Fixer Upper Marriage

Jason R Parham
  • 5.0 (6)
  • CHRISTIANITY
Fixer Upper Marriage

What's the point in being married if you can't get what you want? But what you actually want may be hidden in plain sight in what you already have! Learn how to change your marriage for the better, and along the way, how to change YOU. This is where you find it, Bible principles in practice like you have never imagined! God has great things planned for your marriage. So don't miss it.

  1. MAR 19

    The Love Story of Adam and Eve

    The Love Story of Adam and EveMade for Each OtherBible Love Stories Volume OneThis is the first episode in a series (Bible Love Stories).Link to my new book, Marriage and the Fruit of the Spirit.God put Adam and Eve together, literally making them for each other and inventing the institution of marriage.  In making marriage, God laid out the principles for a lifetime together.  Link to a special workbook with more about Adam and Eve’s story and creative activities for you!Link to the Bible Love Stories Series pageGenesis 1:26-29; 2:15-25* Creation’s 6th Day- Genesis 1:26-29 * The Edenic Covenant (God’s 1st Covenant with Man)- Genesis 2:15-25 * The Creation of Eve- Genesis 2:21-22 * The 1st Marriage (God’s Model)- Genesis 2:23-25Some things you can do together:* Date night * Household chores * Shopping * Sitting down to talk * Video or phone calls while at work * Take a class together * Read a book together, such as Marriage and the Fruit of the Spirit!Some ideas about pursuing each other:* Look nice for your spouse. * Do thoughtful things for each other. * Be affectionate. (Touching, kissing, and petting) * Listen to what your spouse has to say with interest.  * Ask your spouse questions about them. * Compliment each other.How can you be all in for your marriage?* Do everything you can for love. * Pray fervently for and with each other. * No matter what, keep your relationship first. * Never give up on each other. * Do not do anything half-heartedly.The below chart is based on the book His Needs, Her Needs by Willard Harley Jr.:His NeedsHer NeedsSexual fulfillmentAffectionRecreational companionshipIntimate conversationPhysical attractivenessHonesty and opennessDomestic supportFinancial supportAdmirationFamily commitmentThe purpose of marriage:* To share the mission * To prepare for eternity * To keep life in perspectiveDaily questions:* Do I have any unconfessed sins of actions or neglect?    * Who in my life can I help lead to Christ? * What can I do today that will matter in eternity? * How can I help my spouse serve God today?List of priorities for life, family, and marriage:* God * Spouse * Children Podcast music by Dan Lebowitz

    35 min

  2. 09/11/2021

    Spelling Love without the I

    Table Of Contents Why Get Married?The ProblemI Love YouLove Is LeavingLove Is OfferingLove Is VolunteeringLove Is Expecting Why Get Married?LoveI want someone to love me. I want to feel loved. I want to experience being loved. I think there is a deep-seated desire to love someone, to know that out of all the people in this world, there is one that I love and that loves me back. My life has meaning because I am in love. Love is the ultimate cure for loneliness. Even when you are not together, you are still connected by this mutual feeling of love.When I was dating my wife, we had a long-distance relationship of about 200 miles. But when we fell in love, it didn’t matter how far we were away from each other because we were in each other’s hearts. You get married because you are in love. HappinessBeing in a romantic relationship makes you feel happy. A 2012 study found that during the initial stages of love your body produces elevated levels of the hormone Oxytocin. It gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling. And being in love does make you feel happy. Who doesn’t want to feel happy? Who doesn’t want to be in love? I am happily married but still get ads when I am on the internet about finding someone to love. Single people are searching for the happiness of love. Even married people are looking to fall in love again or looking for it in someone or something outside of their marriage.I think most people see marriage as a vehicle to get you to the happiness that you want. It starts with just being in love, then it becomes having a family, and finally having someone to share your life with, to grow old together.NeedsThis is where it gets interesting because everyone has needs that marriage can facilitate. And it’s those needs that drive us into the marketplace of love. At its base marriage is an exchange of goods. One person needs physical intimacy, while another needs providing for. So they enter into a partnership of love and marriage. In exchange for this, I am giving you this. Those needs vary from person to person, but regardless of what those needs are, they are a part of the exchange that takes place in the marketplace of love. When you are single, you are looking for the best person to meet those needs. So you meet and develop this understanding that you are both capable and willing to meet those needs in that exchange. I once read this book entitled “His Needs Her Needs” by Willard Harley. I would recommend it to anyone because it was very insightful and helpful. It outlines the needs of men and women and how individuals sort out those needs and how marriage can by design meet them. Love allows you to partner with someone else to have those needs met. The ProblemThings ChangeMaybe you mutually agree to end the whole thing and you file for divorce. “Let’s go our separate ways because we no longer can keep the exchange going and maybe we can find a better exchange somewhere else.” Maybe you both just live with the “lemon” of a deal you got stuck with. Or maybe marriage is about something entirely different.The Real ProblemBut what happens when the reasons you got married are no longer valid? What happens when you don’t feel in love anymore,

