What comes to your mind when you hear the word forgiveness?

Most of us think of a time when someone hurt us.  They said something or did something that left a mark.  Maybe it was a family member, your spouse or even a decision you made yourself that created a reason to bring unforgiveness into your life.

Forgiveness is hard but it is essential.  It's essential because choosing not to forgive will always end up harming yourself. 

Listen and hear Heather and Griffin share openly about the challenges of forgiveness.  You will hear practical advice on how to forgive yourself, your spouse and other people in your life.  You will also hear ways they work together as a couple to find forgiveness in challenging circumstances.  Make sure to listen all the way to the end to hear a step by step process on how to find forgiveness towards someone. 

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.

Can two people really fall out of love?

It’s a really good question.  No one gets married and doesn’t think they are in love.  No one really believes five or ten years down the road it isn’t going to work out and you will be looking to start over fresh away from your spouse.

However, it is something you hear about.  “We aren’t in love anymore.”  “We have just grown apart.”  “It’s just better to go our separate ways.”

So, what does that actually mean?  And if this is something that could happen to us, how can we avoid it?

Listen and hear Griffin and Heather talk about how people can drift apart over time.  You will hear how they see love differently than a lot of people and ways you can avoid falling out of love.

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.

Is your bedroom sacred?

Before you google what that even means think for a moment about the culture of your home.  We all create an environment in our home every day and we should be intentional about what environment is being formed.

So, when it comes to your bedroom it may be the most important area for your marriage.  It's where "the magic happens", it's where important decisions are made and it's where you go to connect and rest.

In this episode you will hear Heather and Griffin explain the importance of protecting the culture of your home and specifically your bedroom.  You will hear what they cannot talk about in their room and how Heather convinced Griffin to value spending money to make their room look nicer!

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.

How do you deal with your stress?

It's a good question.  Unfortunately, it's not one we ask enough of ourselves.  Stress is simply unavoidable.  The nature of our lives creates so many challenges and difficulties that stress is inevitable.  It can come from finances, work, family relationships, uncertainty of your future, and the list goes on.

Stress impacts your marriage all the time.  Even if only one spouse is feeling it you will find it creep into your relationship in some fashion.  A shorter tone, bad habits being created, less communication, etc.  It will have an impact.

In this episode Griffin and Heather talk about healthy ways to deal with your stress.  They share personally about how much their faith helps in this area of their lives and some unhealthy outlets that can be crippling to you or your marriage.

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.

Would you like to have better sex? 

Okay, don’t answer out loud.  But, let’s be honest about a few things.  Sex is important.  And we want it to be really good because it helps our marriage.

So what does that really look like?  The world we live in loves to celebrate all kinds of sex outside of the marriage covenant.  It's almost as if to say that sex within marriage is one of the least exciting ways to experience sex.  And we know that many things can get in the way causing our sexual experience in marriage to be a challenge.  

However, we know from scripture that God created sex for marriage.  Sex is meant to build and strengthen our marriage because it was made for it. 

Listen and hear Heather and Griffin speak openly about how they approach having a better experience with sex in their marriage.  You will hear about what they recently did that they haven't done in eight years and why Griffin believes sex should be the dessert and not the entrée. 

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.

We all need a rhythm.

Think about it.  We love music when it's in a rhythm. When the rhythm of a song is off we can't connect with it.  Even if the words are powerful we need the rhythm to be spot on.

Have you ever thought that we are the same way with our marriage and our own individual lives?  When your lives are out of rhythm everything is affected.  Maybe you don't feel as healthy, you aren't eating as well, you don't have as much quality time for yourself or with your spouse, etc.  Countless things can take you out of it but we thrive when we are in the right rhythm.

In this episode Griffin and Heather speak openly about how to create a rhythm for marriage.  They unpack the importance of valuing the health of your mind, body and heart.  They speak openly about the impact on their lives when one or more of those three key aspects of their lives is negatively impacted and how they fight to make sure they stick to the rhythm they have created. 

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.

Let's talk about divorce.

We've all heard the statistics that show somewhere near 50% of marriages end in divorce in America.  While that number is staggering it also seems as if it's just become common knowledge in our culture.  Simply put, no-one who gets married believes it will end in divorce but so many couples eventually end up walking away from each other. 

Many of us grew up in a family that experienced divorce and for some it was just the normal.  We don't want it to be normal.  We want your marriage to thrive and last a lifetime.

Listen and hear Griffin and Heather discuss the top three reasons for divorce and how to keep your marriage from crumbling because of those reasons.  You will hear some personal experience from both of their upbringings and also why divorce is a word that is never mentioned in the Gilstrap home. 

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.

Most of us dream of having children. 

Starting a family and raising up the next generation behind us gives us so much value and creates the legacy we leave behind.  When you are first married its fun to talk about how many kids you want to have and building a list of potential names creates excitement as you look ahead to your future family. 

Of course, having kids changes so much.  And like so many other aspects of life you really don't know the impact until it happens.  And these days people have a not so positive view of raising children and building a family.  If you listen closely many couples are weary, overwhelmed and seemingly joyless when it comes to their kids.

Listen and hear Griffin and Heather speak in depth about how their four children have changed their marriage.  You will hear how they have navigated the challenges of those changes but more importantly you will hear how much of a blessing it has been to their lives and marriage to have and raise children. 

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.

Each of you has a role to play. 

Have you ever been on a team or in an organization where you didn't fully understand your role?  The coach or boss had high expectations for you but you had no idea how to live up to them.  You didn't have any clarity on what it meant to succeed or help the organization move forward.  It's a frustrating place to be.

It's no different in marriage.  When we don't have clarity and don't fully understand what we bring to the table and how we help our marriage and family move forward it creates a lot of issues between a couple.

Listen and hear Griffin and Heather discuss how they navigated this challenge.  You will hear them share candidly about specific areas of their relationships where they didn't always understand what role they played and even times when they didn't feel appreciated for the strengths they brought into the marriage.   

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.

How well do you handle your weaknesses?

Marriage has a crazy way of bringing out both the best and the worst of you.  You really are on full display with the person you love the most and it can truly be humbling.

Last week Heather spoke about her struggle with knowing her identity and the impact that has had on her life and her marriage.

This week it's Griffin's turn.  You will hear Griffin unpack a challenge he has faced for a long time that really came out in marriage.  It's a struggle many men face but may not fully understand the implications it has on their wives.  You will hear a candid conversation between Griffin and Heather about how this challenge has impacted them and how they are trying to move forward to overcome it together. 

Thank you for taking this journey with us!  We hope to strengthen your marriage one conversation at a time.  And don't forget to check out more resources at RealMarriagePodcast.com.