Marriage After God
Aaron & Jennifer Smith
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Marriage After God is a weekly marriage focused podcast hosted by Aaron and Jennifer Smith, authors of Husband After God and Wife After God and their newest book titled Marriage After God: Chasing Boldly After God's Purpose For Your Life Together. Marriage After God is intended to encourage, inspire and challenge marriages to chase boldly after God together and to cultivate an extraordinary marriage with each other. Stay tuned each week for awesome marriage encouragement. We hope that we can shine a light on why God has brought you and your spouse together and how you can pursue His purpose for your life and family with joy and excitement.
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Jan 26, 2023
How To Transform Your Marriage Together this year
All of us, on some level, desire transformation in our marriage. Whether that transformation is a small change, or a complete overhaul, we all want to experience more joy, peace, love and purpose. Ultimately, we are always going through some form of transformation, because we don’t remain completely the same. All of us are being transformed into something; the question is, are we transforming into what God desires, or something else?
The first step in changing, is realizing that we _can. _The lie we often tell ourselves is that we cannot change, or never will. We must believe that we can and will change, because of what God says. The journey to change can be really difficult, but to begin, start by doing the next right thing. Here are 7 ways to establish the change and transformation you want to see in your own marriage:
* Write it out
Write down your goals for your marriage and your walk with the Lord, together! Writing down your thoughts and goals makes them visible and real. Not only does this give you and your spouse something to work towards, it ensures you are on the same page. Whether they are smaller goals, such as “affirm one another more often,” or larger goals, such as “get out of debt,” it is important to know about and work together towards your objectives.
* The Golden Rule
_Matthew 7:12 12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. _
In other words, treat your spouse the way you would like to be treated. Be honest, treat them with gentleness and respect, encourage them, and forgive quickly. Pursue your spouse as you would want to be pursued.
* If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it at all
Regardless of how we are feeling at any given moment, it isn’t acceptable to be cruel or hurtful with our words and actions. We must practice holding our tongues and thinking before we speak. Silence, and the ability to listen more in an argument, is more important than being right. Think about what you are going to say. If it is not something you would love to hear from your spouse, then maybe it should not be said. If you do have a critique, bring it to your spouse constructively and from a place of love and respect.
* Stop being easily offended
One of the attributes of love is that it is not easily offended. It is not irritable or resentful. We can become more easily offended when we love ourselves more than we love our spouse, or in the places where we allow insecurity to seep in. When we are not abiding in the word, it will be easy to react in our flesh. If we truly love, we will not be irritable or resentful. Remind your spouse that you are both working on not being offended with each other.
* More romance and more sex
Our marriages need both the physical and emotional connection that romance and sex bring. Physical intimacy is a powerful gift God has given to our marriages. Emotionally, finding ways to relate and to bring excitement and mystery into your daily life is essential in connecting with your spouse’s heart and mind.
* Invest in your marriage
Investing in something means to spend your time, money, energy, and resources on that thing. Investing in your marriage will result in great returns for generations to come. Whether it is going on regular dates, attending a marriage retreat, reading books, or praying for one another, these investments will sow seeds that many (especially you and your spouse), will reap the benefits of.
* See your spouse and yourself through Christ’s eyes
When you look at your spouse, choose to see them as Christ does. Have hope in seeing who your spouse can become in Christ and love them how Christ does, instead of constantly viewing them critically. See them through a lens of grace, not who they are in their sin, but who they are because of the blood of Christ; a new creation.
Change can just happen, but that kind of change is usually the result of being passive in decisions and what you allow to influence your mind and heart. Powerful transformation comes from putting in the time and effort. It takes being selfless and sacrificial; it requires much, but the benefits of becoming more Christ-like are exceedingly worthwhile.
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This episode is brought to you by our faithful patron team, who have chosen to help financially support this show monthly. Here is a shout-out to some of our most recent patrons.
* Nicole Mitchell
* Dawn G
* Kimberly S
* Katharine C
* Candice G
* Regena J
We thank you so much for choosing to partner with us in blessing 10’s of thousands of couples with free daily prayer emails and this weekly podcast.
If you have been blessed by the free marriage after god content, wed love to invite you to join our patron team.
Please visit marriageaftergod.com/patron
TRANSCRIPT
Aaron:
Hey, we're Aaron and Jennifer Smith, your host of the Marriage After God Podcast. All of us on some level desire a transformation in our marriage. Whether the transformation is a small change or a complete overhaul, we want to experience more joy, more peace, more love, and more purpose.
Jennifer:
The truth is, we are always going through some form of transformation, for there is no such thing as staying the same. The question is, are we transforming into what God desires, or something else?
Aaron:
This episode is brought to you by our faithful patron team who have chosen to help financially support this show. Here's a shout to some of the most recent patrons: Nicole M, Don G, Kimberly S, Katherine C, Candace, G, and Regina J. We thank you so much for choosing to partner with us in blessing tens of thousands of couples, with free daily prayer emails, and this weekly podcast.
If you've been blessed by this free Marriage After God content, we'd love to invite you to join our patron team. Please visit Marriageaftergod.com/patron.
Jennifer:
Well, this has been a whole month now of the podcast.
Aaron:
We're doing it.
Jennifer:
It's awesome.
Aaron:
We are doing it.
Jennifer:
Welcome to 2023. How's January been for you?
Aaron:
Well, it feels like we've been doing better because we're better as in, we've talked about, we're getting into routines. The routines look different than they used to, but we're getting some routines and I like it.
Jennifer:
Yeah, sometimes you just got to reset. Sometimes life forces you to reset.
Aaron:
Yeah, hence 2020, 2021, 2022.
Jennifer:
Every year there's been new reset. Yeah, so what's been happening lately since last week?
Aaron:
Well, just before ...
Jennifer:
Oh, yeah, I was going to say that.
Aaron:
Yeah. I walk in, and I wanted to Jennifer look at the notes and she's like, "What notes?" I'm like, "Oh my goodness. Was one of the kids in here?"
Jennifer:
There was just two sentences and a bunch of gibberish.
Aaron:
Garbly. Yeah.
Jennifer:
Did you say garbly?
Aaron:
Garbly goop. It was, all the notes were deleted, literally.
Jennifer:
Who was the culprit? That's what I want to know.
Aaron:
I'm wondering what else happened in our room. Luckily, I was able to restore the notes so we weren't out of luck, but something that is awesome that happened this week is I got to start Jiu-Jitsu.
Jennifer:
Nice. The kids have been doing it for a year. Did you know that?
Aaron:
It's been a whole year?
Jennifer:
I know. Crazy. Went by fast.
Aaron:
They're getting really good and I was getting jealous, and I'm like, "I got to get good at Jiu-Jitsu so that I can wrestle with them and them not win me every time." I started this week and I think you're a little jealous, because I think you want to start too.
Jennifer:
I've been wanting to start for seven months. I feel like out of everyone in the family, Mom gets to make those kind of choices last because everyone's got to be okay if I'm going to step out of the house.
Aaron:
It is true. We need you a lot.
Jennifer:
Timing was off, but who knows?
Aaron:
I think we…
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Jan 19, 2023
Stop Saying One Thing Yet Doing Another
This episode is brought to you by our faithful patron team, who have chosen to help financially support this show monthly. Here is a shout-out to some of our most recent patrons.
_Deborah S_
_Whitney S_
_Valerie B_
We thank you so much for partnering with us in blessing 10’s of thousands of couples with free daily prayer emails and this weekly podcast.
If you have been blessed by free marriage after god content, we'd love to invite you to join our patron team.
Also, if you choose to sign up at $20/month you can get a $50 gift card to our online store to purchase any of our books and resources.
Please visit marriageaftergod.com/patron
How often have you had the intention to do something or change in some way, but in the end you don’t follow through? Whether it is a promise you have made to another, or even to yourself, words have power. And when we use our words to make commitments, we should take them seriously. Oftentimes we find it easy to make promises with our words but have no intention of following through, or find it difficult to keep that promise. Now, our vows may not always take the form of the words “I promise I will…” but instead may sound like “I’ll be there at 10,” or “I’ll pray for you,” Or “I am going to get up at 6 am and read my bible every day.” Many times, this leads to discrepancies between what we say and what we actually do. Scripture informs us to take care with our words and warns against taking oaths.
James 5:12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your "yes" be yes and your "no" be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.
Matthew 5:37 Let what you say be simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything more than this comes from evil.
Sometimes we may think our words are strong enough to get ourselves to do something, or we might even have the intention of following through, but our lives have become so chaotic that our capability to follow through is void. Other times, we might desire to look good in that specific moment, but have no real intention of following through. It is important that we evaluate ourselves honestly in these instances and consider our intentions and how our words impact others. As Proverbs 18:21 says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue.
When we are careless with our words, and make promises and commitments we do not have the capacity to follow through with, we often end up hurting those around us. Rather than attempting to please people in the moment, we should be prepared with practical things to say or do instead. For example, telling someone you cannot give an answer in the moment, that you need time to think about it, or even simply telling that person no is necessary because saying nothing is better than not keeping your word. Consider the instruction given in Ecclesiastes 5:4: When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for he has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow. 5 It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay. And in Ecclesiastes 5:2 Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. As followers of Christ, we must value our integrity and carry ourselves differently than the rest of the world. Our words should carry weight and truth, instead of serving to reinforce falsehoods about ourselves such as the lie that we can’t change.
Ultimately, we may never be completely in control of our tongues, but we serve a God who never goes back on His promises. We can trust in His word, and His promises and what He has said. We can ask him to teach us. We can practice following through, perhaps even having consequences for our failure. We can practice saying “yes” or “no” instead of “maybe” or something else. We can remember although we are not perfect, we follow the one who is, and we can be a light to the world by staying true to our word.
The foundation of a disciplined life is integrity and doing what we say we're going to do. — Rory Vaden
Success comes from what you do, not from what you say you are going to do. — Larry Winget
Do what you say you're going to do! People can do nothing but respect that. — Steve Harvey
Dear Lord,
Thank you for today. Thank you for speaking to us about the importance of sticking to our word. We desire to have integrity and we desire to be trustworthy. Please help us walk in righteousness, to do the things we say we are going to do, to love others by sticking to commitments made. We ask You to transform this part of us. Give us eyes to truly see how our inconsistencies, our discrepancies, and our failure to do what we say hurts people, especially our spouse. We pray we would be a light wherever we go and honor you by doing what we say we are going to do.
In Jesus’ name AMEN!
TRANSCRIPT
Aaron:
Hi, and welcome to Marriage After God. We're your host, Erin and Jennifer Smith. Being tongue-tied or twisted is one thing, but what happens when we intentionally use our tongue to cut deeply, to persuade for our benefit or to serve up half truths and blatant lies? In this episode, we are putting the spotlight on our tongues and considering the way we use our words.
Jennifer:
Today's episode is brought to you by our faithful patron team who have chosen to help financially support this show monthly. We try not to do ads, we don't have any ads and so we're trying to keep this show ad free. And one of the ways we do that is by people like our patrons who support us monthly financially.
