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In today’s episode, we’re talking about healthy conflict - what it looks like and how conflict can be a means of connection in a marriage.

In this episode we tackle what it means to be spiritually connected in your marriage. We start of talking about the importance of first being spiritually connected with the Lord, but you can’t stop there, you also have to let it overflow into your marriage. We can’t wait for you to listen because it’s an honest and heartfelt conversation that we have and are excited for to listen in. If you’re interested in supporting A Stronger Knot by subscribing through Patreon, head over to patreon.com/astrongerknot where you can subscribe to bonus podcasts, quarterly webinars, and even personal coaching sessions with us. We’d be honored if you partnered with us.

You may have noticed that this episode is only a few minutes long. That’s because This isn’t technically an episode, we just wanted you to have something on your radar.    First, we want you to know that A Stronger Knot is back and we’ll be here with episodes every other Wednesday on your favorite podcast app. However, if you’re one of our Patreon subscribers you had an episode come out today. What is Patreon? it’s a subscription website where you can partner with and pay your favorite independent creators for the work that they do. When you subscribe, you’re given different offers depending on your subscription level. Our podcasts will always be free but we offer ways to subscribe to two extra bonus podcasts every month, this is how we’re able to produce each episode of A Stronger Knot.   When you become part of our Patreon posse, you get access to two bonus episodes every month that are only available through Patreon. In today’s episode, we’re talking about breaking the roommate cycle in your marriage. What is the roommate? Well, we talk about it in the episode along with the pitfalls, how to avoid having a roommate-only marriage, and working at breaking the cycle if you happen to be in one in your marriage.   If you’re interested in partnering with us through Patreon, for $10 a month you get access to two bonus episodes every month. Head over to patreon.com/astrongerknot to learn more and to sign up so you don’t miss out on a single episode. 

We’re so glad you’re here with us for today’s episode. It’s a brand new year and we’re all about the goals, aren’t we? Well, you don’t want your marriage to get left out of that. So we’re talking about the importance of making goals in your marriage in order to keep your relationship moving forward and growing. It’s a very practical episode and I’m not going to lie, and this isn’t just the nerd in me talking, but you might want to grab your phone or a pen and paper and take notes here. We give lots of practical advice and ideas for ways to set goals for your marriage and we’d hate for you to miss out on any detail.   As always, thank you for letting us serve you through A Stronger Knot.    To receive the Communication Question worksheet: https://mailchi.mp/072bef52ffb7/bunkerastrongerknot Communication episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-stronger-knot-20-communication/id1417493308?i=1000446318942 Rejuvenate episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-stronger-knot-19-rejuvenate/id1417493308?i=1000445219435    

In episode 21 we’re doing something a little different. Aaron and I wanted to take an opportunity to talk about anxiety and depression and for him to do a short interview with me to talk about ways to help support and love a spouse who deals with mental illness, specifically depression and anxiety. These two things have been a close companion of mine since i can remember and we were interested in discussing things I’ve learned with these mental illnesses, things that have worked for me, and ways a spouse can be a support during seasons riddled with anxiety and depression.   This is by no means, the end all be all answers or solution to everyone’s illness. We just hope that this interview helps someone understand and empathize with what their spouse is going through if they suffer from mental illness. We pray that our conversation ministers to you.

In episode 19 we’re talking about the importance of taking time out of the routine and rhythm of life in order to connect and recalibrate in our relationships with our spouse and to take time to seek after the Lord.

We’re diving into the topic of self-discovery and maturity. Not maturity in age, but maturity in our hearts and minds as believers in Christ. What does the Bible say about maturity? We discuss why we’re called to live life for more than living on autopilot. We talk about how learning to explore the inner workings of the way God created us is imperative as believers. And we really wanted to focus on how maturing as believers is a part of our contribution to the Body of Christ and to our marriages.

What does it look like when we say "yes" to God? **** Show Notes: Season 1 Episodes on conflict. http://traffic.libsyn.com/astrongerknot/Ep11-We_forgive_pt1_1.mp3 http://traffic.libsyn.com/astrongerknot/Episode_12_-_We_forgive_pt2_FINAL.mp3 http://traffic.libsyn.com/astrongerknot/Ep13_We_forgive_pt3_FINAL.mp3 Season 1 Episode about gratitude. http://traffic.libsyn.com/astrongerknot/Ep9-We_Are_Thankful_FINAL.mp3

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. We are so thankful we get to bring you episode number 16, the final episode of A Stronger Knot Podcast season 1.     *   Thank you for tuning in to season 1! We’re going to take a small break and come back for season 2 sometime early in the new year. If you have anything that’s on your heart you’d love to hear us talk about in season 2 please let us know! We’re praying about the vision the Lord would have for us in season 2 and we would love your voice to be a part of it. So head to astrongerknot.com and shoot us a message through the contact form.

