It is the covenantal commitment that enables married people to become people who love each other. Only with time do we really learn who the other person is and come to love the person for him- or herself.

Have you heard about the other way of writing the word “intimacy”?—”INTO ME, SEE.” There’s a valuable piece of marital wisdom embedded in this clever play on words.

Having a happier marriage may be easier than you think. You can do little things to add joy to your union. Here are inspiring stories written by couples on how they made their marriage happier.

As we seek to focus on the significance of Jesus’ birth amid all the hustle and bustle of the season, another crucial part of Christmas is often lost.

I wasn’t fully on board with my wife’s dreams to adopt. But we finally found ourselves on the same page. We have some suggestions for aligning your dreams so that you’re headed toward the same goal.

What is intimacy? What is the definition of intimacy? Sometimes people will do just about anything to get close to someone they find interesting, intriguing, or just plain irresistible. Is that being intimate?

“Our souls crave intimacy.” — Erwin Raphael McManus

Erin Smalley challenges wives to avoid criticizing their husbands. She’s found that effective communication in marriage includes encouragement and positive feedback.

To overcome unforgiveness, we need to deal with our emotional wounds and let them heal.

Money issues can cause big problems in marriage. It’s important to understand God’s plan for our finances and work to be good stewards of his property. Here are some tips to help do that.

When you first got married, you laughed all the time with your spouse. You loved to play with your beloved, and you took delight in him or her. But it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Has the fun evaporated from your marriage due to the heat of stress or responsibility?

Laughter can help with that. After all, a joyful heart is good medicine!

Authors Bill and Pam Farrel look back on some of life’s storms that helped them build a lasting, enduring love in their marriage. They offer some tips that will help you do just that.

A marriage vow is a special and powerful promise — and we need it for many reasons. If you’re living together but you’re not married yet, consider the power of the vow.

Navigating a new marriage may not be as easy as the movies make it seem, but with an attentive eye and an earnest heart, you can avoid these pitfalls and have a beautiful newlywed season.

For Christian families, there’s an overwhelming importance upon understanding the roles of female and male. However, our culture emphasizes different aspects of these roles from Christianity. In the Christian context, the origin point for this conversation lies at the beginning: the creation of woman and man.

One way to strengthen your marriage is to study the Bible together. To start, you can read these devotions adapted from the Kingdom Marriage Devotional by Dr. Tony Evans.

There are five basic love languages – five ways to express love emotionally. Each person has a primary love language that we must learn to speak if we want that person to feel loved.

How do you counsel someone against living together before marriage — a decision counter to God’s Word? The first step is to seek knowledge.

Wives and mothers desire expressed and demonstrated respect rather than the mere avoidance of disrespect.

Each person comes to their wedding with a unique set of life experiences and levels of childhood trauma that impact the marriage relationship.

The most common complaint among married couples is a lack of communication. Too much conflict is among the top five reasons people divorce.

It’s hard work to rebuild trust and intimacy after the betrayal of infidelity, but when both partners are willing to do the work, it’s worth it.

Helping others together as a couple can make your marriage stronger.

When you discover the joy of helping your spouse succeed, you begin to establish or restore emotional health, respect, support and encouragement in your marriage.

Great communication is more than an illusion

Is it possible to practice a deep sense of awe and an attitude of gratitude in the ordinary moments of marriage?

When ADHD and marriage go together, you can face repeating conflict patterns. But you can lessen those patterns and strengthen your marriage.

Many godly, Christ-centered homes struggle with clinical depression. Here’s one family’s story.

Couples can find the balance between a busy life and a growing relationship, and they can further enhance their love with these simple, 30-second habits.

If we are not diligent to date our mate, the business and busyness of life can infringe until we spend less time together now that we are married than we did before our vows.

Having open and honest communication around money management, you and your partner can share personal goals and concerns, understand each other’s financial habits, establish alignment, and agree upon a shared vision.

How false assumptions may be hurting your marriage

If we are not diligent to date our mate, the business and busyness of life can infringe until we spend less time together now that we are married than we did before our vows.

As I strive to honor God in my marriage, I am consistently learning—and observing—that a godly marriage is strengthened when a husband meets the highs and lows of life with consistent faithfulness, love, and devotion.

Understanding my husband’s hobbies brought us closer together

We need the encouragement of friends and family — not just when a marriage begins, but to keep it from ending. Our loved ones can make the difference between relationship life and death.

Our kids are constantly watching us, and how we treat our spouse is probably how our children will treat their own spouse someday. Your marriage is your child’s blueprint for intimacy and relationships.

God wants to heal women addicted to porn, just as he did with me. He wants the best for you and your marriage. Here’s what you should know.

God has called husbands and wives to serve as unique vessels of His love for the other.

A basic understanding of God, and how He created humans, will help develop deeper intimacy in marriage.

Conflict can lead you toward a deeper marriage connection

Friendship in marriage is vital, but the busyness of life can squelch it. Don’t let emotional connection in marriage fade away — revive it using these tips.

With the right spirit and actions, any marriage can be restored.

Emotional abuse in marriage is one of the hardest forms of abuse to recognize, but unrepentant patterns are the key to identifying it.

Do you want to draw closer as a couple in the new year? Try sharing and then setting your goals for the next 12 months together.

If you and your spouse are going to function as teammates in marriage, you need to actually understand each other’s situation and validate each other.

Learn how to strengthen your marriage and love your husband by building a good relationship with your mother-in-law.

One awful eve of envy helped me learn how to be content at Christmas instead of creating conflict in my marriage. Here’s what I learned.