Aaron:
Another interesting thing that we'd love to do is highlight some of those patrons. So this week we are giving a shout out to Debra S, Whitney s and Valerie. B. Thank you guys so much for partnering with us and blessing tens of thousands of couples with free daily prayer emails and this weekly podcast.
Jennifer:
If you've been blessed by the free marriage after God content that we create we'd love to invite you to join our patron team.
Aaron:
Also, if you choose to sign up at $20 a month, you can get a $50 gift card to our online store. To purchase any one of our books and resources at your first renewal date,
Jennifer:
Please visit marriage after god.com/patron, P A T R O N.
Aaron:
All right, so everybody, even the listeners think right now cause we're in the first of the year, January still. What's something you're doing today excited about or something that's just new that you weren't doing this time last year or you didn't have this time last year?
Jennifer:
Ours would be chickens, . Lots of chickens.
Aaron:
Chickens.
Jennifer:
We got 20 chickens. We talked about it a couple episodes. It's not a couple few episodes ago but with the price of eggs around the country right
Aaron:
Now, it finally makes sense. Yeah.
Jennifer:
Now it's like, yeah, this is a golden goose where we have these chickens laying golden eggs. Hold
Aaron:
On. I have to say this. I have mentioned in the past that I find enjoyment in memes and those pictures with the writing on it. Mm-hmm. That tell jokes. I just, I'm a jokester. And so when we got these chickens, I was like, man, I really need to learn more about chickens. And so I went on Facebook and added all these chicken groups like Lo, some are local, some are not.
Jennifer:
Oh, that's
Aaron:
Funny. But because the price of eggs have gone up, everybody's posting these chicken memes and they're so funny.
Jennifer:
Are they also posting eggs for like $20 a dozen?
Aaron:
Oh, it's crazy.
Jennifer:
But what's really cool is not only that we're getting eggs, they're not free. So I don't want anyone to think they're free because we still have to pay for the food and all the things. But I was going
Aaron:
To say, we're putting in the work.
Jennifer:
We're putting in the work, but we're getting lots of eggs. And what's awesome is we can share 'em with our friends a…
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Jan 12, 2023
7 Ways To Strengthen and Maintain Your Marriage
There is a spiritual truth that goes like this: what we feed will be nourished, what we sow, we will reap, what we pursue, we will find, what we water will grow.
…BUT WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DON'T?
The opposite is a spiritual truth as well. Stop watering something, and it will eventually die. Stop feeding, and it will diminish. If we don't sow, there won't be anything to reap. If we never seek, we will never find.
Our focus today is to examine these truths, hitting home the importance of continual spiritual and relational maintenance.
Today's episode is brought to you by our faithful patron team who have chosen to help financially support this show monthly. Here is a shout-out to some of our most recent patrons.
Freddy S
Pierre H
Shelly B
Tracy P
We thank you so much for choosing to partner with us in blessing 10’s of thousands of couples with free daily prayer emails and this weekly podcast.
If you have been blessed by free marriage after god content, we'd love to invite you to join our patron team.
Also, if you chose to sign up at $20/month you can get a $50 gift card to our online store on your first renewal!
Please visit marriageaftergod.com/patron
7 Ways to Strengthen and Maintain Your Marriage
This podcast episode delves into the maintenance required for our faith and marriages. The things, and even the people in our fallen world are not meant to last forever. Consequently, as a whole, things that are not regularly cared for or maintained begin to crumble. Now, the duration of time it takes depends on the variables, but really, everything is on its way to deteriorating. When something is cared for, its “life” or longevity is preserved. Alternatively, when things are not tended to- like a building that has been abandoned, when the gutter isn’t fixed, the paint left to chip, the relationship not reconciled or pursued; when the pieces begin to fall and no one bothers to pick them up and see the value in preserving them-the things themselves diminish until they are completely torn down, thrown out, or abandoned. The purpose is buried beneath the rubble and ruin of what once was.
Marriages don’t usually fall apart all at once. It takes time to get to that point; and yet for some, it's still not long at all, which is heartbreaking and difficult. In parity with our marriage and relationships, our faith can fall apart over time as well if we are not careful. Our world has become accustomed to ease and instant gratification, and where hard work or dedication is required, some become stagnant, while others lose heart and give up completely. Often, we think something better will come along, but as stated by Neil Barringham,
“The grass is always greener where you water it.”
In other words, the responsibility is ours. If we do not take accountability for our action or in many cases, our inaction, then the fault is also ours.
As stated in Hebrews 3:12-14, 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
When we do not preserve or hold onto our faith and our marriages, they will slowly but surely decay, and eventually crumble. We will be weakened and deceived if we are not careful to abide in Christ. While we _can trust that our salvation lies in Christ and his work alone_, we _can_ and should labor to safeguard our faith and strengthen our marriages. In order to grow and mature in these things, to keep them from being ineffective, it is essential that we strive to sustain them.
2 Peter 1:8 “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Here are 7 things to maintain in order to keep our marriages and our faith strong and effective.
* Virtue or purity- having high moral standards and striving to be biblically minded, while pursuing purity in all aspects of life.
* Knowledge- growing our knowledge of God through prayer and consistent reading of His word, and growing our knowledge of our spouse by communication, listening and understanding.
* Self-control- in how we communicate, in controlling our emotions and what we consume, and having boundaries.
* Steadfastness- remaining resolute and unwavering in unity and love with our spouses, and standing firm in our belief in Christ and his finished work.
* Godliness- remaining devout in our love and devotion to our God
* Brotherly Affection- loving our spouses as a brother or sister in Christ and desiring to see them grow closer to the Lord.
* Love- not simply maintaining our love but earnestly seeking it out diligently.
We must realize that when we do not tend to what we are entrusted with, it will not last. When we do pursue, maintain, and care for these things, we preserve them. Let's feed our faith and marriage with God's word and spirit. Let’s sow into our spouses with love and intentionality. Let's pursue God and our spouse with our whole hearts.
Lastly, When a new owner comes in and renovate the building it becomes beautiful and full of purpose. Let Christ be that new owner of your marriage today.
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Jan 5, 2023
Self-Discrepancy: Who We Are vs Who We Want To Be
This episode is brought to you in part by our marriage after god podcast and prayer patron team. These are people who have been blessed by this content as well as our daily prayer emails and have decided to help support the show and our daily emails financially. So if you have been blessed by this show and would like to join the marriage after god podcast patron team, please visit marriageaftergod.com/patron
Via Wikipedia: The self-discrepancy theory states that individuals compare their "actual" self to internalized standards or the "ideal or ought self". Self-discrepancy is the gap between two of these self-representations that leads to negative emotions.
Essentially it is how we deal with the difference between who we think we should be and who we want to be vs who we actually are.
Percent Discrepancy or Error:
The discrepancy in a measured quantity for an instrument is the difference between its measured value and true value (accepted value). This difference between these values is known as the absolute error.
Absolute error. When I read that I was like….well it is an absolute error when God's word says to be a respectful wife and then im disrespectful. If God’s word is the measure by which we live, what is the difference between that and how i choose to respond and act.
Google
How do you identify discrepancies?
Identifying discrepancies in data is simple. You compare two data sets for the same period of time and look for numbers that don't match up. The real challenge is understanding what caused the discrepancies and how to reconcile them.
For me when I think of discrepancy, what I feel God wants me to pay attention to … are the differences I see when I compare who I am to who I want to be according to his word. And when i see it i get so frustrated!
Understanding and Confronting why there are different things happening and why i am choosing to be the way i really am, frustrates me. This is what got me thinking….How do I reconcile those differences to become one and the same???
The person i really want to be is like Christ, so there is a fight going on inside you….who you CANNOT BE ON YOUR OWN.
The who you are now fights who you want to be.
TRANSCRIPT:
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, Were Aaron and Jennifer Smith, your host of the Marriage After God podcast. If we're all being honest, we would recognize that there's a discrepancy between who we are and who we desire to be. And right now we are going to dive into this idea and find some encouragement along the way. Would
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You please take some time today and share this episode on your social media? Share it with your friend, share it with your family. Invite them to listen along with you. It'd be an awesome conversation starter. Some people have even taken our podcast and turn 'em into little Bible studies and they meet with a few couples to go through them. And I think you'd be an awesome way to help grow the show, reach of it. And then lastly, before we move on we wanted to bring up a new way that we are inviting people to help support this podcast. We don't do ads. If you noticed the only ads, we talk about our books and our free prayer emails that we send out every day. But one way you can support is you can join the Marriage After God podcast patron team. And what this is, this is a group of husbands and wives all over the country who support this podcast and support our daily prayer emails financially. And if you would like to do that, if this shows blessed you, if you are blessed by our daily prayer emails, we'd love, love to invite you to join the Marriage God podcast patron team by going to marriage after god.com/patron. That's P A T R O N, marriage after god.com/patron.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
While we are in a new year, 2023, can you believe it?
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Did we say 2023? Is it 20? 23? 20?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Just 23.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Just 23.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Just 23. Happy New Year everybody. You might be surprised to see us. We're really excited to be here with you guys starting out the new year.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Why would they be surprised though?
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Oh, fresh. I think because when we finished the last season, which was just in December we told everyone to look forward to another season launching in the spring.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
And it's not the spring,
Speaker 1 (02:06):
But hey, it's never too early to dive into a good marriage podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
And we're back and we're excited.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah. So instead of doing a seasonal podcast, we thought we'd go all the way back to like we did when we first launched the podcast back in 2018,
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Which is crazy.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
We had to go back and look
Speaker 2 (02:23):
It up. We both didn't realize we started this far back. We thought it was 2019.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
So back when we started in 2018, we were doing a weekly episode and that was really exciting and really great. And then after, I don't know how, I
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Don't know, I think it was like 75 plus episode stream.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I don't remember. We switched it to doing a seasonal thing, which gave us, in our family a bit of space in between the seasons, which was really great.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Lots of new babies between then.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, for sure. So here we are and we're going to try a new thing, a new old
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Thing, a new oldie goodie thing.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Well, speaking of oldie goodies, if you are new with us, you can go back to those 2018, 2019 and up episodes if you haven't listened to 'em. And yeah,
Speaker 2 (03:04):
There's a check 'em out there a lot for you there. I was just letting Jennifer know some of that analytics cause I like to look at all that data. And one of our episodes, it's called Jesus is our Passover, has had 58,000 downloads. Crazy. So you should definitely go check that one out. And then the last little bit of numbers I wanna throw out there, we've just, I think just last episode of the last season, we broke 3 million downloads of our podcast. That's
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Awesome. Yeah. That's so cool. Thank you guys for listening.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
Yeah. This that only happens cuz you all who listened to this podcast. So thank you.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Okay, so what can everyone enjoy from us this next year? I should rephrase that. What are people going to want to tell their friends when they talk about our podcast?