    39 min

  3. 01/01/2021

    How Conflict Can Change You and Your Marriage

    FixerUpperMarriage.org/ConflictJason@FixerUpperMarriage.orgLike us on FacebookSummaryMarriage conflict is a terrible thing. Or is it? Maybe the conflict is really about something entirely different than what you think it is! Find out what marriage conflict is all about and how it can change your marriage for the better.How Does Conflict Change You? Table Of Contents Through Your DifferencesThrough DisagreementsThrough Your ReconcilingThrough Disappointments Love sets off a series of events that alter the course of your life. Hopefully, it’s not a series of unfortunate events! 🙂 Loving is about interpersonal exchanges with someone who knows you more intimately than anyone else in this world. And it’s those exchanges that can make or break your love. “I didn’t plan on falling in love with you, and I doubt you planned on falling in love with me. But once we met, it was clear that neither of us could control what was happening to us. We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created.”— Nicholas Sparks, Dear JohnI hate conflict. I just don’t want to deal with it at all. But as long as you can be calm, confronting that conflict head-on could be the best thing you can do in your marriage. One thing I love about the stories of Jesus in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) is the way he just unabashedly faced conflict with people. Whether it was with one of His disciples, the pharisees, lawyers, or government officials, He didn’t flinch. I think you can learn from that, how it’s better to deal with conflict than to not. Even if it doesn’t turn out the way you want it, at least things are made clear and put on the path to become better. Some married people avoid conflict at all costs. And sometimes I think marriage resources lead us to think that any conflict is bad. That is just not true. Resolving that conflict quickly is the best way to keep your love and relationship on track. People go for years without talking about things that bother them in their marriage, then when they finally reach the breaking point, everything starts spewing out and they ruin their love. I am saying that most of the time it’s better to talk about things than to let them go on. Although there are some things you can let go of. Don’t let those things feaster and build up to something you can correct together.But learning to resolve that conflict can produce a change in you and your relationship. So conflict is an important part of your love. Learning how to love is loving through the conflict. The Bible defines love in I Corinthians. The word Charity is a translation of the Greek word Agape which means love.Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. I Corinthians 13:4-7Through Your DifferencesGender DifferencesGod made two genders with different physical and emotional needs. The big thing in American culture is to say that there are infinite genders and that gender is fluid.Meaning, however you feel or think is your real gender, not necessarily biology. a href="https://www.christianpost.

    41 min

  4. 10/25/2020

    Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’?

