Marriage will have difficult seasons. Two people can love God, love each other, and still face circumstances that stretch them beyond anything they expected. But there is a difference we need to talk about more honestly: suffering with your spouse is different from suffering because of your spouse. That distinction matters, especially for the wife who keeps wondering whether being faithful means continuing to absorb whatever her husband chooses to do. When You Face Hardship Together Suffering with your spouse may mean walking through illness, grieving someone you love, losing a job, or caring for an aging parent. Neither of you would have chosen the circumstances, but you are trying to carry them together. You may get tired. You may misunderstand each other. You may need to apologize and begin again. Yet there is a willingness to listen, share responsibility, and care about what the other person is experiencing. The hardship is real, but so is the companionship. Sometimes that sounds like, “I don’t know how we’re going to get through this, but I want to understand what you need from me.” That is part of loving each other through a difficult season. When Someone's Choices Become the Source of Your Pain Something different is happening when your suffering repeatedly comes from your spouse’s dishonesty, humiliation, intimidation, betrayal, or attempts to control you. You bring up something that hurt you, and the conversation becomes a trial about your attitude. You ask for emotional connection and are told you expect too much. You express a different opinion and spend the evening managing his reaction. Eventually, you learn to keep things to yourself because honesty has become too costly. That deserves more attention than, “Every marriage has problems.” Every marriage does have problems. But a pattern in which one person causes harm and the other person is expected to absorb it requires truth, accountability, and change. Keeping Things Quiet Is Not the Same as Creating Peace

What’s one word you hope will describe how you see yourself as you grow? Share it below.

A thought can feel true simply because you’ve heard it for years. “I’m too much.” “My needs don’t matter.” “I always disappoint people.” Before you keep agreeing with that thought, consider whether it reflects who God says you are. What truth about your worth do you want to practice believing today? Share that with us if you feel safe doing so.

Hello community. I've been pretty much off of Life Reframe for the past few months, and I've really missed interacting with you all. As some of you know, I had four pretty signifiant eye surgeries since spring, and I'm jut now getting healed up and ready to go again. Even though I felt fine, my surgeon significantly limited my screen time during the healing process after each of the surgeries 🤨 I can't wait to show you all some of the new content I have coming up for this fall and winter season. A lot of new teaching content I've been working on, review of chapters from my new book "The 5 Life Languages" (click on hyperlink) and much more. I made the decision to make admission into our Life Reframe community free for all who would like to participate. For those who have been a part of it through the $20 paid membership route, thank you for understanding. As a gesture of my appreciation for your investment, I would like to send you a free copy of my new book. If interested, please email me your mailing address at [email protected] and I'll get that sent your direction. Please spread the word about all of the beneficial things going on with Life Reframe, Dr. Dave on social media, and Life Training Christian Counseling. I appreciate all of you. --Dr. Dave

Thank you all who've been praying for me through my recent eye surgeries. I've had two completed on the right eye, and still have two more on the left eye to go. It's still a little early to really say how much change there will be with my vision. I can certainly say that colors are much more bold and bright than they've been in a long time -- but still very blurry, almost like looking through a glass of water. I have two ongoing issues with each eye (in case you're wanting to know). There is an advanced cataract on top of advanced hereditary Fuchs Dystrophy in both eyes. All that said, my vision has been on a steady decline since I was about 40. I put off the surgeries until the technology advanced to where I could anticipate an outstanding outcome. Plus my surgeon is amontg the best in this field. I apologize for not being as attentive to Life Reframe as I usually am. Seeing a computer screen is pretty difficult still. I'm looking through my left eye with a magnifying glass right now as I'm typing this. I have a couple new courses I hope to post on Life Reframe by the end of July. I think you'll be excited with both of them. I'll keep you all updated on my progress. Not sure when the third surgery will be. We're anticipatring probably another 3-4 weeks from now.