Summary: <a href="https://barbraveling.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/How-to-thrive-in-your-less-than-perfect-marriage.jpg"></a>My husband and I have a less-than-perfect marriage.<br> This surprises me. Because I had grown up to believe that I would have the perfect romance, marry the perfect man, and then skip on to the perfect marriage with my perfect husband who would meet my every need.<br> After all, isn’t that what happened in all the movies?<br> The truth is, I had unrealistic expectations for marriage. Here’s the truth: there is no perfect marriage!<br> We are all married to imperfect people.<br> And we ourselves have so many imperfections that we couldn’t have a perfect marriage, even if we tried.<br> <a href="https://barbraveling.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/photo2.jpg"></a>So in light of Valentine’s Day–that dreamy holiday where we celebrate those perfect relationships–I wanted to do a podcast on what to do if you don’t find yourself in the perfect relationship!<br> (Hint: that includes all of us except for those who have only been dating for 2 months or married for two weeks.)<br> Rather than give my own tips, I’ve joined forces with my friend Ngina Otiende who blogs about marriage at her blog, <a href="http://intentionaltoday.com/">Intentional Today</a>, and has also published a great new book on marriage called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SX0XULU?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00SX0XULU&linkCode=xm2&tag=wwwnginaotien-20">Blues to Bliss: Creating Your Happily Ever After in the Early Years </a>.<br> If you want to give yourself (or a loved one) a Valentine’s Day present, Ngina’s book would be a great gift. It’s full of wise, practical, and biblical advice with lots of personal examples. I wish I had had her book when I first got married.<br> Here is a link to it: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SX0XULU?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=B00SX0XULU&linkCode=xm2&tag=wwwnginaotien-20">Blues to Bliss: Creating Your Happily Ever After in the Early Years </a>.<br> Four Tips for Improving Your Marriage<br> In this podcast we’ll be talking about four things you can do (note: I didn’t say, “make your spouse do!”) to not just tolerate your imperfect marriage, but to thrive in it! To listen on iTunes:<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-christian-habits-podcast/id899589208?mt=2" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> click here</a><br> Here are the tips we’ll be talking about:<br> <br> * Get rid of unrealistic expectations.<br> * Work on changing yourself, not your spouse.<br> * Develop an attitude of thanksgiving.<br> * Learn to rely on God to get your emotional needs met.<br> <br> Also, here is a great video by Francis Chan on marriage. If I remember right, it also has good content for single people: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihRmM0aVADU">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihRmM0aVADU</a><br> If you’d like to work on going to God to get your emotional needs met, here is a book full of conversation starters that will help you with that: <a href="https://amzn.to/2sOjCiM">The Renewing of the Mind Project.</a><br> <enclosure url=”http://traffic.libsyn.com/christianhabits/How_to_Thrive_in_A_Less_Than_Perfect_Marriage.mp3″ length=”27091264″ type=”audio/mpeg” /><br>