    FixerUpperMarriage.org/LostLoveGod’s creation of love is one of the most amazing things in life. He created people with the urge to love and be loved by someone. People dream about love, read about love, and wish for love to find them. Love is the “big bang” of life. It’s when two people collide in a way that fundamentally alters the course of their lives. Love is a feeling, an emotion, a commitment, a longing, a desire, and a desperate need. Once you have fallen in love with someone, it doesn’t matter what happens, that person is always with you. I remember the moment I let go of everything; my past, my fears, my hopes, and my dreams. I let myself fall. The only things there to catch me were an overwhelming force of love or a devastating mire of hurt and defeat. But love caught me and held me tight, now I never want to let it go. When I look into the eyes of my lover I see everything I ever want and everything I have in this life. If you have found love, believe in it, nurture it, and fight for it because if you let it slip away you may never find it again.Ronald Reagan the 40th president of the United States wrote the following to his wife Nancy:“I more than love you, I’m not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone I’m waiting for you to return so I can start living again.”But love is not without its risks. There is a long trail of lost love, broken hearts, and deep regret. What do you do when you feel your love slipping away, or you wake up one day and realize you’ve lost it? How do you get it back? How do you put two broken hearts back together again?What can you do when you’ve lost that lovin’ feelin’?Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.Revelation 2:4-5 Table Of Contents Remember What You HadRepent for Your WrongRepeat What You Did at First Remember What You Had(Remember therefore from whence thou are fallen)Memories Are Love’s Treasure BoxMemories are the things that you have that no one can take away from you. You build your love on those memories. It starts the day you first meet. That memory connects you to the next moment and those memories just keep building and connecting; until you fall in love and all those memories get electrified. Memories become the spark that ignites the passion of your love.   Sometimes, when you are right in the middle of hardship you can’t see anything except what is right in front of you. You can’t see any hope for the future or good memories from the past. You just get stuck. Memories are God’s gift to lovers.The Romantic MomentsThe moment I first met Amber seemed like such a fleeting thing at the time. But it became so much more meaningful as we feel in love. Her eyes looking at me and her radiant smile changed my life. I think it’s those first moments that could have gone either way that means the most to me now. Those moments when I was the most vulnerable to her. Embrace those moments with each other. Let those moments write the story of your love. The Funny MomentsRelive those moments when you laughed together about something. I enjoy laughing with my wife. They say that laughter is the best medicine. The Bible even says as much in Proverbs 17:22a A merry heart doeth good [like] a medicine… The Big Moments One of the big moments for me is the moment we met. The first time we talked (which was awkward).

    27 min

  5. 09/20/2020

    Six Prayers that Could End Your Marriage Problems for Good

    FixerUpperMarriage.org/PrayersRead I Peter 3:1-12 Table Of Contents Little Green Mile MarkersSubmissionKnowledgeRespectEmpathyPeaceSpiritual Enlightenment Little Green Mile MarkersI am driving up the interstate highway. I am in the fast-lane and I am counting the mile markers. They are these little green signs on the side of the road that mark the miles. I don’t know what purpose they serve other than a way to pass the time while driving. I have just crossed over the state line, mile marker 1. I have about 92 more mile markers before I turn off of this road. And I am thinking about how much I hate traveling. I have lived in the same small town my entire life and know it like the back of my hand. I know every short cut and backroad. I even know the history of all the landmarks. I have lived there so long that everyone looks familiar to me because I am sure I have seen them before. But now I am on a road that is taking me away. As I pass another mile marker, its mile marker 3 now, I am trying to decide what to say. I have this stuffed dog next to me I would find out later that barked, but for now it was just sitting there listening. Beside it was a bouquet and card I had doted over for an hour or more. I had painstakingly written out a note in it.I feel stupid and exposed. I am taking a risk, leaving what I know for something I don’t. I don’t even know if she will like me, or if she will keep liking me once she really knows me! Now I am getting nervous, so I look at the next marker, it’s number 4. I think the worst part of all this is not knowing. Not knowing how this whole thing will end. And I am thinking that it may not end well for me. She is all the things I am not, outgoing, loving, kind, and pretty. She is the kind of pretty that is inside and out. Everybody likes her. I am definitely not pretty and sometimes I wonder if anybody likes me. There’s another mile marker I am at number 5 now. So I start practicing on the dog again. It just seems better than talking to myself. This time I look in the review mirror which doesn’t help anything. So I do what all good Christians do when they are desperate, I pray. I ask God to somehow make this beautiful young lady love me. Which seems like a miracle to me!A couple of years later, I am driving the opposite way, passing the same mile markers (they go backwards the other way and I have no idea why).  But this time, I am holding her hand, and we are passing them together. We are driving back to my hometown to spend the rest of our lives together. But I am not counting them this time; we are just driving past them.I don’t know how many “mile markers” we have driven past in our love together. But it doesn’t matter what they look like or what number is on them because we are together. And being together is the only “marker” that counts.“We come to love not by finding a perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly.”Sam Keen, To Love and Be LovedLove is this beautiful, fantastic power that changes everything it touches. Love is like a slow atomic bomb. It blows up your life but replaces it with something much more meaningful. People will spend a lifetime looking for love. And those who lose it will spend the rest of their life...

