Cindy works as an Advocate for Women and Children. What are three things you can do starting today to make your relationships better? Do hard things, knowing that you will come out of it a healthier person and a better partner, and you might even see the impact spread to your partner.Ĭindy and Eddy Ruble are Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel serving in Malaysia. That required serious reflection and a plan. When I was in seminary, my spirituality professor asked us, “Who do you want to be and how are you going to get there?” The answer was to be in the form of a 10-page paper. Will that be easy in the moment? No, but do it anyway, because you will walk away calmer. Angry? Pause and breathe before responding so you don’t just react. We get to healthy relationships, one step at a time, one act at a time. The impact I see is incremental, not magical. To date, I have not had anyone who did the things they chose to do say that it did not help. In most sessions, I have conducted, I generally ask the husbands and wives individually to tell me three things he or she can do before we meet again to move in the direction of the healthy marriage they want. In a marriage, Do hard things generally means working on yourself, working on your mindset and your own improvement, working on what is in your power to change because you are the only person you can change. We all understand the pain of broken relationship and the fear that our relationship might not make it through.ĭo hard things because your marriage is worth it. However, their stories are possess a universal quality. Out of respect for confidentiality and privacy, I am not mentioning names or putting faces to their stories, for their stories and their struggles are their own. I have been called in several times to help struggling couples and as I listen deeply to their struggles and ask questions to help them see steps they can take to move forward in healthy ways together, I often find myself saying, what you have decided to do is not easy, but it will help you move forward in the positive direction you have said you want to go.

This extra strain and struggle has brought many relationships to the breaking point.

Relationship countdowns