We recognize that sex can be a sensitive topic due to the varied experiences people have had.  We address this topic based on God’s design for sex as given in His Word.  Sex is a good gift given to us by our Creator and is intended to be enjoyed by one man and one woman inside a committed, covenant marriage.

In this episode we also discuss how we have talked with our kids about sex.  For us, we start the conversations early.  The first one to the line, gets to set the bar.  The first one to present the idea gets to set the standard of what is good, healthy and right.  We want our children to know God’s best so they can more easily identify man’s lies on a screen or through locker room chatter.

We close out this season with words of wisdom to our children relating to sex and relationships. 

In the coming weeks and months, we will turn our attention to our sister podcast, The Journey Podcast, so make sure you check that out!

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Bible verses referenced in this episode: 

“Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24 ESV

The husband should fulfill his wife’s sexual needs, and the wife should fulfill her husband’s needs.  The wife gives authority over her body to her husband, and the husband gives authority over his body to his wife.  Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.  I say this as a concession, not as a command.  But I wish everyone were single, just as I am. Yet each person has a special gift from God, of one kind or another.  So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—it’s better to stay unmarried, just as I am.  But if they can’t control themselves, they should go ahead and marry. It’s better to marry than to burn with lust.
1 Corinthians 7:3-9 NLT

In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life. Treat her as you should so your prayers will not be hindered.
1 Peter 3:7 NLT

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Work is not defined by a paycheck.  How we spend our time and our energy is worship.  Pull up a chair as we reflect on navigating the working world and the stay-at-home world as a means of honoring the Lord.  

Some notable quotes from this chat: 

It’s dangerous to attach your identity to your job.  Everything is a season.  No job will last forever.  My joy and my peace don’t come from my job either. 

I’ve never looked forward to leaving work, but I really look forward to getting home. 

How do you separate work from home – how do you balance the two?

The real job starts when I walk in the door at night. 

The buffer time between work and home is critical.

People are all that matters.

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Bibles verses referenced in this episode: 

“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.” 

Colossians 3:23

“Raise up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it.” 

Proverbs 22:6

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Check out our website to sign up for email updates, listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform – Common People, Uncommon Marriage  

Follow us on social media and share episodes with a friend: FaceBook / Instagram 

***If you have been encouraged by what you’ve heard here, we would be honored if you would leave a review on Apple Podcast.  This will be so helpful for others to find these chats, too.  Thanks, friends! 

The words that come out of your mouth are powerful.  They can build up or they can tear down.  Learning to use your words and actions to honor your spouse is key to walking in God’s peace and favor in your marriage.  

That’s God’s kid.  Are you treating them with the honor that title demands?  
 
How do you speak about your spouse when they’re not around?  Do you speak highly, or do you poke fun and belittle?  Do your actions in secret reflect the words that are said in public?  

Pull up a chair as we share what we’ve learned in this arena. 

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Bibles verses referenced in this episode: 

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” 
Philippians 2:3-4

“Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.”
1 Peter 3:7

“So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!”
James 3:5-6

“Take every thought captive to obey Christ”
2 Corinthians 10:5b

“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Ephesians 4:29 

“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.”
Romans 12:10

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Check out our website to sign up for email updates, listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform – Common People, Uncommon Marriage

Follow us on social media and share episodes with a friend: FaceBook / Instagram 

***If you have been encouraged by what you’ve heard here, we would be honored if you would leave a review on Apple Podcast.  This will be so helpful for others to find these chats, too.  Thanks, friends! 

In this episode we are carrying on the conversation from episode 4 about being intentional.  The voices you allow to influence you will have a massive impact on how well you attain your goals.  Keep your eyes on the prize, that pivotal moment where you will stand face to face before Jesus and give an account for your days.

We discuss the target tool that Nathan taught me years ago that has been monumental in my understanding regarding handing out authority to others to speak into my life.  I have full control over who has authority to influence me.  I can move them closer and give them more, or I can move them back and reduce the impact their words have on me. 

We also discuss the media that we expose ourselves to and how we purged our massive DVD collection, cut off our cable and then went through an awkward stage of not knowing how to fill our time.  Spoiler alert…our sex life took a big boost!  We also talk about finding life giving sources to fill that time void.

We talk through practical ways to guard yourself again porn and the value of seeking wise counsel from others further down the road of life.

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Bible verses referenced in this episode:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:1-2

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.”
Proverbs 4:23

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.”
Hebrews 13:17

“Love one another with brotherly affection.  Outdo one another in showing honor.”
Romans 12:10

“If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.  For it is better that you lose one of your members than your whole body go into hell.”
Matthew 5:30

“Flee from sexual immorality”
1 Corinthians 6:18

“Whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
James 4:17

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.’”
Matthew 25:23

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
Ephesians 5:25-27

“Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life.”
Proverbs 19:20

“These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children”
Titus 2:4

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”
Proverbs 27:17

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Check out our website to sign up for email updates, listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform – Common People, Uncommon Marriage

Follow us on social media and share with a friend: FaceBook / Instagram 

***If you have been encouraged by what you’ve heard here, we would be honored if you would leave a review on Apple Podcast.  This will be so helpful for others to find these chats, too.  Thanks, friends!

