Good to Great Marriage Edition Session 2

1. Last Week Recap

a. Great Marriages Are A Process
b. The Process Starts With Acceptance, Evaluation, & Communication
c. You Grow By Taking Responsibility and Committing To Forward Movement
d. Forgiveness, Grace, and Unconditional Love Are The Foundation To build On

2. Why Don't We Grow - Pride and Fear (Pride can be fear in disguise)

a. It Blocks Honest Self-Evaluation
b. It Closes Off Communication.
c. It Wrecks

3. What Causes Pride and Fear Issues

a. Learned Coping Behaviors (We act out what we have been taught)
b. Past Pain & Hurt (Some may have pain bottled up. We can't put our pain off on our spouse. You must deal with it to move from Good to Great.
c. Disbelief in God and His Word

4. How Does Pride and Fear Play Out In Our Daily Lives

a. Denial Of Problems: Silent Death
b. Deflection Of Issue: Argumentative Death

5. The Solution To Pride And Fear - Humility & Trust
a. Admit You Are broken
b. Confess Your Brokenness To God and To Your Spouse
c. Drop The Masks And Talk Openly With Love and Grace
d. Step forward Trusting God With Yourself And Your Spouse

HOMEWORK

1. Find a way this week to do something toghether as a couple where you can talk. Ideas could include dinner, a walk, coffee and dessert.

2. Have a conversation about an area in your marriage that you have avoided. Make sure that your conversation avoids any fear of pride tactics. Bathe your conversation in forgiveness, grace, and acceptance while requesting loving truth from one another.

3. Commit to one another to grow in at least one specific area in your marriage. Make sure that you know how you are going to measure that growth.

4. Grade Yourself In These Areas with a number between 1-7. Grade Your Spouse Also. Compare your results and then discuss the differences in your scores. A Grade of 1 = poor and 7 = Excellent
Loving, Open Communication, Forgiving, Acceptance, Blaming, Patient

5. Agree to pray for one antoher this week. Ask your spouse how you can pray for them.

6. Do something for your spouse this week that shows your commitment to this journey.