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Hopefully good things hard things sometimes but I think I'd love for people to say that we're real. That we like to be honest, that we're not in any way experts but definitely experts at sharing our story.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
I was going to say funny. I want them to say, Hey, this podcast is really funny.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
We do like to laugh a lot.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
I think I'm funny.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Yeah. Words like relatable, truthful those are things that we desire to be as podcast hosts sharing this content with you all.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And on a more serious note I would want them to tell their friends what they say doesn't matter. It's what God says through them when his word comes out of them. It's just really good.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
It's a prayer. I often pray before I teach is Lord let it be your words, not mine.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
Exactly. If anything, it'll be a good dose when you guys follow along this year of Oh yeah. Or good idea or ouch. I need to work on that for the purpose of encouraging all of us to pick up our Bibles and pursue our spouse. Right.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
And to be honest, we actually say these things about our own content because when we're preparing these and thinking these are things that we're going through so we actually feel the same way sometimes. So
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah. Okay, so let's do that now let's get into this very interesting topic we have here toda…
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Dec 15, 2022
16 Best Pieces Of Marriage Advice Every Couple Needs To Hear From 16 Years Of Marriage
January 6th, 2023, will be our 16th Wedding Anniversary. And with that, we wanted to share 16 of the best pieces of marriage advice and marriage tips we have learned along the way. These pieces of marriage advice have revolutionized our marriage in many ways, and some of them even played a large part in saving our marriage from divorce.
Please let us know which piece of advice was your favorite by leaving us a podcast review.
A summary of our marriage tips.
* Pray, A lot!
* Most likely, you are the one who is wrong.
* We are finite, limited creatures.
* Take the next right step
* You and your spouse are on the same team
* Your spouse is your type.
* We are both sinners, and we both need Jesus
* The Gospel heals all
* Never talk badly about your spouse in front of others, especially to family. They don't forget
* You and your spouse are on the inside, and everyone else is on the outside. (boundaries0
* Have fun MORE with each other.
* Schedule a consistent date night.
* Have close married friends
* Never stop learning about your spouse
* Learn to forgive quickly
* Have children together or adopt!
PRAYER FOR YOUR MARRIAGE
_Dear Lord, _
_Thank You for our marriage. Thank You for the opportunities you give us every day to love each other well. We pray we would be wise couples who cling to truth. We pray we would listen to sound marriage advice and apply it. We pray you would continue to mature us and shape our marriage relationship. Increase our ability to love and be known by each other. When fear or doubt creeps into our minds, we pray Your truth will cover us with peace. Please use our marriage to bless each other and use us as a team to bring you glory as we support and encourage other marriages around us._
_In Jesus’ name AMEN!_
READ TRANSCRIPT
Jennifer (00:09):
Hi, and welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
Aaron (00:12):
We're your hosts Aaron Jennifer Smith.
Jennifer (00:13):
We have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast.
Aaron (00:18):
We love God and we love marriage,
Jennifer (00:20):
And we love to be honest about it
Aaron (00:21):
All. Marriage is not always a walk in the park, but we do believe it has a powerful purpose. So
Jennifer (00:26):
Our goal here is to open up the conversation to talk about our faith and our marriage,
Aaron (00:30):
Especially in light of the gospel.
Jennifer (00:32):
We certainly don't have all the answers, but if you stick around, we may just make you
Aaron (00:35):
Laugh. But our hope is to encourage you to chase boldly after God's purpose for your life together.
Jennifer (00:39):
This is after God.
Aaron (00:47):
Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Marriage After God podcast. I'm Aaron Smith. I'm
Jennifer (00:52):
Jennifer . I'm Jennifer.
Aaron (00:55):
I'm
Jennifer (00:56):
Jennifer. I'm Jennifer. Now. I don't know what my regular is at calling. I'm Jennifer.
Aaron (01:01):
And we're back for another episode. Episode 12. This is the last episode of season six.
Jennifer (01:05):
We made it
Aaron (01:08):
Thinking Made what? . Well, it's not
Jennifer (01:10):
Easy. This is a big deal for Aaron and I jumping back into podcasting. But we love it and we were already starting to talk about what's up for next season, which will come out early spring.
Aaron (01:21):
And I'm always like, babe, I wanna get all new equipment. I want to redo our push. She's like, the content's more important. I'm like, . You're right. It's
Jennifer (01:28):
True though. They're all agreeing with me right now. They are. Okay. So in today's episode, we are going to share our top 10, just kidding, 16 bits of advice we have learned over the 16 years we've been married.
Aaron (01:42):
One, I did one for each
Jennifer (01:43):
Year. No, it's great. Okay. It makes sense. I don't know why I said 10. I think it's Cuz most things are like a top 10 Yeah. Thing. But
Aaron (01:51):
This is 16. It's even, it's six better,
Jennifer (01:54):
Yeah.
Aaron (01:54):
16 years.
Jennifer (01:55):
I think I added one at the bottom. So maybe 17.
Aaron (01:59):
a bonus.
Jennifer (02:00):
It's really how to do all of them. Okay. You'll see. Okay. But before we do that, we must give you our sponsor update. So Aaron and I have written many books, Marriage Resources for You, actually, not even just marriage prayer resources for your son and daughter, for your husband and wife. We have devotionals. We
Aaron (02:25):
Are praying for your future husband and future wife,
Jennifer (02:28):
For anyone listening that might
Aaron (02:29):
Be engaged or know someone engaged.
Jennifer (02:32):
We also have some traditionally published books, including The Unveiled Wife, which is the beginning of our marriage story and what God walked us through and marriage after God, which is all about your purpose for your marriage. And the reason I'm telling you all of this is because 2023 is right around the corner. And some people like to start off with a bang and start off with something in their hands to encourage them every day to grow closer to God or grow close, closer to their spouse or to their children. And start off the new year. Right? Start off the new year with something tangible to encourage and inspire and move you forward. Right? So move you forward. Move you forward. No, I said it right. So yeah, I just wanted to let you guys know that there are a handful of resources out there for you, from us. Aaron, why don't you tell them where they can get them.
Aaron (03:23):
You can go to shop dot marriage after god.com and you can get all those books that we wrote. These books. Because when we started this ministry started this business, our thought was we didn't want to just create any old product, something to support ourselves. We wanted to actually produce something
Jennifer (03:39):
That met a need
Aaron (03:40):
That and was meaningful and transformative and purposeful. And that's what we did with these books is we wanted to inspire your prayer life. We wanted to get you into a daily devotional. And we used marriage for the most part as the focus of all that to draw you closer to God and to your spouse. And so if you wanna support this ministry, if you wanna support this podcast go pick up a book and tell someone about it. If you already have our books, we just wanna say thank you because you've there. There's so many people that have gotten our books and have told us what they've meant to them. And we just wanna thank you for that. So if you already do have the book or one of our books, get another one of our books maybe. Or tell someone about 'em a big way to support the ministry as well,
Jennifer (04:23):
Or to go another step grab husband and wife after God and tell another couple to get husband and wife after God or get it for them. And then you guys go through it together. And then once a week or once every other week, talk about it. We've
Aaron (04:38):
Actually had a lot of marriages start small home groups with our devotionals. And I think that would be an amazing thing to do. Last episode, we talked a lot about getting close with other believers, getting in community. This is a great way to start that. Yeah.
Jennifer (04:54):
Because you have a purpose. You have something to work with. To align
Aaron (04:57):
With. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, that was it. Topic today, 16,
Jennifer (05:03):
Moving right along
Aaron (05:04):
16 years and 16 little bits of advice.
Jennifer (05:10):
Although when I was going through this list that we've made there was one that came very early on in the marriage that you did not put on here. It's the one that stands out to me. Should we one of these? No, I don't wanna replace any of 'em because it's kind of funny doesn't, not real advice, but maybe it is for some. Oh, what is
Aaron (05:27):
It? Just, we'll start off with this.
Jennifer (05:29):…
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Dec 8, 2022
How To Affirm Your Wife And Why Daily Affirmations Are So Important
This world is full fo discouragement, and we personally are really good at feeling shameful, weak, useless, and unworthy. Fill in the blank with all the negative things we think and say about ourselves daily.
We all can use more words of encouragement and affirmation. So let this episode be an encouragement and reminder for you to practice finding things to affirm your spouse with on a daily basis.
--
This episode is sponsored by our newest book, Marriage After God. In this book, we have laid out for you a treasure map that leads your marriage to the greatest treasure of all, which is to know beyond a shadow of a doubt exactly why God has brought you and your spouse together.
This book is meant to take you on a journey of discovering the unique, deep and powerful purpose God has for your marriage.
The world and your flesh will tell you that the greatest end to be reached is happily ever after, but we believe that that is in fact not at all the end to which we are to pursue. Instead, God intends for you to pursue His end and for your marriage to be a powerful tool in His mighty hand to bring about glory for His Son and to grow His kingdom.
If you are ready to say yes to this journey, then please head over to Shop.marriageaftergod.com or amazon.com and grab your copy today.
--
HERE IS THE LIST OF AFFIRMATIONS I TOLD MY WIFE IN THIS EPISODE
* You are one of the most thoughtful and caring people I know. You are always considering how other people feel and what they might be going through. Your heart is always to comfort and include. Your heart is easily burdened for those of our friends who are burdened. These traits that God has given you are a powerful spiritual gift that our church, friends and anyone else that comes into our life get to be blessed by.
* You are an incredible mother who desires to be the best mother she can be. You teach our children diligently and with determination. You are creative with them and desire that they have many different outlets for growing in knowledge and skill and giftings. You are constantly growing in your patience and love for our children and you desire to be the best you can be for them.
* We are going to be married for 16 years on January 6th 2023. And I want you to know that I am thankful that i have had the privilege of having you as my bride, my friend and my lover for not only the last 16 years but also for the rest of our lives. And just like the bible says. You are a blessing and a gift to me and I am excited to continue to discover who you are each and every day of our lives together.
* You are my favorite person to spend alone time with. Going to a movie, dinner, fishing, hiking, bike ride. Whatever it is it will always be better when you are with me. You are my best friend.
* Just as i said when i asked you to be my wife, “whatever we do I want to do it with you and for God. I love building our life, business and family together.
* You are a godly woman who desires to grow and mature in your walk with Christ and your love for God is an inspiration not only to me but also to our children and to all our friends.
* Lest one! You may not believe me, but I think you are one of the bravest and strongest women i know. Following me to africa, starting businesses with me, doing our own marriage retreat, writing not just one book but 12. Having 5 children with me, and doing any of countless other things we have done in our life together. You are brave. And strong. And i admire you for that bravery and strength.
_Phil 4:8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. _
_Ephesians 4:29 “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.”_
_READ TRANSCRIPT_
Jennifer (00:09):
Hi, and welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
Aaron (00:12):
We're your hosts Aaron, Jennifer Smith. We
Jennifer (00:14):
Have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast.
Aaron (00:18):
We love God and we love marriage
Jennifer (00:20):
And we love to be honest about it all.
Aaron (00:22):
Marriage is not always a walk in the park, but we do believe it has a powerful purpose.
Jennifer (00:25):
So our goal here is to open up the conversation to talk about our faith and our marriage,
Aaron (00:30):
Especially in light of the gospel.
Jennifer (00:32):
We certainly don't have all the answers, but if you stick around, we may just make you
Aaron (00:35):
Laugh. But our hope is to encourage you to chase boldly after God's purpose for your life together.
Jennifer (00:39):
This is after God. Hi, and welcome back to another episode of Marriage After God. We're back Warrior Host. I'm Jennifer.