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. We are so thankful we get to bring you episode number 15 of A Stronger Knot Podcast.   We are on the very last family value today which is in our home, we have purpose. With purpose, we dive into finding our identity as a child of God, made in his image, because when we can rest in this, we’re able to not only find our purpose while we’re here, it also allows us love and serve others the way Christ calls us to, including our spouse. We hope that you’ll feel inspired with this conversation to begin setting your feet on a firm foundation that you and your spouses identity comes from Christ and Christ alone. And we can never let a week go by without letting you know how grateful we are that you show up every week. We are so grateful that we get to serve you. Alright, you know the drill. Grab your coffee and join us as we continue the conversation about in our home we forgive. *   We’re only 1 episode away from the end of season 1. Then we’re going to take a small break and come back for season 2 sometime early in the new year. If you have anything that’s on your heart you’d love to hear us talk about in season 2 please let us know! We’re praying about the vision the Lord would have for us in season 2 and we would love your voice to be a part of it. So head to astrongerknot.com and shoot us a message through the contact form.

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. We are so thankful we get to bring you episode number 14 of A Stronger Knot Podcast.   Can I be real with you? That’s what we’re talking about. In our home we are real. We talk about the importance of authenticity, disengaging the masks that we all wear, and we do a lot of talk about being vulnerable. Because a relationship only moves in intimacy to the depths at which you’re vulnerable with each other. We talk about the importance of vulnerability with all of our relationship including our relationship with Christ and I our relationship with our spouse. And we can never let a week go by without letting you know how grateful we are that you show up every week. We are so grateful that we get to serve you. Alright, you know the drill. Grab your coffee and join us as we continue the conversation about in our home we forgive. *   We’re only 2 episodes away from the end of season 1. Then we’re going to take a small break and come back for season 2 sometime early in the new year. If you have anything that’s on your heart you’d love to hear us talk about in season 2 please let us know! We’re praying about the vision the Lord would have for us in season 2 and we would love your voice to be a part of it. So head to astrongerknot.com and shoot us a message through the contact form.

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. We are so thankful we get to bring you episode number 13 of A Stronger Knot Podcast.   Today we’re on part 3 in our conversation about forgiveness. This week we’re deep in the topic of conflict resolution and if you’ve been following along you know that Aaron is all about the tangibles. If you are too then this episode is FOR YOU, my friend. We walk step by step through a format for conflict resolution. It’s been a useful tool in our home and we hope that you’ll gain something tangible out of this episode that you can use in your own marriages.   We’re only 3 episodes away from the end of season 1. Then we’re going to take a small break and come back for season 2 sometime early in the new year. If you have anything that’s on your heart you’d love to hear us talk about in season 2 please let us know! We’re praying about the vision the Lord would have for us in season 2 and we would love your voice to be a part of it. So head to astrongerknot.com and shoot us a message through the contact form.   We are so grateful to you for showing up with us every week. You guys mean the world to us and we are so grateful that we get to serve you.    So here you go. Grab your coffee and join us as we continue the conversation about in our home we forgive.

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. We are so thankful we get to bring you episode number 12 of A Stronger Knot Podcast.   Today we’re continuing our conversation about forgiveness. The last few episodes about connection and forgiveness tie into this one so once you listen to this or before you do, head over to episodes 10 and 11 to get some background about what we’re talking about when we mention connection, conflict, and forgiveness. Well, In this episode on forgiveness we talk about how    -69% of conflict is unresolved and 80% of our synapses/our WHY is from before we met our spouse. Those are some hefty statistics that we dive into in this episode. -It’s important to look deeper into our reactions in conflict to ask the WHY. WHY do we do the things we do? -Aaron and I give a personal story that was a turning point in our marriage because it made us realize the places in our own hearts, history, and minds of why we do the things we do. -And we also talk about validating each other’s subjective reality. which takes some practice and we give you some examples of what that looks like in real life.   I have to tell you that this is one of our favorite episodes. There’s a lot of meat here, some vulnerability, and it’s real. Plus, this is something we are so very passionate about. I think you’ll hear the evident passion in our tone throughout the whole episode.   We are so grateful to you for showing up with us every week. You guys mean the world to us and we are so grateful that we get to serve you.    So here you go. Grab your coffee and join us as we continue the conversation about in our home we forgive.