    50 min

  6. 07/19/2020

    11 Ways to Keep Money from Destroying Your Marriage

    FixerUpperMarriage.org/moneyWhat is Money?* Money is this powerful, mysterious force that controls and changes your life. It divides people into classes (the haves and the have nots). And nothing makes people more jealous than money.* Money is an intoxication. Having it makes you feel powerful, independent, and free. Not having it makes you feel weak, helpless, and bound. It is like an addiction to a powerful drug. It controls you.* Money is an abusive master. It manipulates you with fear and hopelessness. It beats you down, stresses you out, and dictates what you can or can’t do.* Money is an elusive substance- a mirage in the desert of life. When you find it, it is never really there. It’s a dream that never lives up to reality. It is never enough.* Money is a terrible lover who steals your heart and never loves you back. * Money is a god who demands your worship at all costs. It takes your soul but only gives superficial things back.In a poll of divorced people conducted by MagnifyMoney, 21% of divorcées cite money as the cause of their divorce. Of course, we all know that money problems cause a lot of stress. And that stress can destroy your relationship. How crazy is it, that little pieces of paper can have so much power.But money only has the power that you give it. There are ways to keep it from hurting your love. Most money problems are self-inflicted but other times things happen, like injury, death in your family, sickness, or job loss. But regardless of how you get into financial hardship, that hardship doesn’t have to mean the end of your love.“Empty pockets never held anyone back. Only empty heads and empty hearts can do that.”–Norman Vincent PealeAs a disclaimer, I am not a financial expert or advisor. My focus is on how money impacts your relationship. And as a confession, I am working on these things in my own marriage. So maybe this whole thing is for me! But I think you will definitely find this episode helpful. I will leave the links to any of the resources in the comments below. Table Of Contents 1. Talk About Your Budget Together2. Prioritize Your Spending3. Use the ROI Method to Analyze Your Spending Choices4. Limit Your Credit Accounts5. Live Within Your Means6. Save for Large Purchases7. Don’t Let Money Be Your Measuring Stick of Success8. Use Available Resources9. Give Yourself Some “Free” Money10. Give Liberally11. Remember Where Your Money Really Comes From 1. Talk About Your Budget TogetherDon’t Hide Things from Each OtherWhen you become one, so does your money. Your relationship is built on trust and if you violate that trust, it can deeply harm the love that you have for each other. Husbands and wives should live in a glass house with each other. I am not doing something on the computer that my wife knows nothing about.

    46 min

  7. 05/13/2020

    Help! We Don’t Have Anything in Common Anymore!

    8 Ways to Find and Develop Things You Can Have in Common in Your MarriageFixerUpperMarriage.org/CommonJason@FixerUpperMarriage.org Table Of Contents What’s So Great about Matchbox Cars?1. Schedule Time to Just Talk2. Treat Each Other Like Best Friends3. Start Fresh in Your Relationship4. Try Some New Things Together5. Get Involved With the Things that Your Spouse Likes6. Reminisce Over Your Relationship History7. Recognize and Rejoice Over Demonstrations of Love8. Work On Your Faith TogetherSummary What’s So Great about Matchbox Cars?I’m 4 years old and in the store with my mom. I’m riding in a shopping cart but not in the place where kids normally ride, I’m in the basket area where my mom always puts the stuff that she buys. The store is called K-Mart, it’s a huge store that has a little bit of everything. My mom likes to shop here because they have blue-light specials. What this means is, while you are shopping a blue light starts flashing in a certain area of the store and that meant there was a sale in that department. I loved it when the blue light came on because my mom would take off with me in the cart and it was like a rollercoaster ride!But I like K-Mart because it has toys and my mom would take me down the toy aisles if I asked. I know we have everything that we need, but also know that we don’t always have extra. So I knew not to ask for any of the “big” toys but there was one little toy that was fairly cheap and I knew that if I asked for it, I was more likely to get it. Maybe you have heard of them, they are called Matchbox cars. They are these little diecast metal cars that come in all kinds of different types and colors. Sometimes I get the Hot Wheels, which are tricked out matchbox cars but are a few cents more. I was fine with just the plain Matchbox cars because they were just as fun!When we get home I run straight outside with my new Matchbox car and my little collection in tow. My mom is watching me through the window over the kitchen sink while she catches up on the dishes. And when she is ready for me to come in she will holler my name out the window. If I don’t come in right away she will call out my full name JASON REGAN PARHAM. I know that means to run inside!So I am outside playing with my Matchbox cars by myself at a stump. The stump was cool because my dad had cut down the tree and it was just an awesome place to play cars. Then I notice a big person jumping our chain link fence and coming into our yard. I don’t know him, but I know he is an older kid in our neighborhood.That’s when something amazing happens, He walks up to me, gets on his hands and knees and offers to play Matchbox cars with me. I don’t know how long we are going to play but it is great just to have someone to play with. I know right now that I have a friend in this world.Someday I would be a 44 year old man (don’t tell anyone my age because I look younger than I am!) digging through a big box of Matchbox cars findin...