Aaron (00:54):
I'm Aaron.
Jennifer (00:54):
And we're happy to be here. We took another little break, unexpected, spontaneous break. We
Aaron (01:00):
Did not do it on purpose.
Jennifer (01:01):
life happens and for getting back into podcasting this season, I felt like we did really great. We were really strong. And then we had the break cuz you left. And then we came back and then we had to take another break because we were working on edits of the book and which
Aaron (01:19):
Turned out really well.
Jennifer (01:20):
And then there was Thanksgiving and then we got hit with sickness like bad
Aaron (01:25):
For over a week.
Jennifer (01:26):
It was rough.
Aaron (01:27):
It was like we had Thanksgiving and then boom, we're sick. So we had to take the time out. We couldn't do anything. Yeah, it was, we were, oh man, it was horrible. But we are back and we're going to do, we have two more episodes
Jennifer (01:38):
In this season. This is number 11. And then we have one more. So
Aaron (01:41):
We're going
Jennifer (01:42):
To do this. That wraps up the season crazy.
Aaron (01:44):
And then we get to practice and be better at next season because we have time
Jennifer (01:50):
To plan. excited about it. But in today's episode, I actually don't know what we're going to talk about cuz for some reason Aaron wanted it to be a surprise secret or maybe, I don't know why
Aaron (02:01):
I'm surprised that you're letting me do this , because you don't like to be surprised. That's true. And you don't like to not know what's going on. But this episode you listening, you know what the episode's about because the title, Jennifer hasn't seen the title yet.
Jennifer (02:17):
He's kept everything
Aaron (02:17):
From me so she doesn't know what it's about. And so we'll get to that soon and I hope it's good help. See. So before we get into that, this episode is sponsored by our newest book. When I say newest book, this book came out in 2020.
Jennifer (02:34):
2019 I think. 19. Yeah. 2019.
Aaron (02:37):
Oh, I think you're right. Okay. It's still our news book. We have one coming out next year, which will be our newest, newest book. But this one, marriage After God. This is one of the pinnacle works that we've done. It doesn't just incorporate our life, but it incorporates so much of what God has shown us and taught us about the purpose in marriage and why he created it. In this book we've laid out for you a treasure map that leads you your marriage to the greatest treasure of all, which is to know beyond a shadow of a doubt exactly why God has brought you and your spouse together. This book is meant to take you on a journey of discovering the unique, deep and powerful powerful purpose God has for your marriage. The world in your flesh will tell you that the greatest end to be reached is happily ever after. But we believe that this is in fact not at all the end to which we are to pursue. Instead, God intends for you to pursue his end and for your marriage to be a po…
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Nov 17, 2022
How To Forgive Your Spouse When You Don't Feel Like It
This week's episode is brought to you by our 30-day marriage devotionals. Husband and wife after god. These devotionals were written to help you grow closer to your spouse and closer to God. We invite you to join the thousands of other marriages that have already taken the journey toward a deeper and more purposeful marriage.
Also, with the holidays coming up, these devotionals will make a powerful and meaningful gift for the other married couples in your life.
Get them today at shop.marriageaftergod.com or amazon.com
Forgiveness is the relief of tension in a relationship that has endured offense or conflict.
Like holding a band and stretching it across your chest. Eventually, your muscles start to ache
When I was thinking of this analogy I also thought…..If someone - we will say the person who caused the offense) is watching me hold this band and I release it to relax my arms. Their state or being is not affected like mine is. I get relief from letting go. I bring this up because forgiveness in a relationship - although powerful to also be on the receiving end - has a powerful effect on the one who is forgiving.
Now consider how Christ our Lord felt when He forgave all for sins. Whoa!
We all have had countless opportunities to forgive others - especially our spouse - so let's talk more about it and how to do it when we don't feel like.
* Why should I forgive when I feel like they are wrong?
* Why does it feel hard to forgive?
* Why do I have to forgive?
* Why don't I want to forgive?
* How can I forgive if they have not repented?
* What if I forgive them and they do it again?
* Why should I forgive if they have not changed yet?
* If I forgive them then what they did just get overlooked and if it happens again?
These are good questions and many we have all wrestled to answer. Let's take a look at one more important question…..
Why does Jesus command us to forgive?
_[Mat 6:12-15 ESV] 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses._
If forgiveness was a naturally occurring response to being wronged or hurt then there would be no need for the command.
But the fact is that forgiveness is a very unnatural phenomenon. It goes against all our natural responses and desires.
Forgiveness goes against our natural defense mechanisms and responses. Justice is a more natural response.
No, forgiveness isn't something that comes from us at all. It is something we must do in the power of the Holy Spirit. It is something we must do out of obedience to God’s word.
True forgiveness can only happen when we understand the miracle that we ourselves have received forgiveness for trespassing against a perfect and Holy God.
When we realize what it is that Christ did for us on that cross, we begin to see why we must also forgive others.
To withhold forgiveness puts us in the place of God.
READ TRANSCRIPT
Jennifer (00:09):
Hi and welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
Aaron (00:12):
We're your hosts Aaron, Jennifer Smith.
Jennifer (00:13):
We have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast.
Aaron (00:18):
We love God and we love marriage
Jennifer (00:20):
And we love to be honest about it all.
Aaron (00:22):
Marriage is not always a walk in the park, but we do believe it has a powerful purpose.
Jennifer (00:25):
So our goal here is to open up the conversation to talk about our faith and our marriage,
Aaron (00:30):
Especially in light of the gospel.
Jennifer (00:32):
We certainly don't have all the answers, but if you stick around we may just make you laugh.
Aaron (00:36):
But our hope is to encourage you to chase boldly after God's purpose for your life together.
Jennifer (00:39):
This is after God.
Aaron (00:49):
All right. We are back. Aaron Jennifer Smith with the Marriage After God podcast.
Jennifer (00:55):
It's been like two weeks.
Aaron (00:57):
Yes.
Jennifer (00:57):
People were probably wondAarong are they done?
Aaron (01:00):
No, we intentionally took off a couple
Jennifer (01:03):
Weeks. We unintentionally. Intentionally. Yeah. Aaron told me the week before, Hey, by the way, don't stress out, but I am. We're taking a break. And I was like, what? We've never done that.
Aaron (01:13):
Well, you were in like deep edit mode on our book and I was going on a trip with Elliot and so I was like, you know what? We're just not going to even deal with
Jennifer (01:23):
It. And normally I would argue that and say, no, we made this commitment. Let's just follow through with that.
Aaron (01:28):
But I think you felt relieved.
Jennifer (01:29):
I did
Aaron (01:30):
Actually. Because you were doing a lot. Yeah. You were crushing it. And I was about to leave and all I thought was like I just, there's no, this plate is full, so we're going to be good. But we love you and we missed you guys and we have a really good episode for you guys today. I hope. And just real quick, I wanna talk about my trip with Elliot, cuz I know we mentioned it. I went to Florida with Elliot for his 10th birthday. It was just me and him and it was awesome. We show up and my friend who lives there texts me and says, you made it just some time for the hurricane.
Jennifer (01:58):
Literally like you coming in from the west, the hurricane coming in from the east, you guys met there per in perfect.
Aaron (02:05):
It was a nothing burger for sure. There was a little bit of wind, a little bit of rain. I know that there's been worse tornado or worse hurricanes in the area, but I think it just died down to a tropical storm. And it was actually a lot of fun being there and El Elliot's thinking a tornado not a tornado. He kept wanting to call it a tornado because they, they're supposed to swirl in the middle when you look on the map. But it was fun. It was raining. We went to the Everglades got to see some old friends that live there still. And my favorite part was just having time with Elliot talking about him growing up. I was asked him questions, what does he see? What do you think? What does he think God has for him over this next year? And as he's getting older, and it was awesome. And I think he's going to remember it for the rest of his life,
Jennifer (02:52):
So Very cool.
Aaron (02:53):
Did you miss
Jennifer (02:54):
Us? Of course I did. That was, I was going to jump in and say, there's one thing I
Aaron (02:57):
Did. You wish you were there because I wish
Jennifer (03:00):
You were there. Well, of course everybody likes adventure. But I was going to jump in and say, one thing I learned and realized when you were gone is how codependent I am on you. But I already know that I don't like it when you leave. You did learn that.
Aaron (03:10):
Yeah. That's a given. Yeah. All that to say, we are back and we're excited. And today's episode we're going to be talking about something that's very challenging to do in your marriage and life. And it's how to forgive even when you don't feel like it. Ooh,
Jennifer (03:26):
Ooh,
Aaron (03:27):
Ooh. Yeah. That's good. That's
Jennifer (03:28):
A hard one. All right. Before we jump into today's topic, we are going to share today's sponsor, which is our 30 day marriage devotionals, husband and wife after God. These devotionals were written to help you draw closer to each other and to God and we invite you to join thousands of other marriages who have already taken the journey toward a deeper, more purposeful marriage by using these devotionals. Also, with the holidays coming up, you can easily give these devotionals to other married couples in your life as a powerful and meaningful gift. So you can check that out at shop dot marriage after god.com or amazon…
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Oct 28, 2022
We finished Our Chicken Coop and here is what we learned about doing hard things
In Today's episode, we are going to dive into talking about chicken coops - okay, not a KNOW-HOW, but more so what we learned about working together to finish a hard thing.
Today's episode is brought to you by our book set
31 Prayers For My Future Husband / Wife
Now, most of our listeners are probably already married, so you won't need this set. But you do know someone who could benefit from it. A teenager, niece or nephew, a friend.
These books include 31 days of prayers for a person desiring to get married one day, maybe they are currently single or maybe they are already engaged. This book set will be a blessing to read and pray through.
So if you are single or in a serious relationship but not yet married, or if you know someone who would be excited to know more about these books, please go to
Shop.marriageaftergod.Com or even amazon.com!
We hope that by sharing our little story you can apply any wisdom we gained in hindsight to be a blessing in your marriage. Because we all know we do hard things together. It will inevitably come up…..a DIY project, a job, a ministry opportunity, or just raising kids.
READ TRANSCRIPT
Jennifer (00:09):
Hi, and welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
Aaron (00:12):
We're your hosts Aaron Jennifer Smith. We
Jennifer (00:14):
Have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast.
Aaron (00:18):
We love God and we love marriage
Jennifer (00:20):
And we love to be honest about it
Aaron (00:21):
All. Marriage is not always a walk in the park, but we do believe it has a powerful purpose.
Jennifer (00:25):
So our goal here is to open up the conversation to talk about our faith and our marriage,
Aaron (00:30):
Especially in light of the gospel.
Jennifer (00:32):
We certainly don't have all the answers, but if you stick around, we may just make you laugh.
Aaron (00:35):
But our hope is to encourage you to chase boldly after God's purpose for your life together.
Jennifer (00:39):
This is Marriage after God.
Aaron (00:47):
Hey, welcome back to another episode of the Marriage After God podcast. We're your hosts, Aaron
Jennifer (00:52):
And Jen. Jennifer, Jen. Jen, Jen
Aaron (00:54):
. So glad you're here. In today's episode, we're going to be diving into a talk about our chicken coop.