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. We are so thankful we get to bring you episode number 11 of A Stronger Knot Podcast.    Today we’re starting a deep conversation about forgiveness. This topic is going to be several episodes because there’s a lot of depth and breadth to this topic that can run into some deep wounds and we don’t want to skim the surface for the sake of brevity. In this episode on forgiveness we talk about how conflict can be used as a tool to deepen connection in marriage but when there’s conflict, there’s need of forgiveness. We’re going to talk about how to work through a few types of conflict, what forgiveness looks like for us as believers, and diving into examining our hearts in regards to forgiveness.   Thank you for showing up with us every week. We really do picture you sitting down with us for a conversation every single time we record so you’re a part of this just as much as we are. We’re so grateful and it’s such a joy for us to serve you.   So here it is. Grab your coffee and join us for part 1 of in our home, we forgive. Find us at astrongerknot.com and @astrongerknot across social media.

Today we're talking about The Connection Question. What are you doing to connect in your marriage. We discuss one question to ask each other once a week to help facilitate connection in your marriage.   We’re taking a break from our scheduled recordings where we’re talking about the "in our home" family values to bring a solo episode about connection. It’s ironic that we were both feeling like we should record and episode about connection because it had been a rough two weeks for us connecting. But that’s the way it works, isn’t it? You fight on the way to church. Have a spat just before you’re supposed to teach on marriage. Lose your cool when you’re about to talk about patience. I feel it’s this refiner’s fire we’re going through. And it makes us laugh. But we both felt like we should record a topic on connection so here we are with episode number 10 which is all about The Connection Question.   Thanks for coming back this week. And if this your first episode welcome! You’re in for a ride and we’re so happy you’ve joined us. Go ahead and go grab your coffee and join us for our conversation about connection.   To get the connection question worksheet enter your email here: https://astrongerknot.us14.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=39cfd055afcc0d95d48ff711d&id=326c077b61   Find us at astrongerknot.com and @astrongerknot across social media.

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. We are so thankful we get to bring you episode number 9 of A Stronger Knot Podcast.    I mention that we’re thankful because guess what this week’s topic is about? Thankfulness. We discuss being thankful to God, expressing our gratitude to others, serving others, and a lot more.    And I’m serious when I say thank you for showing up with us every week. We really do picture you sitting down with us for a conversation every single time we record so you’re a part of this just as much as we are. We’re so grateful and it’s such a joy for us to serve you.   So here it is. Grab your coffee and join us as we talk about in our home, we are thankful. Find us at astrongerknot.com and @astrongerknot across social media.

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. Today we’re in part 2 of our conversation about honesty. We are continuing the discussion from part 1 so if you haven’t listened to that discussion on honesty, make sure you go back and listen to episode # 7. Today we’re talking about being honest with our pain, how we should react to others’ pain, and we talk a bit about what we’ve learned about the neuroscience behind emotions. These are topics that we are really passionate about so I hope that you leave this discussion hearing our hearts and gaining even a little bit of insight for your own life and relationships.   Thank you for showing up with us every week. You guys mean the world to us and we are so grateful that we get to do this gig. We really hope to serve you well.    So here’s that time to grab your cup of coffee or your tea and join us as we have the second part of the conversation about in our home, we are honest. Find us at astrongerknot.com and @astrongerknot across social media.

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. Can I be honest? We’re talking about honesty in this episode. The value we have as a couple and as a family says “we are honest” and that has a whole lot to do with more than just integrity. We talk about communicating honestly with each other about small hurts, the importance of self-awareness, and being honest with ourselves and our own emotions in order to be honest with each other.    This will be part one of our conversation about honesty because we had a lot to cover here and we’ll continue the conversation in our next episode.   It’s such a joy to us to bring you these episodes every week. A couple of people have told us recently that when they listen, they feel like they’re sitting on our couch having a cup of coffee and a conversation with us. When they said that, my heart skipped because, along with sharing Jesus, that is the heart and the tone of what Aaron and I are doing here.   So grab your cup of coffee or your tea and join us as we talk about in our home, we are honest. Find us at astrongerknot.com and @astrongerknot across social media.

Several years ago we created a list of values that we wanted to live by in our family, look upon, and strive toward. These family values were also the premise of Aaron's book by the same title. We spent several weeks praying about the compass by which we felt the Lord wanted us to live. And we came up with these: We live for God. We love people. We speak life. We laugh loudly. We are honest. We are thankful. We forgive. We are real. We have purpose. For the first season of A Stronger Knot podcast, we are going through each of these values, what they mean to us individually and as a family, and hope to share the heart of the Father with you all. In today's episode we are talking about our value of laughter and joy. We share some hilarious moments, really show our quirky side, but we are also very real and talk about when it's hard to find joy. This episode is a little bit of what laughter looks like in our family, how we've had to fight for joy, and how the Lord uses laughter to heal and restore our souls. Find us at astrongerknot.com and @astrongerknot across social media.