Category: Discouragement

• What Distorts and Damages Men’s Openness? And Linkup

  

  I’m picking up where we left off from the “Men and Openness Survey” series by unpacking question number 4 from the survey … What outside sources have been hindrances to you opening up and sharing your feelings with your wife? (I let the men choose all that applied.) 55.56% – The poor example I saw…

  BethSteffaniak

  January 26, 2016

  Acceptance, Christ-Centered, Communication, Discouragement, Empathy, Encouragement, Faith in God, Forgiveness, God’s Redemption, Listening Skills, Marriage, Men and Openness Series, Messy Mom’s and Dad’s, Openness, Parenthood, Perspective, Realistic Expectations, Self-awareness, Shame, Toxic Baggage, Wedded Wednesday, Wounds

  Communication, Forgiveness, God’s Redemption, Openness, Realistic Expectations, Stigma, Toxic Baggage, Vulnerability, Wounds

• Resisting God because You Feel Pressured?

  

  This week I’m tackling another way we let our spouses control us … “Resisting spiritual pursuits because your spouse is cramming them down your throat.” The spouse who has been pressured by his/her spouse in this way often “reacts” rather than “responds” to this situation. The distinction is an important one. A “reaction” is letting…

  BethSteffaniak

  January 24, 2016

  Acceptance, Alienation, Attitude, Avoidance, Balance, Boundaries, Change, Choices, Christ-Centered, Codependency, Conflict, Control, Discouragement, False Beliefs, Insecurity, Prayer, Responsibility, Security, Self-deception, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Leadership, Spiritually Unequal, Toxic Baggage, Trust, Withdrawal, Wounds

  Codependent, Control, Insecurity, Reactive, Responsible, Security, Spiritual Leader

• ‘Fix’-ated on Changing Your Mate?

  

  Today we continue to unpack the many subtle ways our spouses can control us by talking today about the temptation to try to “fix” or change our spouse because he/she doesn’t do his/her part or do it correctly. This is very similar to the victim-mentality post I wrote about recently, but the emphasis is on…

  BethSteffaniak

  January 16, 2016

  About Me, Acceptance, Alienation, Anger, Blaming, Boundaries, Change, Choices, Christ-Centered, Conflict, Confrontation, Control, Criticism, Denial, Discouragement, False Beliefs, Magical Thinking, Nagging, Resentments, Responsibility, Self-awareness, Self-deception, Unity, Victim Mentality

  Anger, Blaming, Conflict, Denial, Fixer, Judgmental, Perspective, Responsibility, Self-examination

• For the Wife Who Feels Empty in Marriage – Guest Post and Linkup!

  

  Today we are honored to have our bloggy friend Ifeoma Samuel sharing a guest post and hosting Wedded Wednesday! I hope you’ll check out her blog – Purposeful and Meaningful as well as making her feel welcome with lots of comments below! Happily married to a loving man, blessed with a daughter—everything seemed to be…

  BethSteffaniak

  January 12, 2016

  Acceptance, Choices, Christ-Centered, Counseling, Discouragement, Emotions, Encouragement, Faith in God, False Beliefs, Identity, Love for God, Love of God, Marriage, Negative Self-Talk, Perspective, Prayer, Self-awareness, Self-deception, Self-Reflection, Spiritual Growth, Spiritual Practices, Support, Trust, Truth

  Discouragement, Dissatisfaction, Faith in God, Fulfillment, Prayer, Surrender, Trust, Unrealistic Expectations

• Feel like a Victim in Marriage?

  

  I’m back from a much-needed vacation to continue the series on how our spouses can control us. Today’s focus is about feeling like a victim in a hopeless marriage. Sometimes people who are in a hurtful marriage for a very long time and have tried to combat the issues for as long as they’ve been…

  BethSteffaniak

  January 2, 2016

  About Me, Alienation, Attitude, Blaming, Boundaries, Change, Choices, Christ-Centered, Codependency, Control, Discouragement, Expectations, Faith in God, False Beliefs, Forgiveness, Love of God, Marriage, Negative Self-Talk, Perseverance, Positive Focus, Prayer, Pride, Proactive, Realistic Expectations, Respect, Responsibility, Safety, Victim Mentality

