The Real Marriage Podcast

We want to wish you a Merry Christmas! How do you tell your kids about Santa without lying to them? Take 8 minutes to listen to this hilarious episode and have a great Christmas!  Date night is important! Unbox Love is here to help make date night easier. As a listener of the Real Marriage podcast Unbox Love is giving you 10% off! Just visit unboxlove.com/real Find more from Mark and Grace at xomarriage.com/realmarriage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you get married you bring together two sets of families, traditions, expectations, and drunk uncle Tony into Christmas. Your extended family, in-laws, and even work family can demand a lot from you for Christmas. We’re taking 10 minutes to give you some practical ways to deal with your extended family. Watch teachings from leading marriage experts! Check out XO Now now.xomarriage.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We share the story of our first Christmas as a married couple. The second Christmas episode is about how to plan for the holidays with your spouse. Figure out what Christmas looks like for your family and come together on a plan. Date night is important! Unbox Love is here to help make date night easier. As a listener of the Real Marriage podcast Unbox Love is giving you 10% off! Just visit unboxlove.com/real Find more from Mark and Grace at xomarriage.com/realmarriage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thanksgiving is over and Christmas has officially started! With it, we're starting a new series of podcasts about navigating Christmas and the holidays with your spouse, family, extended family, and Santa Claus. We released the first one, today, ON BLACK FRIDAY! You might want to listen to this one BEFORE you venture out to find the very best deal. We're talking about Christmas gifts and shopping. Keep the Christmas season peaceful and learn how to navigate gift-giving together with your spouse.   This episode is sponsored by, Handle with Care Health Insurance. A team of licensed health advisors that work with individuals, families, and small businesses to find the best possible health insurance that fits their needs. Go to HandleWithCareHealthInsurance.com or call them at 866-611-3111 to find out how they can help you. Find more from Mark and Grace at xomarriage.com/realmarriage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Love Lessons from Ruth & Boaz (Season 2) Ruth left her way of life and surrendered to God’s Love. His never-stopping, never giving up, un-breaking, always, and forever covenant love. We can’t truly love our spouse unless we know the love of God. God’s covenant love prepares us for the covenant love of marriage. We love because He first loved us. So many of us are striving when we should be surrendering to His love. God gave Ruth a new identity and from her family line came King David and Jesus. We are all broken people but God can do anything through anyone. Look at the change one broken person can make in a family by walking with God faithfully and humbly. Your relationship with Jesus is the most important relationship. It will transform you to have a beautiful covenant relationship with your spouse.   We have an ALL-NEW Premarriage resource called Preparing for I Do! premarriage.com/real It comes with a premarriage assessment from Jimmy Evans and videos and a workbook from Dave & Ashley. If you are engaged or know someone who is, go to premarriage.com/real for 20% off! Get 10% off your first month as a listener of the Real Marriage podcast of Faithful Counseling an online personal counseling solution. Go to getfaithful.com/realmarriage and join the over 500,000 people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. Find more from Mark and Grace at xomarriage.com/realmarriage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Love Lessons from Ruth & Boaz (Season 2) Ruth & Boaz faced impossible odds and they came from completely different social backgrounds. Six years ago we faced one of the biggest challenges of our lives. Death threats, security issues, betrayal, moving often, reputation destroyed, unemployed, moving to another state with no home, no church, and no family. There is no great marriage that hasn’t gone through some trials but the key is to go through it together. If we’re going to get through this we’re going to get through it together. As long as we have each other we can overcome impossible odds. If you know someone who is about to get married send them this link! premarriage.com/real This is an all-new premarriage course from XO Marriage. With a premarriage assessment from Jimmy Evans and videos and a workbook from Dave & Ashley. If you are engaged or know someone who is, go to premarriage.com/real for 20% off! Get a free eBook Study Guide by Mark & Grace, Ruth: A Big Little Love Story and follow along with us this season. Just text "RealMarriage" to 31996 and we'll send it to you for free! XO Now: now.xomarriage.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Love Lessons from Ruth & Boaz (Season 2) Prayer is a big part of the story of Ruth. There’s a prayer in each of the four chapters of Ruth. Praying together as a married couple creates a deeper emotional bond than even sex. If you’re married do both but to a wife praying together is the safest place in the world. How can everything go from death to life like in the story of Ruth? What holds a marriage together? How do we hear from God? Prayer. To the husband just start, it’s okay if you don’t know how. Start by saying, what are some things I can pray for you about today? Create a habit of prayer with each other. Put it in the plan. Ask each other, who or what can I be praying for you about? Get a free eBook Study Guide by Mark & Grace, Ruth: A Big Little Love Story and follow along with us this season. Just text "RealMarriage" to 31996 and we'll send it to you for free! Get 10% off your first month as a listener of the Real Marriage podcast of Faithful Counseling an online personal counseling solution. Go to getfaithful.com/realmarriage and join the over 500,000 people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. Find more from Mark and Grace at xomarriage.com/realmarriage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Love Lessons from Ruth & Boaz (Season 2) Ruth and Boaz came from two very different families. As we enter into the holiday season, the issue of extended family can cause tension and stress. How do we deal with extended family? How can we navigate different family dynamics?  When the Bible says, “Leave your father and mother”, it means you leave that family to start a new family. If you don’t do this you end up with one big dysfunctional family rather than a bunch of connected but individual families.  Get 10% off your first month as a listener of the Real Marriage podcast of Faithful Counseling an online personal counseling solution. Go to getfaithful.com/realmarriage and join the over 500,000 people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. Get a free eBook Study Guide by Mark & Grace, Ruth: A Big Little Love Story and follow along with us this season. Just text "RealMarriage" to 31996 and we'll send it to you for free! The Real Marriage Podcast is part of a larger podcast network. Find more podcasts at xopodcasts.com . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Love Lessons from Ruth & Boaz (Season 2) Why do we ever doubt God? God is in control even though it doesn’t look like it. Sometimes God works through miracles but we see in the book of Ruth how He works through his invisible hand of providence. We share in this episode how we have seen God’s hand working in our whole lives but especially in these last few years. This podcast came through God’s providence. In our marriages, somebody needs to be in control. If the husband or wife is in control it’s going to be a disaster but if the husband and wife trust that God is in control it can be beautiful. We need to see HIm as a father (as Jesus did). A father is in charge (sovereign) and he should also be good and for you. God is good and sovereign and your marriage should be a testimony of who He is.  What if you could change your life in just 3 weeks? Find healing and freedom in these two new courses from Jimmy Evans on XO Now. Get 25% off your first month of XO Now by going to 21dayjourney.com/real Do you speak Spanish or know someone who does? Check out our Spanish Podcast at xolatino.com Get a free eBook Study Guide by Mark & Grace, Ruth: A Big Little Love Story and follow along with us this season. Just text "RealMarriage" to 31996 and we'll send it to you for free! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Love Lessons from Ruth & Boaz (Season 2) With a strong work ethic, humility, patience, generosity, respect, and dignity, Ruth and Boaz despite all odds display good, Godly character. Good character is important in marriage and any relationship. Let's look at Ruth and Boaz to find out what Godly character looks like. Got a question? We want to tackle your toughest marriage questions. Email us your question at markandgrace@xomarriage.com and we may answer it on this podcast. Get 10% off your first month as a listener of the Real Marriage podcast of Faithful Counseling an online personal counseling solution. Go to getfaithful.com/realmarriage and join the over 500,000 people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. Get a free eBook Study Guide by Mark & Grace, Ruth: A Big Little Love Story and follow along with us this season. Just text "RealMarriage" to 31996 and we'll send it to you for free! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices