Ep 17: Protecting Your Marriage in Stressful Times with Kristin and Paul Abrahams.
Joining us today is Kristin and Paul Abrahams to talk to listeners about marriage in stressful times. Right now, around the world, people are dealing with unprecedented stress, circumstances that take their toll on our mental health. With COVID-19 having many countries in lockdown, couples are facing a new repertoire of challenges. Kristin and Paul share some helpful resources to support marriages through this crisis, including books and devotional apps that help the whole family to reconnect with God, communicate better, and stay entertained. In addition to Kristin’s leading role in marriage ministries at Faith Bible Church, the couple also facilitates the re⎮engage marriage counseling program and talk to listeners about what it entails, the benefits of group counseling, and how they can get involved even if they are not a member of their church. In light of the global pandemic, they discuss the conflict that arises from suddenly being together 24/7, the shifting roles around the home, new work-related responsibilities, and dealing with the increasing anxieties surrounding the crisis. Getting on the same page as your spouse is hard enough as it is, but it is complicated even more when partners have different coping mechanisms. In this episode, we equip you with the information, tools, and communication strategies needed to keep your marriage strong during tough times and also encourage listeners with the hope that we always have in Christ.
Key Points From This Episode:
- Kristin’s involvement with marriage counseling at Faith Bible Church.
- Why Kristin and Paul are “qualified” to help other people overcome challenges in marriage.
- Hear about the re⎮engage ministry, our guests’ involvement, and the structure of the course.
- The benefits of accountability and vulnerability that emerge in the context of a group.
- How group counseling offers the opportunity to learn from other couples’ experiences.
- Examples of the issues that brought couples to the program before versus after the outbreak.
- The stress of new and shifting roles that being restricted to the home has brought about.
- Navigating changing workloads, new responsibilities, and job insecurity.
- The difficulty of getting on the same page when people have conflicting coping mechanisms.
- A list of helpful tools for couples to employ during this trying period.
- Why it is important to implement some form of structure and consistency in the home.
- Using the crisis to reset the intimacy, expectations, and roles in our marriages.
- The importance of giving each other space in adjusting to the new circumstances.
- Resources for reconnecting with God, getting into Scripture, and keeping entertained.
- Stories of hope from couples who have gone through the re⎮engage program.
Tweetables:
“One of the things that are really cool about re⎮engage too is that it is a discipleship program in that, yes, we are talking about our marriages every single week, and yet the real focus is on our intimacy with Jesus and how he transforms us.” — Paul Abrahams [0:04:44]
“You are absolutely right that there are a time and a place and a space for that private counseling, but there is also some amazing healing that takes place when we have accountability and vulnerability with a group.” — Kristin Abrahams [0:07:00]
“What’s important to your spouse needs to be important to you.” — Kristin Abrahams [0:22:11.1]
“Our biggest encouragement to you is that hope never dies. COVID cannot kill the hope that is found in Christ.” — Kristin Abrahams [0:58:29.1]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
HOW TO LISTEN
You can listen here on our website or through the links below. However, we highly recommend subscribing so you can automatically receive each new episode. To do so, click one of the subscribe options below.
SPONSOR AN EPISODE
