What if My Spouse has Major Depression?

Marriage Dynamics InstituteCommitment, Hope, Mental Health, Patience, When Life is Difficult

Most of us get a little blue sometimes about life or things happening around us. Such feelings of sadness are normal, and they are usually temporary, and don’t indicate major depression. But what if your spouse is sad for weeks on end and nothing seems to help? Or their behavior changes and you feel like you are living with a …

What is love?

Real Love: What It Is—What It’s Not

Marriage Dynamics InstituteCelebration, Commitment, Connection, Faith, Intimacy, Marriage Courses, Marriage Health, Patience, Selfishness

Got any special plans for Valentine’s Day this year? In this season, we often feel obligated to demonstrate feelings of love by purchasing things like candy and flowers, or even more expensive gifts.  And while there’s certainly nothing wrong with giving and receiving gifts, there’s a lot more to real love than hearts and flowers. Love is powerful. It is …

Monarch butterfly coming out of cocoon

Marriage Courses that Really Work

Marriage Dynamics InstituteCommitment, Connection, Goals, Intimacy, Marriage Courses, Reconnecting

A caterpillar hatches and eats non-stop for days. Then it spins a sac around its body and undergoes radical change, emerging in just a couple of weeks as a different creature. This transformation–from caterpillar to butterfly—is nothing short of a miracle. At Marriage Dynamics, we offer marriage courses that inspire transformation in marriage. What happens during a nine-week Dynamic Marriage …

A single rose blooming serves as a reminder to hold on tight to the one you love.

Hold on Tight to Each Other

Melody MorrisCommitment, Communication, Connection, Loss, When Life is Difficult

My husband and I were taking our evening stroll. We like to walk and talk and hold hands. Because we are relatively new to the neighborhood, these daily walks provide opportunities to chat and get to know people better. And since Ken is in the process of tidying up the landscaping around our home, so he enjoys discovering which varieties …

What kind of legacy will your marriage leave?

The Gift of A Strong Marriage (Part 3) Legacy

Marriage Dynamics InstituteCommitment, Faith, Family, Hope, Loss, Marriage Health, When Life is Difficult

Legacy is often thought of in financial terms. It’s the money or the property or the family heirlooms left behind when someone dies. And while that is true,  legacy is not always something you can hold in your hand. Because legacy is what you pass down to those who come after you. That might include money and property, but it …

The Gift of a Strong Marriage (Part 2) — Stability

Melody MorrisCommitment, Communication, Connection, Marriage Health, When Life is Difficult

When you decide to get married, you start making plans. And after you marry, you keep making plans. But you know what they say. Life is what happens while you are making plans. My husband and I had a five year plan when we married. We knew what we wanted to do and where we wanted to be. And we …

The Gift of a Strong Marriage (Part 1) — Fulfillment

Marriage Dynamics InstituteCommitment, Communication, Contentment, Intimacy, Listening, Marriage Health, Patience, Quality Time, Selfishness

People get married for lots of reasons. But according to a telephone survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, the number one reason people marry is love. Shocker. Reasons two and three are also unremarkable. People marry because they want to make a lifelong commitment. And they marry for companionship. No surprises there. Human beings are created in the image …

Four Good Reasons to Pray Together

Marriage Dynamics InstituteCommitment, Communication, Contentment, Faith, Marriage Health, Reconnecting

Pray together. It’s kind of a crazy idea when you think about it. The Creator of the Universe invites us into a conversation. We talk, and Almighty hears. We listen, and God has messages for us. Prayer is both intimate and powerful, and inviting God into your marriage relationship through prayer is full of possibilities. So while there are lots of …

Is It Possible to Fall Out of Love?

Marriage Dynamics InstituteCommitment, Communication, Conflict, Divorce, Marriage Courses, Marriage Health, Reconnecting, Selfishness

Albert Einstein once said, “You can’t blame gravity for falling in love.” No indeed. So if you’ve been “bitten by the love bug” or shot by one of “cupid’s” arrows, you may seem “head over heels” or even “love sick”. Researchers have discovered chemical reactions in the brain that account for such behavior. It seems that increased levels of the feel-good …