Nathan has always been so good at keeping me focused on the moment I stand before my Lord.  I want to be pleased with my decisions from this day, when I stand before Him on that day.  This perspective has helped us to stay focused on what’s REALLY important when it comes to how we spend our time, our energy, our money and in raising our kids.  

Living overseas took this intentional lifestyle to another level.  We knew we would be in that country for a finite number of years.  If we wanted to spend time with someone or travel somewhere, today was the day.  Another opportunity likely wouldn’t come back around.  We learned to make the most of our days and not let them slip by, full of unfulfilled wishes.

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Bible verses referenced in this episode:

“For we will all stand before the judgement seat of God; for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” 
Romans 14:10b-12

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith”
Hebrews 12:1-2a

“The fruit of the spirit is…self control”
Galatians 5:22-23

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6

“Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” 
Colossians 3:2

“And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”
Joshua 3:13

Books that Nathan mentions as helpful:
All In – Mark Batterson
Not a Fan – Kyle Idleman
Unoffendable – Brant Hansen

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Check out our website to sign up for email updates, listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform – Common People, Uncommon Marriage 

Follow us on social media and share with a friend: FaceBook / Instagram

***If you have been encouraged by what you’ve heard here, we would be honored if you would leave a review on Apple Podcast.  This will be so helpful for others to find these chats, too.  Thanks, friends! 

In January 2015 we were at a crossroads…stay in the engineering world or work full time at the church?  This was as big as we could dream, but God had other plans. 

When an opportunity arose to move our young family overseas, our hearts were ready.  Our good Father had planted the seeds years before and we had spent months seeking wisdom and releasing our future to Him.

The crazy thing is that this decision wasn’t just an adventure for us, we knew that it would change everything for our kids…forever.  It would change the way they saw the world and they would never be able to go back to small town America mentality.  Confident this was part of His good plan for them, too, we boarded that plane with anxious anticipation.   Once again, our good Father came through bigger and better than we ever could have imagined. 

“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we can ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.”
Ephesians 3:20-21

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9

Some of the books mentioned during our Spring 2015 search for wisdom and direction:
The Circle Maker – Mark Batterson
Draw the Circle – Mark Batterson
If – Mark Batterson
Insanity of God – Nik Ripkin
Insanity of Obedience – Nik Ripkin

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Carey’s testimony is documented on our sister podcast: The Journey Podcast

Check out our website to sign up for email updates, listen and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform – Common People, Uncommon Marriage 

Follow us on social media and share with a friend: FaceBook / Instagram

***If you have been encouraged by what you’ve heard here, we would be honored if you would leave a review on Apple Podcast.  This will be so helpful for others to find these stories, too.  Thanks, friends! 

Nathan shares about how he came to know the Lord.  He didn’t grow up in a “church home” and was 17 before he was open to the idea of God.  In fact, he was only at the revival that day because he chased a skirt into church.  Even though he hadn’t been looking for God, God had been waiting for him.

We stayed baby Christians for many, many years, but slowly the transformation came.

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:2

When we were newly married, Nathan drove 45 minutes each way to work.  He filled his time listening to sermons and Mark Driscoll caught his attention.  This verse was one of his favorites:

“The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.  Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”
1 Corinthians 7:3-5

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Carey’s testimony is documented on our sister podcast: The Journey Podcast

Check out our website to sign up for email updates, contact us and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform – Common People, Uncommon Marriage

Follow us on social media and share with a friend: Facebook / Instagram

***If you have been encouraged by what you’ve heard here, we would be honored if you would leave a review on Apple Podcast.  This will be so helpful for others to find these stories, too.  Thanks, friends! 

In this episode, Nathan and Carey sit down to discuss what makes our marriage different than others.  

Bottom line: We have both fully given our lives to Jesus and strive to live life His way.  We must learn to die to self and put the needs of the other first. 

“Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to your own interest, but also to the interests of others.”  Philippians 2:3-4

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”  Matthew 7:12

“Love one another with brotherly affection.  Outdo one another in showing honor.”  Romans 12:10 

We are Nathan and Carey, high school sweethearts and lovers of Jesus.  We are the proud parents of 4 amazing kids and have followed Jesus to live on 3 different continents.  

We have found that abundant life and an amazing marriage is not a mirage.  It is real.  Join us as we chat around our table after dinner to discuss all that God has taught us.