If you and your spouse argue about the same money issues over and over, it may be time to look below the surface.

When you treat your spouse with compassion, it creates a safe environment to share your deepest thoughts and feelings.

Why is Advent important? Advent is a time of hope. When we show our children Advent’s profound truths, they receive a higher hope than anything this world can offer.

How can you fix an unhappy marriage? Learn how you can develop effective, yet simple habits for marital happiness.

If your marriage is in trouble, you can cry out to God with these prayers for marriage restoration. Remember that nothing is too hard for God.

Practicing complete honesty in marriage and having nothing to hide isn’t as scary as you think. Being transparent can transform your marriage.

Couples in this digital age face new relationship hazards. Although rekindling old flames is a leading concern, experts say it’s not the only one. Read on to discover three other potential problems.

For thousands of years, husbands and wives have been making bad decisions. But today, enticements often come with a new twist because of the anonymity and accessibility that come with social media.

Most of us in second marriages can clearly see that adding education, personal awareness and intentionality to our current marriage can create a new, mutually satisfying relationship.

In their years of marriage, Bob and Maria Goff have teased out a few principles that have allowed their love to grow. “Love isn’t something you fall into,” Bob says. “It’s someone you become.”

Conflict is inevitable in marriage and can create damage or discovery — we choose which it will be. Discovery means learning new ideas, approaches and solutions if we fight together for our marriage.

Is it possible to practice a deep sense of awe and an attitude of gratitude in the ordinary moments of marriage?

Enjoying life and laughing together again as a couple is important after experiencing a hard season together. Here’s how to have fun again.

Emotions — even anger and hurt — have a purpose. These strong feelings need to be appropriately understood, valued and utilized so you can better care for yourself and know your spouse deeply.

When you learn your spouse has a terminal illness, everything changes in an instant. What’s important to know as you begin this hard journey?

Steven and Mary Beth Chapman have guided their kids through grief and confusion. They’ve done this by being real and sharing openly as they’ve grappled with their own emotions and unresolved questions.

While you may never know the reason that your father left you, there is one thing you can be absolutely sure of: You have a Heavenly Father who loves you and will never leave you or forsake you.

All couples fight. And it feels as if we’re fighting about something. But when we look at our conflicts, they can sound pretty insignificant. Big things don’t ensnare us as often as the little things.

The qualities of common kindness, honesty, empathy, loyalty and trust are gifts that each spouse gives to the other. This friendship foundation enhances relationship happiness throughout the marriage.

Providing kinship care as a grandparent can be challenging. But Richard Dixson has embraced the opportunity to parent again.

The adjustment from being single to being married can create feelings of loss and anxiety. Here’s how to cope.

You may want to know how to help and support someone you love who’s in an abusive relationship. Here are several ways that can enable you to be there for them.

Relationship rituals strengthen a marriage if they’re meaningful to both spouses. Check out these ideas to build connection in your marriage.

If you’re experiencing the loss of a prodigal son or daughter who isn’t currently in touch with you, you probably feel helpless. Here are some ways to understand a prodigal child and find hope if you have a prodigal child.

By building a good relationship with your husband’s mom, you can show your husband that you love him. Here are some ways you can reach out to your mother-in-law and create a peaceful family bond.

Self-care is an act of stewardship, or caring well for the life God has given you. Rightly understood, self-care in marriage becomes a gift to your spouse.

What is God’s plan for marriage? Marriage is the full expression and design of God’s image in human beings.

If you’re in a chronically unhappy marriage, you may feel trapped and hopeless. But transformational options exist for those in a stressful marriage.

Francis Chan discusses how having a marriage focused on a mission will require commitment and sacrifice, asking couples if their view of the future is big enough.

Before a married couple can truly love each other, they must know the definition of love. First Corinthians 13:4-5 emphasizes that love is patient and kind.

Physical and emotional problems can challenge any marriage. But with the help of God and good friends, Ken and Joni Eareckson Tada found the strength to persevere in their marriage.

Burn survivor John O’Leary’s story of unconditional love and commitment inspires all to live a life that can overcome fierce obstacles.

Letting in-laws split, manipulate, or control you by silently acceding to their nutty, neurotic, inappropriate demands isn’t necessarily showing Christian love.

Dr. Ron Welch, the author of The Controlling Husband: What Every Woman Needs to Know, shares his story of making his wife and marriage a priority.

If you want a joyful heart but find yourself complaining to your spouse, take action. These simple practices can show you how to stop complaining.

Satan wants to keep you isolated from other Christians so you don’t encourage one another. But fellowship can strengthen your marriage.

I wonder what our lives would be like if we reframed how we thought about our tasks. What if we regularly took time to stop and see how far we’ve come, and then gave thanks for our progress?

When a husband says, “My wife constantly criticizes me,” what do you do? Help him deal with the issue using these tips.

Marriage requires making room for someone else in your life. To add this relationship to your life requires letting go of some of your other commitments and giving your spouse priority consideration.

Couples can find the balance between a busy life and a growing relationship, and they can further enhance their love with these simple, 30-second habits.

Helping others together as a couple can make your marriage stronger.

The Bible tells us to forgive unconditionally, but it doesn’t say we are to forget immediately. Sometimes it takes time to rebuild the trust that’s been lost.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all formula that will instantly revolutionize a mismatched marriage, a few principles can contribute to the health of a relationship.

When expectations are realistic, a difficult reality becomes a lot less difficult. Overcoming blended-family myths.