An abuser typically has a well-stocked arsenal of ways to exert power over you.

Marriages are being transformed at Weekend to Remember® marriage getaways. Here are just a few of our favorite stories guests shared with us last year.

Billy’s marriage to Ruth was a partnership that had a worldwide impact.

As you prepare for facilitating a small group, you will find God strengthening your own marriage and giving you a heart to minister to others.

A couple weeks ago, in my work here at FamilyLife, I was feeling lazy and listless, uncreative and unmotivated.  Looking for some inspiration, I began reading through a pile of comments from couples who attended a recent Weekend to Remember® marriage getaway in Indianapolis.  It took me all of two minutes to shake away my […]

If research showed you there were five things you could do to turn a marriage around or to keep a marriage strong, and that they were easy and free, what would you do? Well, here’s your chance. Shaunti Feldhahn spent years interviewing couples to find the ones who had the happiest marriages. Her purpose was to […]

Editor’s note, May 2015:  In a recent FamilyLife contest, participants were asked, “What marriage do you most admire, and why?”  Here’s a selection of their responses.  For more, read “The Marriages We Admire.” 1. My former pastor and his wife … they are both with the Lord now.  They had very different strengths but they […]

We asked readers to send us ideas on special getaways with their spouse. Here are some of the replies.

In last week’s Marriage Memo, I wrote of seven things men need to know about marriage.  In a culture of counterfeits and mistruths, it’s important to understand what marriage is about.  Here are seven more things men should know.  As you read through the list, ask God to remake you and help you understand what […]

The North Star of relationships is is knowing Jesus Christ and His purpose for marriage, and trusting in His strength.

Even before I began working for FamilyLife, I used to tell people that the Weekend to Remember® was the “best conference I’ve ever attended.” Merry and I went when we were engaged, and we’ve attended several times since then. The weekend provided an invaluable foundation for our marriage—a clear biblical understanding of God’s purposes for […]

During the first two days of our recent vacation in western Montana, the air was filled with smoke from forest fires. My wife, Merry, and I could barely make out the outline of the Bitterroot Mountains. Then a cold front swept out the smoke … and replaced it with rain and low-hanging clouds. We drove […]

Letters from a Weekend to Remember marriage getaway show that people are still hungry to know Christ.

Some would call me “directionally-challenged.” While my husband, Jim, seems to know where he is at all times, I have difficulty following a map or someone’s directions. I’ve been lost more often than I’d like to admit. It happened again when I went to visit a new friend who lives in the country. She gave […]

My wife, Merry, and I have enjoyed some wonderful, adventurous, and romantic vacations over the years. We’ve been on trips to London, New England, Montana, Oregon, Washington D.C., New York City. We’ve relaxed on sunny beaches in Hawaii, Florida, and South Carolina. And then we’ve taken lots of vacations like the one last week: working […]

“Just a week before the I Still Do™ event,” she said, “I used the ‘D word’ against my husband in front of our daughters.”  The “D word” is “divorce.” And that’s a word that children don’t like to hear from the lips of their parents.  “My 9-year-old broke down and cried, exclaiming ‘What’s happening?’ She […]

Comments from the I Still Do event show the power of getting away to get it together.

John Betar and Ann Shawah grew up across the street from each other in Bridgeport, Connecticut.  They fell in love, but her father had arranged for her to be married to a man 20 years her senior.  So John and Ann eloped.   That was in 1932.  John and Ann recently celebrated their 81st anniversary, […]

Dennis Rainey and Bob Lepine, co-hosts of FamilyLife Today®, returned recently from FamilyLife’s third annual Love Like You Mean It™ cruise.  The same week of the LLYMI cruise, another cruise ship made headlines when it lost power and had to be towed back to port, but Dennis reports that the LLYMI cruise had plenty of […]

Eighty-one years ago, John and Ann Betar were told their marriage wouldn’t last.

There’s no doubt about it—for many people, life seems to revolve around the smartphone.  It’s their connection to friends and family.  It’s their source of information and entertainment and distraction. It’s what they use to read and listen and watch.  It’s their phone, their camera, their map, their appointment calendar, their address and phone book, […]

In a recent Marriage Memo, “Reclaiming Date Night,” Suzanne Thomas wrote of her dismay after asking FamilyLife Facebook readers about what they do for date nights with their spouses. “I expected people to respond with some creative ideas, but I was surprised at the response,” she wrote, “Nearly everyone said they have no date nights […]

Moms need to recharge, to be appreciated and encouraged. Not just once a year, but every day.

After Dennis Rainey’s June 10 Marriage Memo, “Establishing the ‘New Normal’ in Your Marriage,” a number of readers wrote to tell about the struggles they faced with this issue.  As Dennis wrote of the “new normal” dilemma: Each of you brings a different background and a different set of expectations into your marriage.  Your family […]

Responses from readers show that the love you demonstrate for your spouse will be one of your greatest legacies.

Editor’s note, May 2015:  In a recent FamilyLife contest, participants were asked, “What marriage do you most admire, and why?”  Here’s a selection of their responses.  For more, read “The Marriages We Admire.” 1. My former pastor and his wife … they are both with the Lord now.  They had very different strengths but they […]

The most important cultural question is not, “What are we going to do about same-sex marriage?” It’s, “What are we going to do about marriage?”

Who doesn’t enjoy a good story? Especially a love story? As a writer for FamilyLife, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing lots of men and women about their marriages and families. But no one has been married as long as Orvil and Edith Thomas. Their commitment to one another has never wavered for more than […]

On July 8, 2009, my wife Laurie was diagnosed with breast cancer. Almost three long years later, she died on April 4, 2012. Soon my two sons and I will have our first Christmas without Mom. Although it hasn’t been easy, I am filled with hope. Like lots of other people I know, Laurie and […]

I knew I had a bad attitude, but I couldn’t break out of it.