Online Marriage Book Club: Team Us (Week 5)
Online Marriage Book Club: Team Us (week 5)
Welcome to week five of our online marriage book club! If this is your first time here at Fulfilling Your Vows, we are so grateful to have you. For our current book club, we are working through Team Us: Marriage Together. One great feature you can expect during the course of the book club is to have a Q&A section at the end of each weekly post that gives more candid insight into author Ashleigh and husband Ted’s marriage.
This Week’s Reading (Chapter 4)
This week we are working through Chapter 4. We encourage you and your spouse to read through the introduction together or separately (which ever works best for you) and then schedule a time to chat about it. It is best to write anything down that jumps out at you so you can discuss it further with your spouse. We also encourage you both to pray together asking God to open your heart to receive what He wants to show you each week.
This Week’s Video Discussion
We have decided that doing videos is the best way to communicate what it is that we are gaining each week in the study. This week we were outside in the beautiful California sunshine (because our two youngest sons just couldn’t be quiet in the house haha) so you may see the sunshine peeking through – hope you don’t mind. Without any further ado, let’s dive into week 5!
Want to dig deeper? For further study, please visit Ashleigh’s blog for a free downloadable study guide.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this week’s study! Please leave your comments below or go ahead and start a conversation over in the Facebook community!
Q&A With Ted & Ashleigh
Sometimes people are not in a position to solve conflicts themselves. What would you two say to a couple that thinks they may need some outside help to learn to how resolve conflict in a healthy, team-building way?
Ashleigh
I’d encourage them to seek the help of either a trusted, godly mentor couple or a Christian counselor. Ideally, a mentor couple or counselor who will not only help them talk through current issues, but give them tools they can use to resolve future conflicts. I think the best way to find a mentor couple is either to ask your local pastor or to look around your community and identify a couple who is further along in their marriage journey than you are and whose relationship reflects what you’d love to see yours become. If they are looking for a counselor, Focus on the Family offers counseling services and referrals.
Ted
There is no shame in asking for help. None. We all need a helping hand from time to time, and it shows character and resolve and fearlessness to ask for it. Asking for and receiving help is also relationship-building. It requires a vulnerability that can foster deep and authentic friendship.
Maybe we all “need some outside help” more than we let on. Maybe it’s just arrogance and stupidity that keeps us from seeking it more than we do. My advice: Don’t be arrogant, and don’t be stupid. Share life with others; friends are out there on whom you can lean through difficult seasons. Maybe don’t share so much life with friends who simply commiserate with you and fuel your discontentment; share it with those who honor marriage and want yours to flourish.
See you back here next week!
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