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By: Jeff Pinkleton Encompass Connection Center Board Member I believe it was Paul David Tripp, who first spoke a hard truth into my spirit about marriage.
One of the primary goals of the God covenant with a man and woman is that they each would conform to the image of Christ. And yes, to accomplish this purpose, God wants to use your spouse to mold you into His image. More than anyone or anything else, says Tripp and others. Sounds a bit painful, and challenging. Yes and Amen. One of the main ways, I’ve seen this play out in my marriage to Kara, is the high priority and value of our same sex friendships. Here's what I mean...
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 By Lavern Nissley
Encompass Executive Director My Dad and my son, Josh, both have the same birthdays on June 8 - 39 years apart. I always start thinking about this unique historical overlap as the month of June begins. This year Josh and Emily are expecting a son, but my Dad won't get to meet him as he passed last November. It got me thinking about my future great-grandchildren, hoping I get to meet at least a few. Likely our age gap would be 70-80 years. What would I want to give them that would enrich their lives? What life hacks could I offer them that would still be relevant in their generation? Here goes . . .  By: Abby Glaser, Community Advocate
A few weeks ago our executive director shared lots of great tips on staying connected with your partner. Hopefully you found some valuable information there! You may have come away from it wondering how you became so disconnected in the first place? There are lots of reasons couples might find themselves disconnected from life stressors to internal struggles that aren’t being addressed. I would like to share with you what that path to disconnection* often looks like and what you can do to turn the tide!  By Kermit Rowe, Encompass Relationship Facilitator A recent email blast from Family Life came into my inbox asking a question that immediately caught my attention: “Between you and your spouse, who is the one who typically wins arguments?”
The go-to gut reaction for many of us tends to be a lengthy (or maybe not so lengthy) review of the scorecard we tend to keep of our most recent series of arguments – at least the ones we remember. Why is it so important that we win? Because we want things to go our way, and we are willing to forfeit temporarily a little bit of peace and harmony to get what we want. Besides. nobody likes to lose. Right? That led me to another question: “When we win, do we really win?” Each week in November we'll be sharing stories from grateful couples who have seen their family trees forever changed through growing in relationship skills. This week we hear from Darnell and Bekah, participants in the RINGS Experience course for couples.   By The Encompass Outreach Group Just about every marriage faces issues at one point or another. While these issues can lead to arguments and fights, they usually result in the couple working together to resolve them. But, what happens when a person that is part of the couple refuses to participate? When a partner is unwilling to participate in the marriage, it can aggravate the existing issues, making them even worse and harder to resolve. Here are some ways to improve your marriage even if your partner refuses to participate.
 By Encompass Outreach Group There are a few subjects that can be incredibly difficult to bring up with your partner, including finances, planning for a child, issues with your sex life, and more. But, there’s one subject that may be the most difficult thing to talk about in a marriage: marriage counseling. If you are thinking about marriage counseling, it most likely means that your relationship is struggling from some issues like the ones listed above and those issues have gone unresolved because they are hard to talk about. Here are some tips for bringing up marriage counseling with your partner and working toward fixing your marriage.
 By Lavern & Ronda Nissley A traumatic pair of recent falls from our tandem recumbent bicycle made us think seriously about our tandem biking future. We hadn’t fallen in about 9 years, and within a week we fell twice. The second fall shook us and actually raised the question on whether we should just stop riding tandem altogether. Kind of like divorcing our bike!
 By Kermit Rowe, Relationship Facilitator The struggle is real. It can also be embarrassing … and convicting!
I thought the struggle my wife and I have with praying together consistently made us an exception. But talking with and coaching other couples here at Encompass Connection Center, I’ve discovered that those who often fail to pray together consistently may be of the majority. It’s also revealing that couples I work with who struggle overall in their relationships also have not been praying together.  By Encompass Outreach Group When you first get married, it’s a time full of excitement and hope for the new life you are going to share with your partner. However, that excitement can quickly fade once you start spending more time with your in-laws. Some in-laws are great, making it easy to get along with them and spend time together. But, in many situations, in-laws can be rude, condescending, and downright disrespectful.
Here are some of the best ways to deal with disrespectful in-laws: |
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Funding is provided by Clark County Job and Family Services, The Turner Foundation, Springfield Foundation, Buckeye Health, private donations and fees.
Program content is the sole responsibility of Encompass Connection Center and does not necessarily represent the views of the funders.
Encompass Connection Center services are provided to all eligible persons on a non-discriminatory basis. Encompass Connection Center complies with all applicable laws and regulations concerning discrimination does not discriminate on the basis of the potential participant's race, gender, gender orientation, age, disability or religion.
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Program content is the sole responsibility of Encompass Connection Center and does not necessarily represent the views of the funders.
Encompass Connection Center services are provided to all eligible persons on a non-discriminatory basis. Encompass Connection Center complies with all applicable laws and regulations concerning discrimination does not discriminate on the basis of the potential participant's race, gender, gender orientation, age, disability or religion.
Registered 501(c)(3). EIN: 37-1485217