    35 min

  8. 04/12/2020

    Did You Marry the Wrong Person?

    FixerUpperMarriage.org/Wrongemail: Jason@FixerUpperMarriage.org Table Of Contents A Cool StoryYou Are Married to the Wrong Person Because Your Expectations Have Made them WrongYou Are Married to the Wrong Person Because They Are Wrong by NatureYou Are Married to the Wrong Person Because You Are Missing the Right Person A Cool StoryI am in the 6th grade and I’m stepping out of our family station wagon. My mom always made sure I had everything I needed for school. I am carrying a brown paper sack with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a Little Debbie cake. In my pocket is a little bit of change to buy a carton of milk. My school had the cardboard kind that if you did not get it open on the first try, it was impossible to open! I am wearing a freshly pressed pair of blue jeans and a button-up shirt. My hair is neatly combed to the side. My mom even made me wear a white t-shirt under my shirt because gentlemen wear t-shirts! She even dropped me off early to make a good impression.When you are early to my school in the winter you have to wait in the large lunchroom for the first bell to ring. So I find an empty table and sit down. I put my lunch sack and my bookbag on the table beside me. It’s my first year of middle school and I am finding out about all the different social groups that kids get into. There are the jocks (athletic kids), the cool kids, the troublemakers, the outcasts, and the nerds (who rule the world now)! The thing is, I just don’t fit in with any of them, but I want to be one of the cool kids. Sometimes we call it “bad”, which doesn’t really mean bad but more like extremely good!? The cool kids are the popular kids, the ones that have everything in middle school. They had friends. They didn’t sit at tables by themselves.That’s when it happened, a moment that would change my life. I notice one of the cool kids from the other side of the lunchroom walking towards me. He comes up to my table and sits down across from me. I am thinking that this could finally be my chance to become cool. So now I am nervous.He looks at me and leans over the table. I can’t believe this is actually happening. He asks me a question, “do you want to know how to be cool”?  I said “sure”, but inside I am screaming, “Yes, please, please tell me how”! So he grabs his shirt, then points to mine and says with a cruel smirk on his face, “never let people see your white t-shirt.”  Then he just stands up and walks off. For a 6th grader who wants so desperately to be cool, this hit me like a ton of bricks! So I look down and sure enough, my white t-shirt is showing at the top. This doesn’t seem like a big deal but apparently it is.Now I am completely embarrassed and humiliated. I feel like everyone in the lunchroom has noticed my white t-shirt. The only way to cover it up would be to button my shirt all the way up, which would make me look like what we call a “dork” and I definitely don’t want to be one of those! So I am going to have to somehow make it through this day.At that moment I knew I would never be with the cool people. It hurt, but I learned something that day. It’s something that I wouldn’t fully realize until years later. I don’t have to be like anyone else. I don’t have to fit in. I learned that I am only really good at one thing, that’s being me.

    37 min
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About

What's the point in being married if you can't get what you want? But what you actually want may be hidden in plain sight in what you already have! Learn how to change your marriage for the better, and along the way, how to change YOU. This is where you find it, Bible principles in practice like you have never imagined! God has great things planned for your marriage. So don't miss it.

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