an espresso shot of thoughtful guidance
Step 7: Humbly ask God to remove our flaws and shortcomings. I’ve long been curious with the interactions in the Bible between Jesus and people who want/need to be healed. But there is one particular story that has always fascinated me. It took place between Jesus and the man Read More
(If you’re just now tuning in for this series, click here to start at the beginning: Marriage Recovery – The 12 Steps) Step 6: We are trusting and ready to have God forgive and remove from us these flaws, individually and collectively. One of my favorite art exhibits that I Read More
Step 5: Admit to ourself, God, to others we trust, and then to our spouse the nature of our flaws, wrongdoings, and shortcomings. “Praying” by Mary OliverIt doesn’t have to bethe blue iris, it could beweeds in a vacant lot, or a fewsmall stones; justpay attention, then patcha few words Read More
Step 4: We make a fearless and courageous moral inventory of ourselves, and of our marriage. The majority of houses in America are different, but they almost all have one thing in common: The junk drawer. This drawer has perplexed me for as long as I’ve had my own place Read More
Step 3: We make a decision, individually and then collectively, to turn our life and the life of our marriage over to the care of God. One of my favorite movie scenes that always comes to mind whenever the topic of surrender comes up is from Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail. Read More
Some people will ask (aka demand) that you jump through certain hoops to prove that you are sincere, loyal, or committed to them. These requests come from very insecure or threatened people, and are done so to control and manipulate you. The problem is that early on in the relationship the Read More
Evil is not in itself a thing or an entity. It’s the absence of an entity. Kind of like there is no such thing as cold — cold is the absence of heat. Evil is the absence of good. It will consume the good in those that let it. Evil Read More
Step 2: We admit there is a God, that is neither ourselves or our spouse, and that God can restore our marriage to sanity. Many people believe that an admission of God’s divine presence in this world is the very first step that we need to take in order for Read More
Step 1: We admit that we are powerless over our strife — that our marriage has become unmanageable and that we not only need help, but desire help. What we know of relationships is that they fill and promise to fill the deep longing inside each and every human being. Read More
No relationship is immune to pain. But most of the time we don’t look at relationships as a separate, living entity. We have this idea that relationships are athereal, in existence but not enough so to have their own name, identity. I don’t think this is a helpful way of Read More
