In this episode, Scott and Mandie give a 30,000 ft view of their lives as parents.    From a single mom to a "ready-made family", to parenting a teen through trauma all while starting over with their own littles, these two imperfect parents share their journey. Together they have experienced many highs and many lows when it comes to this area. Hear how they both came from an unhealthy upbringing and together had to discover parenting from a whole new biblical perspective.    Scott and Mandie are not experts in this area by any means, but have experienced many of humbling times that have taught them hard lessons in parenting and only desire to provide hope along with resources to anyone who may walk through these tough seasons.

Rest is both a gift and a command from the Lord. But when used incorrectly this area can become a stronghold on an individual and a marriage.    In this episode Scott and Mandie discuss how they each struggle with rest from two very different perspectives. For Scott, work was king with no rest and for Mandie rest (slothfulness) was king.   Hear how they both discuss where these strongholds come from and how they each have overcome the lies they believe about themselves specifically in this area. More importantly they discuss how this rest or lack there of strongly affected their marriage and now how they view the gift of rest to help each other receive this command well and apply it to their life and marriage.

Tim Keller states that the biblical purpose of marriage is to help our spouse become their future glory self through self-sacrificial love.    But to be able to give self-sacrificial love, we need to receive it first. Understanding what Jesus has done for us, and living a life of faith through grace allows us to give a kind of love that can only be understood through Christ.    We both learned this love through a difficult step in our journey- personal accountability.  At some point we all have to take a good look at our lives and ask ourselves "what part do I play in this." Living in truth frees us from the bondage of shame and guilt that ultimately holds us back from knowing such love.    And it's the hardest thing to do yet the most rewarding decision you will ever make.    This is our testimony. Our marriage has been filled with self sacrificial love - first for Mandie, then for Scott. We have both helped each other grow into our future glory self by taking accountability for our lives first, then fixing our gaze on Christ and always checking our vertical.

On this episode, we are very honored to welcome our friend and counselor, Leigh-Ann, as our guest! Leigh-Ann has been on our journey with is for 9 years now and has walked through every difficult season with us. She has guided us well through some extremely daunting situations and we wanted to share her wisdom and heart with all of you!    We will discuss what our marriage looked like from her perspective and how she navigated through healing in our marriage. She will also discuss and explain WHY counseling is so important in both a clinical and spiritual aspect. Guys, she is so good!   We are so thankful for her time, talents and most importantly her heart to serve Jesus! We really hope you not only enjoy this episode but truly see the value of choosing wise counsel to guide you through your life.    Proverbs 11: 14 Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory.    You can contact Leigh-Ann and schedule an appointment with her or her team at: Www.freetobeministries.org

Suffering is something we will all experience at some point in our life and can reek havoc on your marriage. No one is exempt from it regardless of who you are. These times can be painful, difficult and extremely hard to navigate. So how then could we possibly suffer well?    What Scott and I have learned over many years of painful seasons is that suffering alongside God helps heal the soul from the depths of pain that come from trials and troubles.   Hear how we address suffering, what the Bible says about it and how we as a couple overcame some challenging times in our marriage.    We hope you are encouraged even through a very difficult season of your life and leave with tools to help your marriage and yourself suffer well.

Do you know your love language? Or understand the way you best feel loved? More importantly,  does your spouse know that language?    Communication is the key to a long lasting relationship! And knowing HOW you and your spouse communicate helps interpret what the other person is REALLY saying!    Scott and Mandie took two of the most important tests a couple should take for their marriage to thrive. Join them as they go over their results and play out what it looks like to communicate through some issues while trying to understanding and put into action each other's love language.    Link to The 5 Love languages test by Gary Chapman:  https://www.5lovelanguages.com/quizzes/love-language   5 Love Languages BOOK  https://amzn.to/3Ak7t2E   Personality Plus; book: https://amzn.to/3lB2dn7

Scott and Mandie welcome their friend & very first guest to their show - Traci Morrow!   You may know Traci from most of Tony Hortons X line workout programs as she is one of the founding coaches of the fitness phenomenon Beachbody. Most recently, Traci serves on a global scale with the John Maxwell Enterprises for community and country transformation.     Next up for Traci is becoming a published author of her new book on the importance of communication. This is where Scott & Mandie combine with Traci with a passion to not only share our own personal stories but also give helpful tools on how to communicate well with your spouse. You don't want to miss this show!   We are so grateful for Traci's friendship, wisdom, time and passion for marriages. We hope you enjoy her teachings as much as we do!    Book recommendations:  Personality Plus  https://amzn.to/2Vx401N   5 Love Languages  https://amzn.to/3AhjLbU   More information on Traci Morrow & how to pre-order her new book https://linktr.ee/tracimorrow

Have you experienced challenges in your marriage? We know we sure have!  Just know that you are not alone and you too may have questions when it comes to your marriage.   In this episode we tackle some of these questions that were sent in by you, our listeners.    Scott and Mandie are not counselors or preachers but everyday people who have experience in the messy things of marriage. They're desire is to create a safe space to talk about hard things and respond with some wisdom thats been learned through their difficult seasons and provide hope.   If you have a question, please feel free to send an email to: [email protected] Or contact us on Instagram: Check Your Vertical    Book suggestion:  Love & Respect by Dr. Emmerson Eggeriches https://amzn.to/3fEL7kn

Let's chat about gaining in-laws. Is the relationship what you expected or dreamt of it being? This part of our marriage was a disaster. In-laws can bring so much joy but for us it brought a very destructive element that almost made us a statistic of divorce. Who would have thought this plagues so many marriages, not us! Ephesians 5:31 talks about how a man shall leave his mother and father and hold fast to his wife. Why do you think God made this instruction? Because if you don't heed this warning, destruction can prevail. Once you say I DO then it's ON YOU to leave your parents and cling to your spouse. Understanding this scripture pivoted our marriage. Hear our story in how we confronted this issue and finally became a united front.