Jennifer (01:02):
I told you not to be weird. I told you
Aaron (01:04):
Guys the problem is you need tell me not to be.
Jennifer (01:07):
When we went to go start, I said, please don't be weird, but we're not just talking about chicken coops like a know-how. More so what we learned about working together and finishing something hard
Aaron (01:17):
Because it was very difficult. This chicken coop,
Jennifer (01:22):
Today's episode is brought to you by our book set, 31 Prayers for My Future Husband and Wife. Well, there's the 31 prayers for my Future husband and the 31 prayers for my Future Wife. Now, most of you listening are probably already married, so you won't need this set, but you probably know someone who would benefit from it like a teenager in your life. Niece, nephew, a friend. These books include 31 Prayer Days of Prayer for a person desiring to get married one day. So maybe they're currently single or maybe they're already engaged. This book set will be a blessing to them to read and pray through. So if you are single listening right now or in a serious relationship but not yet married or if someone who'll be excited about these books, please go to shop dot marriage after god.com or Amazon to check it out.
Aaron (02:06):
Awesome. So
Jennifer (02:09):
I feel like I'm getting better at those
Aaron (02:11):
By the way. You are getting better at those a little bit. A little bit, yeah. But there's something that's coming up that's pretty important.
Jennifer (02:20):
I know I haven't cried about it yet, but there's something very significant about our oldest son turning 10.
Aaron (02:27):
Yeah. He's no longer in the second or the single digits
Jennifer (02:31):
And he never will be double digits again. Yeah, this is a huge deal. Can you believe
Aaron (02:35):
It? Yeah. And as he said, he, he'll be in triple digits when he is turns a hundred, so that's awesome. He's going to be in the double digits for quite a while.
Jennifer (02:43):
So I don't know if we already mentioned this, but 10 years ago we read Love Does by Bob Goff. It came out the same year that he was born and so he was a baby and I remember specifically getting so excited about the part of the book where he talks about taking his kids on these 10 year year old adventures. So if you've read the book, you know exactly what
Aaron (03:01):
You're talking about. Probably my favorite part of the book
Jennifer (03:03):
Actually. Yeah, it's what stuck with us. Sometimes you read something and it just totally sticks. Well, we've talked about it every year with every kid's birthday and we remind each other how great this will be and we've prepared ourselves for
Aaron (03:13):
It. until it comes up and you're like oh
Jennifer (03:15):
Wow, that's kind of a big deal. So we know that. We know Elliot, and we've talked to him enough to know that his ultimate dream excursion would probably be to South America. South America, right.
Aaron (03:27):
South America. Tropical snakes, po deadly, poisonous things.
Jennifer (03:32):
Some birds. Something is stuck with that kid that South America is like dream world for him. I
Aaron (03:37):
Don't know
Jennifer (03:38):
The rainforest
Aaron (03:39):
And I would love to take him to Brazil.
Jennifer (03:40):
Well, what it probably is is he, Aaron has shared stories with him from Brazil when you went on your trip. So he probably connects to you with that,
Aaron (03:47):
But he wants it.
Jennifer (03:48):
Okay. But we're not taking him to South America.
Aaron (03:50):
No. We thought about him, we're like, I'm not taking sun out of the country right
Jennifer (03:54):
Now. Not yet. But we were like, well what's comparable? What's like, where is there somewhere kind of gives you that tropical filling? Maybe not in this season, but
Aaron (04:04):
Most seasons
Jennifer (04:05):
What we thought about was Florida
Aaron (04:08):
And he's actually mentioned he wants to go there. Also, his ideal would be of course South America, but I think Florida, in his mind, it matches all those things. There's palm, he has this thing about palm trees.
Jennifer (04:18):
So real quick, where do dreams like that come from? Because when you're a kid you have, well, he's been learning over the years, but I mean what does the basis for something like that kind of stem up from? I'm kidding.
Aaron (04:29):
I have no idea. But something, there's something in his heart that he desires. Maybe it's because we live in a place that gets cold. He deserves,
Jennifer (04:35):
He's the complete opposite. He wants,
Aaron (04:37):
Yeah, whatever's the opposite I guess. But that's funny is he also loves the snow and all this stuff, but there's something about him. He wants to go see some poisonous snakes and he wants to go see these
Jennifer (04:47):
Colorful birds. I'm saying kids have preferences and I just always get curious on what sets them on that, that path or that thing that
Aaron (04:54):
We should mention to everyone listening just in case they ever mention to our son. This is a surprise.
Jennifer (04:59):
Like friends of ours
Aaron (05:00):
Listening and they can't tell him. He doesn't know. So
Jennifer (05:02):
Until it happens, what's going to happen is he's going to wake up him up early on his birthday and surprise him with a few days in Florida and you guys are going to go explore and where are you going to take him?
Aaron (05:14):
It's going to be fun. We're going to do some things. We're going to eat some alligator and we're going to go, okay, we're going to go. What are those airboat rides?
Jennifer (05:20):
Like the swamp r…
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Oct 20, 2022
Does Your Past Baggage Affect Your Present Marriage?
This episode is brought to you by our 31 prayers for my son and daughter devotionals.
Click here to get "31 Prayers For My Son"
Click here to get "31 Prayers For My Daughter"
-----
* _2 Corinthians 5:17_
_Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come._
* _Ephesians 5:8 _
_for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light_
* Romans_ 12:2_
_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_
Are we choosing to hold onto ways of being because of the past?
Often these things can be subconscious, but for the believer, eventually, God will work these things to the surface.
We tend to believe we see our spouse and their faults and sins so clearly but have such a hard time identifying areas we need to repent of and mature in.
Once you recognize something in you that needs to be cleaned out, transformed. What are actionable steps to do next?
* Humble yourself to hear and receive the truth
* Confess it and acknowledge how it is could be tripping you up
* Pray and ask God to sculpt you
* Request accountability - ask your spouse or friends for help when they see it in you to call it out
_2 Corinthians 3:17-18_
_[Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit._Weekly Challenge:
Take each other by surprise. Sweet or sneaky. Prank, scare, or silly.
A friend of mine surprised her husband over the weekend and cleaned the garage and got him a toolbox to organize everything
Do something for your spouse they haven't had time for - clean out the car or garage, organize a closet, paint that dresser, shred those papers, clean out the fridge, do the lawns.
PRAYER
Dear Lord,
Thank You for the way Your truth transforms our lives. Thank you for not giving up on us. Our hearts ache over the sin in our lives that cost you everything. We pray we would honor you by acknowledging and confessing our sin. We pray we would not hold onto anything that we shouldn’t. If we are hoarding anything from our past that is having a negative effect on us we pray we would be diligent and courageous to take that step to reconcile with you and restore any parts of our marriage we broke down because of things we hold onto or ways we believed about ourselves or each other. We pray we would be willing to surrender to you every day.
In Jesus’ name AMEN!
READ TRANSCRIPT
Jennifer (00:09):
Hi, and welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
Aaron (00:12):
We're your hosts Aaron Jennifer Smith. We
Jennifer (00:14):
Have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast.
Aaron (00:18):
We love God and we love marriage
Jennifer (00:20):
And we love to be honest about it
Aaron (00:21):
All. Marriage is not always a walk in the park, but we do believe it has a powerful purpose. So
Jennifer (00:26):
Our goal here is to open up the conversation to talk about our faith and our marriage,
Aaron (00:30):
Especially in light of the gospel.
Jennifer (00:32):
We certainly don't have all the answers, but if you stick around, we may just make you
Aaron (00:35):
Laugh. But our hope is to encourage you to chase boldly after God's purpose for your life together.
Jennifer (00:39):
This is after God.
Aaron (00:47):
Ready, set, go.
Jennifer (00:49):
Welcome back to another episode of Marriage After God. I'm your host, Jennifer Smith.
Aaron (00:54):
I'm Aaron Smith.
Jennifer (00:55):
No, I said I'm your host. I was kidding. Oh,
Aaron (00:57):
Aaron's here too. We are. It's we.
Jennifer (01:00):
I know, but you let me do the intro so
Aaron (01:02):
You can change however you want.
Jennifer (01:05):
Well seriously, welcome back. Thank you for being here today. We hope that today's episode blesses you and encourages you. And yeah,
Aaron (01:13):
What's today's episode about?
Jennifer (01:15):
Today we are going to
Aaron (01:18):
,
Jennifer (01:20):
We're going to discuss how our past AKA baggage, so people say it's nevermind.
Aaron (01:27):
. What do people say? I dunno. You got baggage.
Jennifer (01:30):
How it may be affecting your present.
Aaron (01:33):
Right. So we're going to be talking about those past things that kind of crept into our present. Nows.
Jennifer (01:41):
Okay.
Aaron (01:41):
We should just move on. Okay.
Jennifer (01:44):
Sponsor is
Aaron (01:45):
.
Jennifer (01:46):
Oh,
Aaron (01:47):
Can you do? The sponsor
Jennifer (01:49):
Episode is brought to you by our 31 prayers for my son and daughter devotionals next to our marriage. Our children are the greatest ministry that we have been given. They truly are a gift from God and he desires us to not only take care of their physical needs, but also their emotional and spiritual ones. And so Aaron and I created these devotionals for all parents to be able to pray for their son and daughter or sons and daughters. And so yeah, we just wanted to encourage you guys to build a daily habit of praying for our little ones. Praying for your little ones.
Aaron (02:21):
After this episode, please pick up your copy and begin a lifelong journey of interceding for your children. You can get yours today@amazon.com or shop dot marriage after god.com.
Jennifer (02:33):
So I'm going to set up the scene here as we intro into today's topic. I don't know if you guys remember when I told you we signed up for CC this year. It's called Classical Conversations and once a week you go to community day, which is just, I don't know why I feel like I'm stuttAarong or something. It's community day and we get to meet up with our class and our friends and we go through what we're learning about, which is really fun. But every day, every time when we come back home, I get out of the car and I'm telling the kids, you know what we're doing the rest of the day. And they kind of just fly. They're like,
Aaron (03:13):
They're gone and everything gets dumped at the front door.
Jennifer (03:16):
Well, half of it at least. And so the other half is still stuck in the car in the van.
Aaron (03:20):
That's also
Jennifer (03:20):
True. And they're overflowing with their schoolwork or Ziploc baggies or whatever they had that day. So yeah, like Aaron said, the others are just left in front of the doorway to trip over or be in my way. So that's kind of just how it's been every Wednesday working on things. This is our first year actually having backpacks and there's five of 'em. And so the kids are just like, we're homeschooled. We don't know what to do with backpacks. I dunno.
Aaron (03:48):
Well they don't have a place to put. Yeah. But also we have this thing in our home where every flat surface is stuff gets put stuff, it's a place to put stuff on.
Jennifer (03:56):
What's really funny about that is I spent all day trying to clean off countertops and the laundry room has been kind of an eyesore for me cuz it sits behind the kitchen and we've just been stockpiling a bunch of stuff back there that needs to go out to the garage or be put away. And so today I was like, I'm going to do this. And so I get it all clean, I wipe it down, I'm so happy. The laundry room's looking sparkly clean. And then we had to clean out the van and there was bike helmets and stuff from Home Depot and I'm like four
Aaron (04:25):
Months of
Jennifer (04:25):
Clothes. So I'm taking all this stuff out and I'm realizing I'm just putting it on the laundry counter and I'm mad at myself
Aaron (04:32):
Flat surface. Why am I doing this? It's right there. We do it. Yeah.
Jennifer (04:35):
It's not my kids' fault. their backpack situ…
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Oct 13, 2022
The Joy And Beauty Of A Light And Candid Conversation With Your Spouse
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hi, and welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're your host Aaron and Jennifer Smith.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast. We
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Love God and we love
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Marriage, and we love to be honest about it all.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Marriage is not always a walk in the park, but we do believe it has a powerful purpose.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
So our goal here is to open up the conversation to talk about our faith and our marriage,
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Especially in light of the gospel.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
We certainly don't have all the answers, but if you stick around, we may just make you laugh.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
But our hope is to encourage you to chase boldly after God's purpose for your life together.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
This is Marriage after God.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Hey, welcome back to another episode of The Marriage After God podcast. I'm Aaron Smith.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I like you when you go podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Podcast
Speaker 1 (00:56):
. Sorry. Keep
Speaker 2 (00:59):
Going. And you are
Speaker 1 (01:01):
. I'm Jennifer.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Some call me Jen.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Today. We, Yes. I don't call you Jen though.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
No, I like that you call me
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Jennifer. I call you Jennifer exclusively. Wait, does that mean I'm the only one that calls you Jennifer ? What was that? Nothing.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Just keep going. Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Uh, today we are gonna be having a light and fun, candid conversation with each other
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Because why not?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Because we can and we should
Speaker 1 (01:31):
And it's
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Fun. Yeah. And that's what we wanna do. Okay. Before we jump into that conversation, I wanna share with you this week's episode's sponsor. Uh, this episode's sponsored by our 31 prayers for my husband and wife, devotionals. Uh, these are our, some of our best selling books, which is really amazing cuz that means there's th thousands and thousands of marriages out there that desire to grow in their prayer life for their spouse and their marriage specifically, which is awesome. We design these books, uh, to be a catalyst and an inspiration for your prayer life, not a replacement for it. Um, so if you've been blessed by this show and you'd like, we'd, we'd be honored if you'd pick up a copy of our 31 Prayers for Marriage books, and they could be found at shop dot marriage after god.com or@amazon.com. With that being said, um, what is that? What that, Okay.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
. Okay.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
How long have you been holding that in your shirt?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Just a little while. So, can people hear me over it? I don't know. It's really cute. We got this. It's a, Do you wanna explain what it's
Speaker 2 (02:39):
? Jennifer's doing Show and tell right now, but it's just Tell .
Speaker 1 (02:43):
It's one of those Christmas snow globes and it has a bear in it with Christmas trees.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
It's pretty, It's not a Santa Claus bear either. It's just a regular black bear
Speaker 1 (02:52):
,
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Which is much more accurate.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
. Okay. So the reason that I snuck this into today's podcast and for you, Aaron, is because I wanted everyone to know that I really like the element of surprise. I like shocking people. I like saying, I like doing things that make you go, What are
Speaker 2 (03:09):
You doing? What's the term you used to use for your mom?
Speaker 1 (03:11):
What
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Do you mean when she's being sneaky? I don't know. A ninja. Oh, you like, I don't know. You like being in Ninja
Speaker 1 (03:18):
. Yeah. I just, I like putting smiles on people's faces and I knew if I snuck this in my shirt and started playing it, you would smile .
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I am smiling.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
But what's really funny about this is, um, so we do CC class on Wednesdays and my five year old Wyatt, the first day of class, we all show up and everyone's kind of feeling nervous. I, well, I was, I don't actually know if all the kids were, but I look over and he, he pulls this from his backpack and he goes, Mom, is it okay that I brought this today? .
Speaker 2 (03:46):
So he did a sneaky move
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Too. He did a sneaky move. And I think, I mean, just when we're thinking about life in general, like obviously we don't need to walk around with a snow globe in our pocket , but
Speaker 2 (03:57):
Well, that's what you do.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Well, I try and come up with ideas that make people go, What, what?
Speaker 2 (04:04):
Why are we talking about snow
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Globes? I hope my friends, I hope you appreciate this about me.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
I do.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Now we have to finish
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Listening to this. Well, you should go put it like in the far away so we don't keep hearing you in the background. .
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
So did you get all your snow globe out? Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
It's outta my system.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
It's outta your system. It's outta your shirt. It's put away. It's all right. So what, what is this topic
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Today? Yeah. So we just thought it would be really cool to do a candid and lighthearted conversation, uh, with each other. And one of the reasons is because, Aaron, you have something really exciting going on this week. So, not that we had a rush through this podcast, or, you know, be quick to record, which we kind of did. Um, do you wanna share a little bit about what
Speaker 2 (04:47):
You're doing? Yeah. Our church, uh, we try to every year, but it tends to be year and a half, maybe every,
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Um, year and a half. Um, the, the women go on a women's retreat and then the men will go on men's retreat, not always next to each other. That's, that's the, that's the coordination issue we have. Um, we have lots of kids and just life.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
So I think it's good that they're spread
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Out. Yeah. And it's okay. But we finally got one coming and we're really excited about it because, uh, we're all, I dunno, all the men are looking forward to getting together. And what do you guys gonna do? Enjoying each other's? Well, mostly eat food. .
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
That's the majority of the planning we do is like, who's bringing what for food? ? Uh, no, I think we're gonna do some, I don't know. We, we tend to usually do some late nights where there's, there's prayer and encouragement and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
Campfire type
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Campfires. Yeah. Uh, Jordan plays country music, . Um, we love it. Um, so yeah, we're gonna, I don't know, we have a lot of fun things playing. Cool. I'm excited. I'm just excited for it. So I'm jealous that's
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Coming. I mean, I'm excited too. .
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Why not? I always get a little jealous that you're gonna go have fun and I'll be wishing I was having that kind of fun.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Yeah. Well, mainly you'll be wishing I was just still in bed, bed with you at home.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I am codependent in that way for sure. But
Speaker 2 (06:01):
I love that about you, . Uh, so yeah, we're gonna, this is a, it's a light and fun conversation where we're gonna go back and forth answering questions from each other. Uh, but really what we wanted to get out of this episode is to show there's a, there's a few reasons why these light and fun conversations, these candid conversations are so valuable. Um, first they can help you grow, get to know your spouse, grow closer together more intimately.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
So you'r…
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Oct 6, 2022
God’s Plan vs Ours
This week's episode is brought to you by our newest book "Marriage After God: Chasing Boldly After God’s Purpose for Your Life Together." One of our motivations for writing Marriage After God was to help inspire couples to consider how they can use what they have to serve God together. Sometimes we need that “
out of the box” thinking to get us to see the bigger picture or possibilities that lay right in front of us.
Instead of seeing ministry as a Sunday service practice, we encourage couples to see their marriage as a ministry, a reflection of God’s love in this world.
Grab Your Copy of marriage after God today! Amazon.com
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hi, and welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
We're your host Aaron and Jennifer Smith.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
We have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast. We
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Love God and we love marriage,
Speaker 1 (00:20):
And we love to be honest about i…
playlist_add
Sep 29, 2022
How To Cultivate deep and meaningful friendships
TAKE THE FREE MARRIAGE PRAYER CHALLENGE
marriageprayerchallenge.com
Jennifer (00:10):
Hi, and welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
Aaron (00:12):
We're your host Aaron and Jennifer Smith.
Jennifer (00:14):
We have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast.
Aaron (00:18):
We love God and we love marriage,
Jennifer (00:20):
And we love to be honest about it all.
Aaron (00:22):
Marriage is not always a walk in the park, but we do believe it has a powerful purpose.
Jennifer (00:26):
So our goal here is to open up the conversation to talk about our faith and our marriage,
Aaron (00:30):
Especially in light of the gospel.
Jennifer (00:32):
We certainly don't have all the answers, but if you stick around, we may just make you laugh.
Aaron (00:36):
But our hope is to encourage you to chase boldly after God's purpose for your life together.
Jennifer (00:40):
This is Marriage after God.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Hey
Aaron (00:46):…
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Sep 22, 2022
Walking in Victory From Pornography In Marriage
Pornography is all too common these days and sadly it is common even among believers. In this episode, we share How Aaron has been able to walk in freedom from this addiction for more than 6 years now and how you can too. We also talk about how you can help prepare and protect your children from this destructive sin.
READ TRANSCRIPT
jennifer:
Hi, and welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
Aaron:
We're your hosts, Aaron and Jennifer Smith.
jennifer:
We have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast.
Aaron:
We love God and we love marriage.
jennifer:
And we love to be honest about it all.
Aaron:
Marriage is not always a walk in the park, but we do believe it has a powerful purpose.
jennifer:
So, our goal here is to open up the conversation to talk about our faith and our marriage.
Aaron:
Especially in light of the gospel.
jennifer:
We certainly don't have all the answers, but if you stick around we may just make you laugh.…
playlist_add
Sep 14, 2022
Marriage, Money, Inflation & Crypto
This episode is sponsored by our book Marriage After God
This is a great marriage resource for anyone or any couple that is looking for something meaty that will inspire and challenge a little. It is a book we wrote together that dips into our story but also gets the reader to search out “what is God doing in my marriage” This book also spends quite a bit of time on finances and marriage, so if you want to dive deeper into today's topic we strongly encourage you to pick up a copy if you have not already!
Marriage After God will put you on the path to exploring what God’s purpose for your marriage is.
Find it at amazon.com or shop.marriageaftergod.com
READ TRANSCRIPT
- Hi, and welcome to the "Marriage After God" podcast.
- We're your hosts, Aaron and Jennifer Smith.
- We have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast.
- We love God and we love marriage.
- And we love to be honest about it all.
- Marriage is not always a walk in th…
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Sep 8, 2022
The Importance Of Pacing Ourselves For Creating More Peace in Marriage
If you have been blessed by our podcast, please consider supporting it by grabbing a copy of our 30-Day marriage devotionals.
https://shop.marriageaftergod.com/collections/frontpage/products/husband-and-wife-after-god-devotional-bundle
How to pace:
Don't start out full force - reserve your energy for longevity
Make a priority list - to set up for success - cut off outliers
Include rest - or else burnout
Be patient - allows for disruption
Don't compare - it steals joy
Check expectation - avoid disappointment
READ TRANSCRIPT
- Hi, and welcome to the "Marriage After God" podcast.
- We're your hosts, Aaron and Jennifer Smith.
- We have been married 15 years and have five sweet children, who are growing up way too fast.
- We love God and we love marriage.
- And we love to be honest about it all.
- Marriage is not always a walk in the park, but we do believe it has a powerful purpose.
- So our goal here is to open up the conversation to talk about our faith and our marriage.…
playlist_add
Sep 1, 2022
Keeping Marriage Strong During Life Transitions
In Todays episode we are going to talk about life transitions, unexpected circumstances, and how we can keep our marriage strong during high-stress seasons.
