I try to focus on ensuring her security concerns because making her feel secure seems to be the most important thing for her. Somehow, romance makes her feel secure. It has been my experience that a lack of romance means an unhappy wife. Shawnee needs to feel loved, wanted and have constant affirmation. I don’t always feel romance brimming through me. I often get worn down by work or other happenings in life. Because of that I don’t always give her the romance she requires just to operate on a daily basis. Lack of romance has caused stagnation and resentment. We had a lot going on in the first years of our marriage. Shawnee at on...

By: Shawnee Eskridge, Faith Based Clinical Therapist Bible Tool: Love, Romance and Marriage Off the top I had a problem for this post. It was an issue I came across trying to address the topic of romance in my marriage. "Romance" is not listed any where in the bible. However, before I wrote this post God revealed to me that the concepts of romance   are  clearly outlined in the bible. For starters " with love and kindness I draw them to me " and/or " I draw neigh unto you. ". This is my very definition of romance; the things done to bring about and nurture a deep, intimate closeness. I don't subscribe to the given definition of romance. It's specifically the " mystery " and the " remoteness from everyday life " that I take strong issue against. This is not the definition of romance I envision for my marriage. Something so bleak. Romance should fill my love tank in these areas: spiritual, emotional, mental and physical. Be...

By: Shawnee Eskridge , Faith Based Clinical Therapist Bible Tool: The Unglued Challenge Terry and I have been married a little over eight years now. However, if I am honest, the best part of our marriage started only two years ago. When we started out the honeymoon phase fizzled out by year three. Neither of us were prepared for what came next - a lot of disagreeing. More to the point the intensity of the disagreeing. Everything felt like "the end". I grew tried of all the fighting in what I would like to consider as rather quickly. However, what really happened is that it took two years and me throwing around the "D" threat a lot for me to begin questioning myself. I got fed up with me; with my contributions to the conflict. I got to a point where something had to change. It was either me, the marriage, or both. I learned a while ago (over 10 years), when praying for your marriage to change, to learn to expect God to work on you first. (Thanks, Stormie Omart...