  Change, God’s Love, Learned Helplessness, Proactive, Responsibility, Safe People, Victim Mentality

• 3 Steps to Avoid a Parenting Power Struggle

  

  It’s easy to think that when your spouse does something that bugs you and you react, that you are making a conscious choice born out of your freewill to resist. But more times than not, you are allowing yourself to be controlled by your spouse’s actions or words. Today I want to continue the series…

  BethSteffaniak

  December 12, 2015

  Acceptance, Alienation, Anger, Apologies, Attitude, Authenticity, Balance, Blaming, Boundaries, Change, Choices, Christ-Centered, Codependency, Communication, Confessional Culture, Conflict, Control, Discouragement, Enabling, False Beliefs, Forgiveness, Messy Mom’s and Dad’s, Motherhood, Negotiation, Parenthood, Proactive, Responsibility, Self-awareness, Toxic Baggage, Victim Mentality, Vulnerability, Wounds

  Apologizing, Baggage, Codependency, Confession, Negotiating, Parenting, Power Struggles, Responsibility, Wounds

• 10 Things You Won’t See Me Post on Facebook

  

  The holidays can be a really depressing time for many people and hard on many marriages. Not only are issues related to grief heightened at holiday times, but the stress and expectations level is usually higher than any other time of year. But what I think makes matters worse is the impact of Facebook. Don’t…

  BethSteffaniak

  November 29, 2015

  About Me, Acceptance, Authenticity, Choices, Contentment, Discouragement, Emotions, Expectations, False Beliefs, Magical Thinking, Negative Self-Talk, Positive Focus, Realistic Expectations, Self-deception, Self-Image, Truth, Victim Mentality

  Acceptance, Authenticity, Comparison-Trap, Discouragement, Facebook, Realistic Expectations, Unrealistic

• What Men Say About Opening Up And WW Linkup!

  

  Today we are diving into the first of the responses from the “Men and Openness” survey. The first question I posed to men was: What makes opening up and disclosing your feelings to your wife difficult? Here are the results … 65.52% – I am afraid my wife will become upset by my disclosures. 53.45%…

  BethSteffaniak

  November 10, 2015

  Acceptance, Alienation, Anger, Attitude, Authenticity, Avoidance, Blaming, Choices, Communication, Confessional Culture, Conflict, Criticism, Discouragement, Encouragement, Fear, Listening Skills, Marriage, Men and Openness Series, Positive Focus, Prayer, Respect, Safety, Support, Trust, Validation, Vulnerability, Wedded Wednesday

  Communication, Confession, Conflict, Emotional Safety, Emotions, Openness, Safety, Vulnerability

• Ruins to Redemption And WW Linkup

  

  Today we are honored to have my sweet friend Mary Geisen who blogs at Passage Through Grace as the host of WW this week, sharing her story of redemption after a failed marriage. I’m so excited that she’s been brave and gracious enough to talk about this, because I believe that divorce is often an…

  BethSteffaniak

  November 3, 2015

  Choices, Christ-Centered, Discouragement, Divorce, Encouragement, Failure, Faith in God, Forgiveness, God’s Redemption, Grace, Love for God, Love of God, Redemption, Self-Reflection, Spiritual Growth, Trials, Wedded Wednesday, Wounds

  Choices, Christ-centered, Discouragement, Divorce, Faith in God, God’s Redemption, Spiritual Growth

• When an Unexpected Detour Interrupts the Journey And WW Linkup!

  

  Today we are excited and honored to have Nannette Elkins from Hope in the Healing sharing a guest post and hosting Wedded Wednesday while my husband and I (Beth) travel to Dallas for a Marriage Ministry Conference. Please make her feel welcome, since she’s been a faithful presence in our linkups and is so very…

  BethSteffaniak

  September 8, 2015

  Christ-Centered, Contentment, Discouragement, Expectations, Faith in God, False Beliefs, Fear, God’s Redemption, Patience, Perseverance, Redemption, Trust, Wedded Wednesday

  Delays, Encouragement, God’s Redemption, Patience, Trust in God