This Episode is brought to you by The Unveiled Wife
This is our first traditionally published book and in it we share those first four years of our marriage. It was definitely a strenuous and difficult time of our lives, one of our biggest transitions as we share the details of getting married …
and what we faced was definitely unexpected. So in sharing about life transitions in todays episode we also wanted to give a shout out to this book as it dives deep into how we handled it all and how God led our hearts through those tough times.
You can get The Unveiled Wife on Amazon.comTranscript:
- Hi, and welcome to the "Marriage After God" podcast.
- We're your hosts, Aaron and Jennifer Smith.
- We have been married 15 years and have five sweet children who are growing up way too fast.
- We love God and we love marriage.
- A…
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Mar 22, 2021
Jesus Is Our Passover: how Jesus Himself fulfilled the Passover feast in his life death and resurrection
The Passover feast was established by God to the Israelites in the time of Moses. It was a symbol of the Lord's deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The feast was celebrated each year to remember the Lord's faithfulness and provision. The Passover feast had a number of components, including the sacrificing of a lamb, the eating of unleavened bread, and the drinking of wine. All of these components had great symbolic meaning in the Passover feast. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is seen as fulfilling each of these components of the Passover feast. Jesus is seen as the ultimate Passover Lamb, whose sacrificial death was the fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrificial system. In the Book of John, Jesus refers to himself as the "bread from heaven" and the "true bread of life." In doing so, he is referring to the unleavened bread that was part of the Passover feast. Jesus was referring to himself as the spiritual sustenance that his followers would need in order to survi…
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Mar 15, 2021
Are We Living In The Last Days?
Speaking of the end of days we wanted to tell you about a movie that we recently watched that was really exciting and encouraging. It shares about how the return of Christ is like a Galilian wedding.
marriageaftergod.com/btw
https://amzn.to/2Oj4PrB
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Mar 8, 2021
Why What We Believe Is So Important
What do we believe? The answer to this question will explain why we do certain things, or why we remain in certain sins. It will show us why we chose certain attitudes and behaviors. Why we treat people the way we do or ourselves for that matter. What we believe matters and if we are believing lies then we will walk in lies. If we believe the truth then we will walk in freedom and power. What do you believe?
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Mar 1, 2021
Ways To Have Fun As A Family!
We want to invite you to take our 31-day marriage prayer challenge. These are made possible in part by our faithful prayer team patrons.
Datenightconversations.com
READ TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to the "Marriage After God" podcast.
We your hosts, I'm Aaron.
And I'm Jennifer.
We've been married for 14 years.
And we have five young children.
We started blogging over 10 years ago sharing our marriage story in hopes of encouraging other husbands and wives to draw closer to God and closer to each other.
We have authored over 10 books together including our newest book "Marriage After God" the book that inspired us to start this podcast.
"Marriage after God" has a message to remind all of us that God designed marriage with a purpose.
To reflect his love.
To be a light in this world.
To work together as a team.
Using what he has given us.
To build his kingdom.
Our hope is to encourage you along your marriage journey.
As you boldly chase after God together.
This is "Marriage After G…
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Feb 22, 2021
6 Tips For Building A Strong Marriage
We want to invite you to take our 31-day Parenting prayer challenge.
http://parentingprayerchallenge.com/
Read Transcript
`
[Jennifer] Welcome to the Marriage After God Podcast.
[Aaron] We're your hosts, I'm Aaron.
[Jennifer] And I'm Jennifer.
[Aaron] We've been married for 14 years.
[Jennifer] And we have five young children.
[Aaron] We started blogging over 10 years ago, sharing our marriage story in hopes of encouraging other husbands and wives to draw closer to God and closer to each other.
[Jennifer] We have authored over 10 books together, including our newest book, "Marriage After God," the book that inspired us to start this podcast.
[Aaron] "Marriage After God" has a message to remind all of us that God designed marriage with a purpose.
[Jennifer] To reflect his love.
[Aaron] To be a light in this world
[Jennifer] To work together as a team.
[Aaron] Using what He has given us.
[Jennifer] To build His kingdom.
[Aaron] Our hope is to encourage you along your mar…
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Feb 15, 2021
How To Comfort Each Other During Hard Times
We want to invite you to take our 31-day parenting prayer challenge. These are made possible in part by our faithful prayer team patrons. https://marriageaftergod.com/patron
join today! → Parentingprayerchallenge.com
Read The Transcript
[Jennifer] Welcome to the "Marriage After God" podcast.
[Aaron] We're your hosts. I'm Aaron.
[Jennifer] And I'm Jennifer.
[Aaron] We've been married for 14 years.
[Jennifer] And we have five young children.
[Aaron] We started blogging over 10 years ago, sharing our marriage story in hopes of encouraging other husbands and wives to draw closer to God and closer to each other.
[Jennifer] We have authored over 10 books together including our newest book "Marriage After God," the book that inspired us to start this podcast.
[Aaron] Marriage after God is a message to remind all of us that God designed marriage with a purpose.
[Jennifer] To reflect his love.
[Aaron] To be a light in this world.
[Jennifer] to work together as a team.
[Aaron] Us…
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Feb 8, 2021
Don't Forget Who Is At Work Within You
We want to encourage you in your identity in Christ.
We want to remind you that you are not lesser no matter what part of the body you are.
And If you are struggling with doubt at all we want to encourage you to trust and know that God has given to you just like he has given to every other believer His spirit.
READ TRANSCRIPT
[Jennifer] Welcome to the "Marriage After God" podcast.
[Aaron] We're your hosts, I'm Aaron.
[Jennifer] And I'm Jennifer.
[Aaron] We've been married for 14 years.
[Jennifer] And we have five young children.
[Aaron] We started blogging over 10 years ago, sharing our marriage story in hopes of encouraging other husbands and wives to draw closer to God, and closer to each other.
[Jennifer] We have authored over 10 books together, including our newest book "Marriage After God", the book that inspired us to start this podcast.
[Aaron] "Marriage After God" is a message to remind all of us that God designed marriage with a purpose.
[Jennifer] To reflect His l…
playlist_add
Feb 1, 2021
Are you really loving?
Join the Free 31-Day Marriage Prayer Challenge Today!
HTTP://marriageprayerchallenge.com
READ THE TRANSCRIPT
[Jennifer] Welcome to the marriage after God podcast.
[Aaron] We're your hosts, I'm Aaron.
[Jennifer] And I'm Jennifer.
[Aaron] We've been married for 14 years.
[Jennifer] And we have five young children.
[Aaron] We started blogging over 10 years ago, sharing our marriage story and hopes of encouraging other husbands and wives to draw closer to God and closer to each other.
[Jennifer] We have authored over 10 books together, including our newest book "Marriage After God", the book that inspired us to start this podcast.
[Aaron] "Marriage After God" is a message to remind all of us that God designed marriage with a purpose.
[Jennifer] To reflect his love.
[Aaron] To be a light in this world.
[Jennifer] To work together as a team.
[Aaron] Using what he has given us.
[Jennifer] To build his kingdom.
[Aaron] Our hope is to encourage you along your marriage journey.…
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Jan 25, 2021
Raise Your Hand If You Need Some Rest!
Rest is a wonderful and amazing idea! We are so glad God came up with it. The word rest in the old Testament is Sabbath. So in today's episode, we talk about rest, Sabbath, and the importance of it in our lives.
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Jan 18, 2021
How To Delight In The Lord and Your Spouse
Take the FREE Marriage Prayer Challenge.
Marriageprayerchallenge.com
READ TRANSCRIPT
[Jennifer] Welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
[Aaron] We're your hosts. I'm Aaron.
[Jennifer] And I'm Jennifer.
[Aaron] We've been married for 14 years.
[Jennifer] And we have five young children.
[Aaron] We started blogging over 10 years ago, sharing our marriage story in hopes of encouraging other husbands and wives to draw closer to God and closer to each other.
[Jennifer] We have authored over 10 books together, including our newest book, "Marriage After God," the book that inspired us to start this podcast.
[Aaron] "Marriage After God" is a message to remind all of us that God designed marriage with a purpose.
[Jennifer] To reflect His love.
[Aaron] To be a light in this world.
[Jennifer] To work together as a team.
[Aaron] Using what He has given us.
[Jennifer] To build His kingdom.
[Aaron] Our hope is to encourage you along your marriage journey.
[Jennifer] As you boldly…
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Jan 11, 2021
God's Not Done With Us
Read Transcript
Welcome to the Marriage After God podcast.
We're your hosts. I'm Aaron.
And I'm Jennifer.
We've been married for 14 years.
And we have five young children.
We started blogging over 10 years ago. Sharing our marriage story in hopes of encouraging other husbands and wives to draw closer to God and closer to each other.
We have authored over 10 books together including our newest book, "Marriage After God". The book that inspired us to start this podcast.
"Marriage After God" has a message to remind all of us that God designed marriage with a purpose.
To reflect His love.
To be a light in this world.
To work together as a team.
Using what He has given us...
To build His kingdom.
Our hope is to encourage you along your marriage journey...
As you boldly chase after God together.
This is Marriage After God.
Welcome back to the Marriage After God podcast. We're your hosts, Aaron and Jennifer Smith.
Hey guys
What are you drinking there?
What? Oh.
What are y…
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Jan 4, 2021
WE ARE BACK With A Word For The New Year!!!
WE. ARE. BACK!
we missed you all. We have a word for you this year and we share what God has been working in us since we took our hiatus back in June!
Join our free Marriage Prayer Challenge Today!
http://marriageprayerchallenge.com
PRAYER
Dear Lord,
Thank you for this last year. Although it was difficult and different in many ways, we know you were working. We trust you and we hope for all that is to come, all that your word says will come. We are excited for this new year and the many opportunities we will have by your grace to share Your gospel with others. We pray for boldness and great faith. We pray for the right words when the time is right. We pray for receptive hearts and we pray for revival. May you draw hearts closer to yourself. We pray marriages would be stronger this year. We pray our eyes and our hearts would be focused on you, what you are doing, and how we can participate. We pray for truth to prevail. We pray gratefulness will overwhelm our hearts and our minds.…
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Jul 7, 2020
Making Changes Together In Marriage
Change is inevitable. Some love it, some hate it and sometimes it can't be avoided. Today we talk about how we make changes and we also share some change that we are making with Marriage After God
READ TRANSCRIPT
Aaron (00:00):
Hey, we're Aaron Jennifer Smith with Marriage After
Jennifer (00:02):
God, helping you cultivate an extraordinary marriage.
Aaron (00:04):
And today we're going to talk about making changes together. Welcome to the Marriage After God podcast, where we believe that marriage was meant for more than just happily ever after.
Jennifer (00:20):
I'm Jennifer, also known as Unveiled Wife.
Aaron (00:22):
And I'm Aaron, also known as Husband Revolution.
Jennifer (00:24):
We have been married for over
Aaron (00:26):
13 years and so far we have five children under eight.
Jennifer (00:28):
We have been doing marriage ministry online for over nine years through blogging, social media, and writing over 10 books
Aaron (00:34):
With a desire to inspire couples…
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Jun 29, 2020
Our Role In Cultivating The Soil Of Our Children's Hearts
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the responsibility of parenting. It is not always easy, yet it is a worthy and noble task. We pray we would be intentional parents who tend to the soil of our children’s hearts. We pray we would be willing to get down on our knees, to get dirty even when its inconvenient or challenging and show our children how to live according to your ways. We pray we would raise our children to know You and know your word. May you plant seeds of salvation in their hearts and may our children receive you and be world changers, bringing you glory!
In Jesus’ name, amen!
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Jun 22, 2020
Marriage Inspiration From Some Unlikely People In The Bible
In This episode we want to talk about a few people in the bible that have really encouraged us lately and we hope their stories encourage you and your marriage as well.
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Jun 16, 2020
The Promises Of God
Do you feel weak or powerless? Do you feel like you can't walk in freedom? If that is you today We want to encourage you from the word of God.
http://parentingprayerchallenge.com
2 Peter 1:3-4
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
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Jun 8, 2020
Our Salvation Stories
In this episode, we share how we both came to know and walk with the Lord!
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Jun 1, 2020
How We Walk Through Trials and Hardships in Marriage
The world as a whole seems to be experiencing crises. In the last five months, we have seen headline after headline in the news and on social media. There is so much hardship, pain, death, loss, uncertainty, fear, chaos, and unrest.
In addition to it all, there are countless more trials, hardships, and painful circumstances that didn’t make headlines. We are all hoping for peace. We are all wondering how to walk out these things, especially together in marriage.
Whether you are currently facing hardship or if those times are ahead to come, we want to encourage you to walk through them in your marriage together, supporting each other and looking to God's Word to guide you.
https://marriageaftergod.com
READ TRANSCRIPT
- [Aaron] Hey, we're Aaron and Jennifer Smith, with Marriage After God.
- [Jennifer] Helping you cultivate an extraordinary marriage.
- [Aaron] And today we're gonna share how we walk through trials and hardships. Welcome to the Marriage After God podcast, where we…
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May 18, 2020
Our First Home Birth During A Global Pandemic?? The Story
We start season 4 off by sharing the story of our first home birth.
READ TRANSCRIPT
[Aaron] Hey, we're Aaron and Jennifer Smith with Marriage After God.
[Jennifer] Helping you cultivate an extraordinary marriage.
[Aaron] And today we're gonna share our first home birth story. Welcome to the marriage after God podcast where we believe that marriage was meant for more than just happily ever after.
[Jennifer] I am Jennifer, also known as unveiled wife.
[Aaron] And I'm Aaron, also known as husband evolution.
[Jennifer] We have been married for over 13 years.
[Aaron] And so far we have five children under eight.
[Jennifer] We have been doing marriage ministry online for over nine years through blogging, social media and writing over 10 books.
[Aaron] With a desire to inspire couples to keep God at the center of their marriage, encouraging them to walk in faith every day.
[Jennifer] We believe that Christian marriage should be an extraordinary one full of life...
[Aaron] Love.
[…
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Mar 23, 2020
How To Communicate Better In Marriage - Biblical Answers To Your Questions
This Q and A topic is all about communication in marriage. Which we mention often in almost every episode because it is such a vital component of marriage. You have to talk to each other! We answer several questions that were submitted by our listeners. Please enjoy.
Read Transcript
[Aaron] Hey, we're Aaron and Jennifer Smith with Marriage After God.
[Jennifer] Helping you cultivate an extraordinary marriage.
[Aaron] And today we're gonna answer your questions about communication in marriage. Welcome to the Marriage After God podcast, where we believe that marriage was meant for more than just happily ever after.
[Jennifer] I'm Jennifer, also known as Unveiled Wife.
[Aaron] And I'm Aaron, also known as Husband Revolution.
[Jennifer] We have been married for over a decade.
[Aaron] And so far we have four young children.
[Jennifer] We have been doing marriage ministry online for over seven years through blogging and social media.
[Aaron] With the desire to inspire couples to ke…
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Mar 16, 2020
What Does Moses and The Burning Bush Have To Do With The Gospel?
We are hosting a giveaway at the beginning of this episode!!! Listen to find out how to enter :)
FREE DOWNLOAD: datenightideas.com
In this episode, we have a fun conversation about the experience Moses had with the Lord and the burning bush. Reading the Old Testament and the many miraculous things God has done over history is a powerful way to see who God is and His plan for redemption even from the beginning.
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Mar 9, 2020
Our Favorite Non-Toxic Products
Our physical health and learning how to take care of our bodies have played a large role in our growth of the years. In the beginning of our marriage, we dealt with sexual issues and after 4 and a half years living with those problems we finally discovered what we believe was a major contributor to those problems. We began replacing our toxic products with non-toxic products and almost immediately found healing in the area of intimacy. We have had many people over the years ask what kinds of products we use now and so in this episode we share a little of our journey and the products we like to use. Pleas enjoy!
PRAYER
_Dear Lord,_
_Thank you for our bodies. We pray we would be good stewards of our bodies and consider all that goes on them and in them. We pray we would be willing to take the time and research the items we use on a daily basis, using things that help us and not hurt us. Lord, we ask that you would give us wisdom as we navigate living a healthy lifestyle. Help us to ma…
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Mar 2, 2020
The Power Of Touch In Marriage
Physical touch is such a powerful and amazing gift from God. He designed us for it. We need it. And it is physically, spiritual and emotionally damaging when we avoid it or do not get enough of it. In this episode, we discuss why Physical touch is so important and we give some practical tips on how to touch and be touched more.
* Embracing each other says “I trust you and need you in my life.”
* A comforting hug says, “I’m here for you.”
* A kiss says, “You are mine! And I love you!”
* Holding hands lets your spouse know you like them and like spending time with them.
* Tickle rubs, massages, running your fingers through their hair says, “I want to make you feel good.” ...And most times lets them know you desire more physical touch.
Being married and living in that sacred space of physical closeness, embrace, touch...there is no other relationship like it on Earth. Make the time to send those messages of love to your spouse through touch.
READ TRASCRIPT…
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Feb 24, 2020
Q & A - Not Seeing Eye To Eye In Marriage
FREE DOWNLOADS
Datenightconversations.com
Marriageprayerchallenge.com
parentingprayerchallenge.com
_“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” - Ephesians 4:1_
* How do I become more selfless in my marriage?
* What are some Tips for consistency in communication within marriage to build intimacy?
* How do we live for God together...my husband never really been to church Etc?
* How do you work through disagreements on hobbies? IE motorcycles?
* How do you keep chasing dreams God's call you to, when your spouse is in a totally negative place?
* Do you still struggle with trusting your husband? Speaking about p 0rn and how can you battle thoughts?
* What is your number one advice to couples struggling?
READ TRANSCRIPT
[Aaron] Hey, we're Aaron an…
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Feb 17, 2020
How Love Covers A Multitude Of Sins
This devotional episode is based on 1 Peter 4:7-11. We wanted to share how Love covers a multitude of sins and why it is so important that we love with this level of eagerness.
1 Peter 4:7-11 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.Prayer
Dear Lord,
We lift up our hearts to you right now and ask that you would make us a people who love others earnestly. Holy Spirit direct our hearts and remind us of your word. We pray we would above all things love others. We pray we would love our spouse, our children, our friends, and those who are in our life. May your love pour out of us. May your love pouring out of us transform our marriages. We pray others would be impacted by the love we share. We pray we would be able to love so deeply that it covers a multitude of sin. We pray that instead of shame or guilt, people would feel undoubtedl…
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Feb 10, 2020
Fun Ways To Spend Quality Time With Your Children
We are about to have our 5th child and with our growing family comes more of a necessity for spending quality alone time with each of our kids. The logistics of this also get more and more Complicated but that should not stop uf from trying and growing in our ability to single out our children to show them that we love them, want to hear from them, and want to get to know them as individuals in the family. In this episode, we share some practical ways to get some alone time with each of your kids and why it is so important to cultivate that experience on a regular basis.
Join our Free Parenting prayer challenge today and build a habit of praying for your children daily.
http://parentingprayerchallenge.com
PRAYER
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the gift of family. Thank you for the blessing of children. May we be people who are willing to make our children feel special, and to feel seen and heard. Help us to spend quality time with them, building fond memories and moments that build our t…
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Feb 3, 2020
How A Wife Can Encourage Her Husband To Lead Spiritually
This is a cool topic that actually came from some wives in the MAG community online who asked us to specifically talk about this. It is so encouraging to know that there are wives out there who are actively trying to understand how to help their husbands lead their home.
What we believe about spiritual leadership is found in scripture.
Ephesians 5:23-25 “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.”
1 Corinthians 11:3 “But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.”
Prayer
Dear Lord,
Thank You for the gift of marriage. Thank you for the opportunity to consider these things and how we can mature as a couple. We pray we would walk in righteousness, gentleness and self-control. We pray we would be people who see others through the lens of compassion. Help us to be thoughtful in our responses to each other. Help us to…
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Jan 27, 2020
Q&A Having Children, Birth Control & how many kids to have and more
In this episode, we answer questions for our community about having children, birth control, how many kids to have and more.
Please also take a moment and download our free 52 Date Night Ideas eBook.
http://datenightideas.com
PRAYER
Dear Lord,
Thank you for the gift and blessing of children. Thank you for creating and designing us with the ability to recreate, what an incredible miracle life truly is. We thank you for the opportunity to build our family and have children. We pray for others who either have not had children yet or in awaiting their first in anticipation. May you lead them in the way you desire them to walk and to grow together. We praise you for all those who have children and we also pray for those who can’t have children for whatever the reason may be. You are sovereign and we trust you. We continue to surrender our hearts to you as you lead us in parenting and raising our children to know you. Please help us with our fears and insecurities. Please remind us ev…
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Jan 20, 2020
Why Suffering Is GOOD For Every Believer
I would imagine that suffering is not a very popular topic amongst most churches today but suffering is a vital and important part of every believer's life and It should not and cannot be a topic that is left out of our Biblical thinking. Suffering comes in many forms and our heart today is to discuss the biblical view of suffering and how it is a powerful mindset and tool in our lives.Download Free Thing
* http://marriageprayerchallenge.com/Topic NOTES
I have bee systematically teaching through 1st peter and last week we got to chapter 4:1-
Devotional - what are we learning from the Word
Romans 8 "Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. 3 For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies,…
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Jan 13, 2020
Fun & Unique Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas For Your Spouse
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to share some gift ideas to help inspire you. All of the gifts we share in this episode are things that we love and use often.
ONE QUICK NOTE:_ If you are trying to get out of debt we suggest skipping gifts for a while. Instead, find free ways to bless each other and show your spouse your are thinking of them. We never want to promote spending when we can't or shouldn't._
PRAYER:
_Dear Lord,_
_Thank you for being the ultimate gift giver. Thank You for the gift of marriage. We pray our hearts would be pure in the way we give gifts to each other. We pray we would be thoughtful in the ways we give to each other. Help us to study and know our spouse well enough to give them gifts we know they will love. More than giving good gifts, we pray our love would be genuine and deep and extraordinary as we pursue intimacy with each other. Grow our love for one another…._
In Jesus’ name, amen!
READ THE TRANSCRIPT
- [A…
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